Are you interested in starting your own home based business, but not sure where to begin? Why not start with yourself?

Here are a few steps you can take to determine what you really want to do. But first, have a pen and paper ready in front of you...

Done? Ok, here we go...

1) What Are Your Hobbies?

Write down all things you love doing in your own free time. Don't hold anything back, because I'm not here to examine your answer. There is no right or wrong here, only truth, only what you feel straight from your heart.

Why do this? The answer is because hobbies are a great source of motivation and energy for anyone. If you're willing to do something without being paid, you'd definately do it for money. The only difference is, money will only come second, as compared to immediate satisfaction you get from doing what you love. Write everything on that pice of paper.

2) What Specialized Knowledge Do You Have?

In your current or past jobs, you would have accumulated a great deal of knowledge on a certain subject. Thanks to your boss, you may have become an expert at something. And this expertise, believe it or not, can help others around world. Don't let this go to waste.

So write down any specialized knowledge you have. Write down any specialized skills you may have developed too, and it could be in sales, event organization, public relations, accounting, counselling, etc.

3) What Corner of The Book Store Do You Go to First?

When I heard someone ask me that, I was like "What? What has that got to do with anything?".

It has got to do with everything. Which corner of bookstore you visit FIRST usually indicates which topics you love reading about. In a conversation with one of my team members a week ago, I asked him same question, and his reply was "Well, Gobala, I never thought about it, but I actually go to self-help section first, because I like reading about how I can improve myself to be a better human being."

Ditto. Your sub-concious actions may hold answer to your problem. Now we're getting somewhere, so write YOUR favourite section down on that piece of paper.

4) What Did You Love Doing 5 Years Ago?

Most Internet marketers worth their salt know how effective articles can be to generate promotion for their web sites. The major problem for many is simply writing article.

This article shows you exact steps I usually take to construct an article to achieve maximum publicity for my web site. By following this model you will be able to do same quickly and easily.

1. The Big Idea The very first stage is to get basic theme of your article. The inspiration for my own articles often comes to me when I am 'switched off' and doing something completely different.

The theme for your article should be closely linked to theme of your web site, in order to attract targeted prospects.

2. Write The Title And Introduction At first this is only a rough introductory paragraph or two, and I do not worry too much about exact wording at this stage. My introductory paragraph(s) simply tell reader what article is about. I usually write my first idea of a title for article at this point too.

3. Sketch Out The Content I brainstorm major points I want to cover, and write them down, one after other. I do not worry about their order, my major concern is getting ideas in my head down on paper. I may even write down odd sentence or paragraph to back up each point.

Once I've got basic outline, I look at order of points I am making, switch them around if necessary, and make sure I have written down everything I want to cover.

4. Fill In Content This is when real meat of article is written.

Each of points I have briefly written down before need filling in. I need to explain what I mean, and go into further depth.

You should not fill your article with affiliate links to sites you want to promote, nor link to your own web site unless absolutely necessary. Publishers do not like it and many will ignore your article. If you want to link to a quality in-context resource, link to main web site URL instead. You get ample chance to link to your own web site via resource box at end of article (more details below).

Also do not make any part of your article sound like an advert. Publishers are looking for quality articles that will be appreciated by their subscribers, not solo ads for your web site. You have plenty of room to link to your own web site in resource box.

For maximum chance of your article getting published, you are looking at an ideal length of around 800 words. I would also ensure it is not less than 600 words, or more than 1000 words - although I must admit I do occasionally write longer ones.