Gina Bassman, example of how to determine what type of home business to operate

If you're thinking of starting an at-home business enterprise, consider the example of my new friend, Gina Bassman. After 18 years in finance Gina, left the corporate world to work at home. She wanted to spend more time with her husband and her five-year-old son, Nico.

Gina says about Nico, "He is a true miracle after 5 surgeries for me, one for my husband, and three years of infertility treatments."

Gina is a great example of how to lock in on a successful business idea. She looked at many web sites that claimed to promote the latest bargains from a number of merchants. However, she found that these sites were difficult for consumers to find their way around. She found that people got lost in unorganized lists of promotions.

So, she designed her own web site where on-online shoppers can grab bargains, promotions, discounts, coupon codes, etc. Though she founded the company in February of this year, she is already seeing the number of visitors to her site double each month, and she has been able to partner with hundreds of merchants to provide these visitors with the latest and best bargains.

Gina's unique seling point is that she drew up her own web layout. She wanted her site to be a fun and convenient place for people to either quickly locate a particular item or browse at leisure. So, she made sure her web design is easy for visitors to navigate. Shoppers can locate products by item name, by merchant, or by one of eighteen categories of products.

Since her aim is to help shoppers "fish" for today's best "catch" of the web, she came up with the concept, "Go Nico Fish". I asked her what Nico thinks of his name being used as part of the company title.

She says, “He answers as any little boy would, ‘Cool’!”

That brings us to something else. Tomorrow, on September 2nd, Gonicofish.com will be featured on coolsiteoftheday.com. Check it out.

Anyhow, I like Gina's story, because it contains a valuable hint for all women who are thinking about starting a home enterprise. Gina combined her business since with her own viewpoint as a consumer. Putting herself in the place of a frustrated shopper, she was able to identify a better way to offer promotions, coupon codes, discounts, etc. This makes her site stand out from the pack.

'As a consumer, if you ever find yourself asking, questions such as "Why doesn't anyone make a _____?", or, "Why doesn't this online store do ____________better?" you may have the seed for a business idea of your own. Of course, you will need to research this idea to make sure that (1) there are other customers who would love your idea enough to support your business (2) You can meet this need in the home business setting, and that you can carry it out without it ending up working as many hours as you would in th marketplace and (3) It's something you would enjoy doing it. But, often, the key to a successful home enterprise is finding a new niche to fill or a way of putting your own twist on something that's already out there.

Enjoy!
Elizabeth