I’ve been writing a few small business idea profiles for Suite 101. If you are interested in starting a home art studio business or working with pets, you may want to give those articles a read.

Is there any business you’d like to start that you would like to see a profile of? Let me know.

My sister took two bags of gently used name brand children’s clothing to her favorite consignment shop the other day. They told her they’ve decided to discontinue the consignment section of the shop and just sell new clothes. She was pretty upset, because she usually got a large percentage of the purchase price of the clothes back and could buy the kids’ wardrobe for the next season from the consignment sales.

When she told me about the loss of her consignment outlet, I suggested she try selling them on eBay. I got her all the For Dummies guides and showed her a few of my favorite blogs and sites about selling on eBay. Well, it takes time to photograph the clothing, upload the pictures and write good auction listings, so she asked me to do it instead. It is something I’ve been thinking about getting back into anyway, because I really used to do well with eBay.

If you want to sell on eBay and you don’t have a whole backlog of stuff to list like I do, you may want to look into another option - using a dropshipping company like Doba.com. They have a free trial option so you can decide if dropshipping is right for you.

Recommended Resource:

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You see them everywhere - paid to surf and paid to read email programs that turn out to be pyramid scams or earn only pennies a year. Are any of these programs worthwhile? Well, I already mentioned My Points, which is a fantastic program I use to get a bunch of gift cards for stocking stuffers each year. You can earn enough points just by reading emails and completing a few free offers, but I try to shop through My Points when it is a business I am buying from anyway and that is how the points really add up.

Another program that is pretty successful for many people is Cash Crate. I’ve just signed up with this program recently. Frankly, if you are short on time, you may want to skip it. Getting 80 cents for a survey or two dollars to complete a free offer isn’t awful, but it isn’t great, either. I’ve heard of people earning several hundred dollars a month through Cash Crate, but they probably put in some serious time.

I keep hearing about moms paying for survey opportunities. That is not a good thing. You should never pay for the chance to take surveys. There are many legitimate survey opportunities out there and they have one thing in common - free sign ups. Please don’t spend your money on survey sites.

Here are a few survey companies with free sign ups that pay you for your time:

Focus Forward - pays cash if you qualify. I just joined recently.

Greenfield Online - pays cash if you qualify. Otherwise, you are entered in a sweepstakes as a thank you for your time answering a few preliminary questions. I rarely get past the preliminary round.

My Points - This program actually is a rewards program, but there are a lot of surveys worth 5 points. Cash out at around 800 points for a $5 gift certificate. I’ve been doing MyPoints for years. (Since 2001, to be exact.) It is the only rewards program that is really worth doing, as far as I’m concerned.

So, you want to quit the day job and start a crafting business, huh? Well, before you do, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

• Is your product marketable? You’ll need to be able to make crafts that people want to buy.
• Do you have a place to sell your crafts? Craft shows are a good place to start, but etsy.com, ebay.com, gift shops and even antique shops can be viable options, too.
• Are you factoring the cost of electricity, water and raw supplies into the final price of your products? If you craft for a living, you want to be sure your crafts aren’t losing money!
• Are you willing to “tweak” crafts that aren’t selling or create completely new products to keep your customers coming back for more?
• Do you understand the need to keep up with color trends, new decor themes, etc?

If you feel confident that you can meet all of these hurdles, you are ready to try selling your crafts. However, chucking the day job right away may not be the best idea. You may find that selling crafts makes you miserable. After all, what used to be your way to unwind has turned into a job, complete with difficult customers and chores you just don’t want to do!