Can anyone help me think of a good small business idea? I am fed up of corporate life!

[WideWebWitch]

That's it really. Dh and I are both working full time (well, I was, contract ended so not atm), and would rather work for ourselves but haven't got beyond idly contemplating it and sighing over 'Women doing it for themselves' articles in Eve magazine. So the criteria are:

Low start up costs
Low overheads
Potential

The skills we have between us are:

photography/artistic/IT skills/website design (DH)
Business acumen, finance/acctg/project management skills (Me)
We're both tenacious and reasonably persuasive (so I reckon I could sell an idea to a bank/other backer if it was a good one)
hard working when we have to be

We would like something
ethical
with potential to be sold eventually
Web based maybe?

So, I do realise this is the holy grail of wannabe small business owners everywhere! but hey, I thought it was worth asking you lot for any ideas anyway. Everytime I see some woman who's making a living with a classy caravan site/selling olives/making Grobags I wish I'd done it. I am out of work atm and could spend some time on research etc if I could come up with a decent idea. All thoughts and comments welcome!

ok will do

Is itg something you want to do though cd?

i can remember your surname but not the spelling! email me at countessdrac at hotmail dot co dot uk

dunno...

are you on msn? I have you on mine but you are not signed in

Just emailed you!

dh uninstalled it when some teenager started talking to us because stepsister's 11yo daughter had installed it. So I don't have msn atm, although the hotmail add you have is prob the right one, unless it's the www one, I haven't used it for over 30 days so it's probably deactivated now.

I've been out to lunch with dps sister and mum, so

to answer that question I am at or just past break even and have to have a major push to make a living but I expect to be well up for that at a modest level by the end of the year..but I have got to do some work to make a few changes and up the anti, I have been a bit bogged down the last month or so on the house build

Wordsmith would you mind if I CAT you with a view to perhaps taking on some marketing?

Haven't read all the posts, but what about baby/family photo's, and you could go one further and do the photo's at peoples' homes which would reduce your need for a premises of your own in the short-term. Something which definitely has a market as most people like to get a professional photo of their kids at some point, and if you could go to their house it would make the whole experience more relaxed for everyone involved.

just bumping this in case wordsmith is around

zippitippitoes do you trade totally online???

I am looking at shop premises. Main bit of shop will be pocket money toys and possibly a party room for hire, there is also room for activity tables or something else. While you are all thinking creativly I need ideas what else I could do in the shop, I am happy to chage my ideas nothing set yet. Biggest question is should I go into brickes and morter or continue to float about in the WWW with little or no customers.
Sorry for the hijack .