I am looking for some small business ideas to do on weekends. I could invest about 5k and use my basement.?

I suggest you read the article "10 Weekend Home Businesses" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol67/weeken... for some ideas of what low cost business can you start and work on weekends or part time basis. For detailed information, you may want to read the book of Dan Ramsey entitled "101 Best Weekend Businesses," http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1... which offers 101 proven businesses that you can operate in your spare time without jeopardizing your full-time job.

The best home business will depend on what you want, how you define to be interesting. A person may consider a pet sitting business to be the most exciting work in the world, while another person would rather watch TV than take care of dogs.

The key is to determine what your interests are, what you want to do, what is suitable for your lifestyle and your overall goals, and what can fit with your resources.

Dan Ramsey in his other book "101 Best Home Businesses" has a chapter on how to find YOUR best home business. He suggests these 10 steps:

1. List 5 things you do best
2. List how others would benefit from what you do best
3. Find out how to give people what they want
4. Learn the value of your services to others
5. Find out who else offers similar services
6. Learn from the successes of others
7. Learn from the failures of others
8. Plan your own success
9. Make low cost mistakes
10. Enjoy what you do and how you do it

He then made suggestions on the best home businesses according to type. Here are a few of them:

Best Businesses Using Craft or Physical Skills
- antique restoration
- auto detail service
- carpet cleaning business
- errand/delivery service
- housecleaning business

Best Service Businesses
- bed and breakfast operator
- caregiver
- catering service
- senior day care center
- tutoring service

Best Professional Businesses
- desktop publisher
- magazine writer
- import/export service
- income tax preparation service
- event planner

Some other home business ideas:

Top 10 Home Businesses with Rapid Break-Even Time http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol33/breake...
10 Profitable 鈥淕o-Out" Home Businesses http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol31/goout....
Low Cost Startup Businesses http://www.entrepreneur.com/lowcostbusin...
6 Hottest Businesses on the Web http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/web.h...

You can also check out the following books:

Turn Your Talents into Profits: 100+ Terrific Ideas for Starting Your Own Home-Based Microbusiness
The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century
121 Internet Businesses You Can Start from Home
The Best Internet Businesses You Can Start
101 Ways to Make Money at Home

To give you ideas on what exactly do you need to start your own business, here are ten things you need to know before launching your own business 鈥?0 Things You Need to Know When Starting Your Own Home Business鈥?http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/start... .

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This site has some ideas. You may want to check them out.