Regardless of which path (job or business) you choose, first step is to figure out what business or work-from-home opportunity you want to pursue. There are many excellent information sources such as public libraries and Internet sites that list seemingly countless home business and work at home job opportunities. The abundance is so great that it might well lead to confusion.

One of most important factors is often overlooked. This is your personal inventory. Often this will yield some direction and focus to business or job selection process. Assess yourself and your situation. Write a resume for yourself that includes your background, education, training as well as any particular on-the-job skills you possess that could possibly be used in a venture or job. Also look at your leisure-time activities and hobbies, because many businesses result from a person following their "passion." Ask yourself how much time you can realistically put into a business venture, given your present commitments.

Once you have determined general type of home business or work at home job that you want to undertake, it is of critical importance that you do your homework (research) to select specific opportunity where you are going to make your "investment" (some combination of time, effort and money) in working at home.

3) Contact information- Does business have contact information available on their site? Can you call them? Do they have a physical address? A legitimate business will have that information posted on their site in an easy to find spot.

4) Ethical business practices- The Direct Marketing Association has posted a set of guidelines for Ethical Business Practice at http://www.the-dma.org/guidelines/ethicalguidelines.shtml . These guidelines include such things as: *terms of offer *advance consent marketing *special offers and claims *marketing to children *sweepstakes sites *fulfillment of orders *collecting personal information and data on your website *online marketing *telephone marketing *fund-raising *laws, codes, and regulations

Know what to look for beforehand.

5) Does company offer goods or services? Legitimate businesses will offer some type of goods or services for any fees they charge. A company that claims you can make money by recruiting new members is an illegal pyramid scheme. If company charges a fee, they must offer some type of service or product. Two great websites on fraud are Internet Fraud Watch www.fraud.org and National Consumer's League at www.nclnet.org.

6) Ask, Ask, Ask! If you do a search on business forums or discussion boards, what will you find? Thousands of websites where you can post and ask questions about business. Chances are that opportunity you are interested in has already been discussed many times over. Seek opinions of other people who are building a home based business. The advice is priceless and well worth your search efforts.