So many families are feeling the pinch these days and if you’re from a single income family, you’re probably considering adding a second income.  For those of you who are worried about what your children will do if  you go to work and are wondering if there is something you could do from home, the At Home Mom Blog has these terrific tips for choosing a good home business idea.

First you will need a pen and paper (or a computer) and some quiet time. Take five minutes or so to write down all your skills and interests. Leave nothing out. If you once worked in a pizzeria when you were ten, add that to the list. Mom skills are to be included, so that means mending, ironing, etc.

Once you have your basic list, go down and cross off everything you hate to do. For me that would include laundry and ironing!

This should leave you with a considerably shorter list. Now comes the hard part. Try to think of a business idea for each skill you have put down. If you come up with more than one, that’s great! For example, if you put down cooking, you might write “catering”, “frozen dinners”, “home bakery”, etc. Don’t start to judge the ideas yet, just let them flow. This part of the process can take some time, so if you have to, do it over a few days.

Once you have your business ideas, run down the list and choose the three that appeal to you most. Write them down on a separate piece of paper and write out the pros and cons. For example, let’s say I chose “catering”, “home child care”, and “freelance writing”. I would then write the negative and positive side of each one. Here is how I worked out freelance writing.

Pros: Flexible hours, at home all the time, I enjoy it, good pay if you get good assignments

Cons: Long hours on the computer, poor pay to start with, very unstable.

If you have more pros or cons than the other, you might want to ditch the idea. Select the best idea and start working out a theoretic business plan. If all three ideas lose their appeal once you really start thinking about them, go back and select another three.

This should help you narrow down, if not pinpoint, the perfect home business for you.