What if you don’t have much capital or many special skills? Is there a home business for you? Probably. You may have to search a little harder than the Nobel prize-winning-scientist-turned-consultant, but you can find a home business that fits you and your marketplace.

So what’s the answer? What type of home businesses are successful? Here are some rules of business I’ve learned in operating home-based businesses and consulting with others who have done so:

Rule 1: Businesses that require large inventories of products cost too much to start and succeed. So find a business that serves others with service or low-cost products.

Rule 2: People don’t buy things that don’t give their lives value. You wouldn’t buy a TV that didn’t work or a book written in Greek (unless you can read Greek). So make sure your business offers your customers a value that is equal to or greater than the price they pay you.

Rule 3: Advertising costs money. So find a business that is so unique that people will tell others about it—word-of-mouth advertising. If it’s not a unique business, find a way of making it unique. Add a unique benefit, a special service or a new approach to your business to make it easier to promote and to remember. Keep advertising costs to a minimum.

What I’m describing here is a “cottage company.” A cottage company is a home business that profits by adding value to the lives of others. (In fact, the name of one of my home businesses is the Cottage Company.) A cottage company can be operated from a house, apartment, duplex, condominium or other residential structure.