1. Go out and do research, find resources, bring them altogether and then build a business from scratch

or

2. Start a turn key business that has everything you need to get started in one place including training, support, products and websites.

This article refers to business group number 2.

Believe me when I say not all work at home business opportunities are created equal. I learned hard way. Like an over excited greenhorn with dollar signs in his eyes I started a total of 5 Internet work at home businesses all within 1 week of discovering they even existed. That was equal to about $250/month in subscription fees!

I was basically a textbook example of what not to do.

Save yourself expense and effort (not to mention embarrassment of having to tell people about it later) by making sure any business you are interested in checks out for following points:

Most important - does company sell a product or service that is good quality, people want to buy and you would be proud to represent? Boom industries include health (e.g. vitamins, alternative medicine), communications (e.g. cell phone subscriptions), Internet marketing resources (leads, info products, articles and recordings from experts about building a business) and Internet technology (e.g. web building tools, face to face video conferencing). There is more but they are a good place to start.

Does business look professional? - you can easily get a "vibe" for a business by its presentation. Is web site beautiful? Does it load easily? Is spelling and grammar correct? While presentation is not only thing to look for in a business it can be all you need to decide whether to look further.

Is earnings structure fair? - usually payment plans in work at home business opportunities are confusing at best. But what you want to be sure of is that you are going to be fairly rewarded for your efforts. Typically you will be expected to either sell product or get new members to join your business before you make money. The latter is preferable method because then you have other people making you money as well. You should start earning once you have 3 to 4 people in your team. Be sure you know exactly how it works because there are companies around that expect you to have a team of 12 members before you see a cent; too hard for a beginner.

Early settlers understood if you are going to build a community, build it near a permanent, abundant source of fresh water. And that's why in all countries around world, communities were built around streams, rivers and lakes. That's good common sense.

Now let's apply that same wisdom to developing a business.

If you are going to develop a work from home business, develop it near a permanent (or long term), abundant source of cash flow. You'd agree with that wouldn't you? Again that's good common sense.

More succinctly, you identify where huge amounts of money are being spent in a growing industry with good long term prospects.

The Internet complies with these criteria better than any other industry in history. Gold, silver, coal, oil, LPG have all been massive industries but you either had to leave home to stake your claim, invest more than average person could ever afford before even seeing your first dollar, resource dried up and opportunity ended or industry became obsolete.

If current Internet and e-commerce trends continue, which at moment there appears to be no reason why they wouldn't, indeed a new age in consumerism has arrived. The statistics speak for themselves.

[U.S. online retail sales are expected to reach $65 billion in 2004, and will continue to grow by a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent through 2008 to top $117 billion, according to a report issued from Jupiter Research.

"Market Forecast: U.S. Retail 2004-2008," growth in online retail will be due in part to new online buyers, not just veterans, who have come to embrace medium. Jupiter expects that online buying population will grow by 14 percent in 2004, representing 30 percent of U.S. population. By 2008, one-half of population will make purchases online.

Online retail growth will be fueled by another factor: increased average spending per buyer. In 2004, online buyers are expected to spend an average of $585 person, up from $540 per buyer in 2003. That trend in higher spending is expected to increase over next five years: Through 2008, average spending per buyer will be close to $780 per buyer.] Taken from an article by Laura Rush, Clickz.com