Starting a home business isn’t easy. You need to know what you mean to sell and how you’ll get it. But most of all, you need to know who you want to sell it to.

In an ideal world, the answer would be “everyone.” But unless you’re a huge corporation with name recognition, it just isn’t practical. And even corporations target their ads.

Let’s say you do cross-stitch and want to sell the finished product. You’ve had complements from all your family and friends of all ages on your skill. But that doesn’t mean you can target everyone.

The most obvious target is people who love cross-stitch. But that can be too vague, especially when your business is just starting out. You need to be more specific.

Think about the kinds of cross-stitch you prefer to do. Angels, children’s themes, nature, animals… you could target any of these categories to start. You could even offer custom work if you have the right software and they send you a picture.

So maybe you aren’t into crafts. You can find a niche for any skill you may have. You might focus on other home businesses as an accountant or on parents of small children for party planning. Even if you go into direct sales or MLM you can consider focusing on a niche, particularly if the market is tight in your area. Figure out how people in a niche can use the products your company offers, and use that information in your marketing.

Your focus on a niche can get attention to your business from people who otherwise may not have considered what you have to offer. Part of your job when you run a business is to think of reasons people would want to buy your products. You can’t wait for your customers to tell you (although they may!), you have to at least give them some ideas.

Of course, you do not want to take focusing on a niche to absurdity. Focusing only on people who want blue widgets to use on their palm trees at their second summer home won’t do you a bit of good. Your niche has to actually have a reasonable number of people in it.

The right niche can give you a huge advantage in your home business. It makes advertising easier and gives your customers an extra reason to buy from you.

Start your own home-based business? Sounds pretty scary to most people, but it may not be as impossible as you think. Many home businesses have very low startup costs.

First, you need to decide what you want to do. You may have a hobby that can make money for you or you may have a skill you can sell. Or maybe you'd like to find someone else's product and sell that. The possibilities are endless.