To help you know what to look for when considering an internet based home business, here are 20 questions to ask.

1.Is there a large market for products? 2.What type of person would use product? Nearly everyone or only people from a narrow demographic? 3.Are there a range of products to suit a range of human needs? 4.What is industry trend? Rising, shrinking or stagnant? 5.Imagine five, ten and 20 years into future. Can you see this product still being popular? 6.Is product one that is consumed by customers and need to be replaced on a regular basis? 7.Is product one that can build customer loyalty? 8.How is product delivered to customers? Drop ship from warehouse, over internet, or you deliver it? 9.Is there are proven business system, or do you have to create one? (ouch!) 10.Will they provide you with proven sales material? (links, banners, classified ads, sales letters etc) 11.Will they give you leeway to develop your own promotional material? 12.How often will you receive a commission check? 13.Do you get a large percentage of each sale as your commission? 14.Can you be notified electronically of a sale? 15.Is there a reputable sales tracking system? Can you access this online? 16.Is there training and support? Do you have someone to talk to or are you left on your own? Is this round-the-clock and both online and offline? 17.How long as company been operating? 18.Do they have a track record of meeting their promises to affiliates? 19.Is company listed on a stock exchange and meet corporate legislation? 20.Who runs company? Are they well respected and credible?

When you're contacting an employer for first time by e-mail, custom is to not include a cover letter but instead to provide an introduction in body of e-mail itself. Your resume can be attached in Word format. The introductory text you include in body of e-mail has same goal as a cover letter: to establish a personal relationship. But it is less formal than a cover letter.

Now for a brief word about what a cover letter should not be: it is not a summary of your resume and should not look like a form letter (even if it is one). Also, a cover letter should not include information that's not in your resume. Some busy managers and recruiters simply skip cover letters and don't read them. However, sending a resume to an employer without a cover letter will give them impression you're randomly sending your resume to lots of companies and don't really care in particular about their firm. Unfortunately, you'll create same impression if you send a cover letter that looks like a form letter and isn't customized at all. Even worse though, person reading resumes may have spent an extra 20-30 seconds reading a letter that did not provide them with any additional information than was in your resume and did not take advantage of opportunity to start a personal relationship with person.

An exception to all of this is if you're posting your resume on a job board. In this case, recruiter bears some of responsibility in starting relationship. Here's an analogy to explain this: if you're looking for a date and you approach a woman (or a man) at a bar with a canned pick-up line, they'll probably respect you less than if you said something original. On other hand, if they were to approach you at that same bar, they would be ones who'd have to come up with a way to introduce themselves.