In tough times and good times alike, home based businesses are convenient and cost saving. They save a lot of wear and tear on both you and your car, not to mention your gas budget.  Other benefits of working at home included added flexibility such as being able to work in time to pick up your children from school. The trick is picking the right business.  Here is some food for thought:

In Pictures: The Most Profitable Home-Based Businesses – Forbes.com.

The Entrepreneurial Mother points us to this Forbes article on making your living from home:
“Who needs a nasty commute when you can make a decent buck but a few feet from your kitchen? Over half of all U.S. businesses are now based out of an owner’s home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With the economy shedding jobs, the ranks of the self-employed may well keep swelling. Plenty more entrepreneurs may look to eliminate rent and fuel costs to pinch pennies.

With the help of Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based private-company data provider, Forbes.com has assembled a list of the 10 most profitable businesses–on a pretax basis–that could be run out of a home. The data were drawn from eight years worth of financial statements (nearly an entire business cycle) for tens of thousands of privately held U.S. companies with annual revenues under $1 million and bucketed by Internal Revenue Service classifications. Average pretax profits ranged from 8% to 14%.

Consulting Services

Average Pretax Profit Margin: 10%

Facilitators–from brokerages to consultancies–nabbed five of the 10 spots; creators, such as specialty design shops, earned three; and repair outfits rounded out the rest. To be sure, not all will fare equally (or well) in the economic downturn.”

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