Home Based Music Researcher

by Susan
(New York, NY)

In 1991 I was working for a music publisher in New York City, first in their retail store and then in the orders department as a researcher. We'd always get calls from all over the world looking for out-of-print titles and questions about who wrote specific pieces or songs and for which instrument a piece was written. As a sideline, if the piece was unavailable through our company, I'd offer to locate the music for the customer (for a fee.)

I began to compile a client list and when the company went out of business I contacted them and also placed ads in music publications, providing the details of my service and my background.

While this is a small scale business and targeted to a very specific clientele, I do get a lot of repeat business from musicians who don't want to spend a lot of time looking for a piece that they need for a performance. Since I am also a trained musician, they trust me to get the correct piece of music for them.

The best thing about this is that there were no start-up costs except if I wanted to pay for an ad. There were many free places to place ads when I began and I was also able to rely on satisfied clients telling their friends.

The only downside is that, as I said, it is somewhat limited. The biggest challenge is getting new clients for the long term.

Stuart's comment: This is a great example of niche marketing - identifying a gap in the market. Even with a very narrow niche, it is possible for many home based businesses to expand (if desired) as, nowadays, the Internet enables a home business to reach customers worldwide.

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