7 Personal Service Home Business Ideas

Service-based businesses are often the easiest and most affordable to start, especially if you're already skilled in the service and have the equipment you need to provide it. Personal services are those given directly to consumers (B2C) as opposed to other businesses. In some cases, offering personal services isn't as lucrative or steady as offering them to businesses. With that said, many, such as childcare, are able to weather tough economic times.

Personal services are usually needed because consumers want convenience, time savings, or additional help for a variety of reasons. Here are seven personal service business ideas for you to consider. 

1. Childcare

If you enjoy and can manage a group of children for 8 to 12 hours a day, then childcare is a great home business option. While special education or training isn't required, having patience and experience with children, as well as getting a childcare license, is ideal. In some cases, you may be eligible for financial assistance to pay for things like a healthy lunch program.

There are several ways to provide childcare. One is that you can open a licensed facility in your home. Or, maybe you don't want to watch kids, but you know many great childcare providers and can connect them to families needing childcare by starting a referral service. 

Are you interested in childcare, but don't want to commit to 52 weeks a year? Consider offering childcare to teachers, who have summers and holidays off. Just make sure you charge enough over the course of the school year to afford to have summers off as well. 

2. Tutoring

School is becoming more and more competitive, and many parents struggle to help their children succeed, particularly in topics they don't know or have forgotten. At one time, tutoring was done primarily in the student's home, school or at a tutoring center. Today, however, you can tutor online through video conferencing tools, such as through Skype, making it easier to find students from anywhere in the world. 

Like with childcare, you need patience and experience with children. Tutoring is ideal for teachers, but also for anyone who has knowledge of the subject, as well as the skill to teach.

3. Pet Services

People love their pets and want them to have the very care. Some great pet-related home businesses ideas include pet sitting, pet photography, starting a pet food business and more. 

There are different ways to serve pet owners depending on the service you provide. For example, pet sitting can involve house sitting as well, or you can just visit the pets a couple of times a day to feed and play with them. Pet sitting can also be very flexible and done around a full-time job, or as an extra income source. 

4. In-Home Services

People work hard, long hours and don't have time to clean, cook, do errands, and a host of other typical home-keeping tasks. Providing these services requires you to leave your home to deliver service, but everything else can be done from home. Or you can pull together a team of workers who provide the service, and you work from home managing the team and the rest of the business. 

Great in-home service ideas include:

• Personal Chef
• House Cleaning
• Lawn and Yard Care
• Personal Shopping and Errand Service

5. Personal Trainer

People of all ages and stages are looking to get fit. If you enjoy exercise and helping others improve their health, then a fitness coach or personal trainer might be a good option. Ideally, you should become certified by a reputable organization. These programs educate you in important exercise terminology, current research, and anatomy, but it's generally expected that you have exercise experience.

To run a personal training business from home, you'll want to make sure you carry appropriate insurance, and if people are working out in your home, insurance on your home as well. 

6. Professional Organizer

A professional organizer turns clutter and chaos into an efficient space for households and businesses. Jobs can range from organizing a small shoe closet to designing a storage space for a marketing firm. Along with the ability to sort and store, you need to be able to work with people in helping them identify what can be thrown out and donated to make room for organization. Because people think differently, having a way to help people organize based on what helps them manage their environment is key. Understanding and patience regarding the challenges clients may have in throwing things away will be helpful as well.

7. Wedding Planner

Are you able to help others who are often stressed and overwhelmed organize one of the most significant days in their lives? Then you might say, "I do" to becoming a wedding planner. Wedding planners are essentially the project manager for a wedding, organizing everything from the wedding itself to the rehearsal dinner, and reception. Further, wedding planners coordinate and manage all the services required (florist, photographer, etc), so the bride and groom don't have to worry. You don't have to limit yourself to weddings. You can become a party plannerand organize all sorts of festive events.

The list of personal services businesses that could be covered here is nearly endless. Other options include tax prep, home staging, holiday decorating, and more.