In researching "work at home" keywords mentioned above, there are 73,636 daily real world searches according to Web CEO for those keywords alone. These statistics show that you can make money in work at home opportunities and it is a driving force for would be entrepreneurs to flock to internet as a means to make money online. An even more staggering statistic is that according to Web CEO there are 36,145,000 competing web pages for these terms. That's quite a bit of information to sort out if you are researching work at home opportunities to make money on internet. With so much competition out there and so many web sites wanting you to visit them for your work at home needs, how can you know what home business opportunity works and which home based business idea is a flop that will leech your hard earned cash from you? With all that competition, nature of web as a home for unscrupulous to take advantage of our naivety, and lack of credible information available through such web sites, it all adds up to a dangerous combination for would be work at home enthusiast.

Almost everyone has visions of "Great American Dream". And there probably isn't a one of you reading this article that hasn't been fed up and sick with their present job. Faced with hype of these work at home hucksters combined with get rich quick dream and more and more people hating their jobs, more and more people are being lured to these sites as a means to solve their making money from home needs. People will sign up for every home business program they can, copy and paste some text into their hastily built websites, add a signature line to their emails and forum posts, add lines of text to their business cards, and then sit back and wonder why they aren't too successful with their newly found business opportunity. All too often these home business opportunity seekers get scammed into self perpetuating programs or other get rich quick schemes. Most of these schemes only pay off for those at top of chain who found program in it's infancy before everyone and their brother was promoting it, or are ones that founded scheme and a way to entice people to promote it.

The reality is this. There are only a couple sure-fire ways to start a home based business to make money at home through online endeavors. The first is to create your own product or services and find ways to sell them online. This type of work at home business opportunity is always a sure bet but, like everything else, takes time, effort, and money. You will make money at home quicker in a work at home business based on this business opportunity model because you are one receiving profits; not some other company you are promoting which decides what it is going to give you in commissions. You call all shots, you own products or services sold and you determine what they should cost your customers. Best of all, you don't have to worry about credibility of home based business opportunity.

The next best way to realize your dreams to make money from home in a work at home business opportunity is to sell other people's products or services. This is tricky part where affiliate programs come to mind. This particular home business can help you make money on internet if you are careful in way you go about it. The first thing is to check company's credibility. Is it a realistic home business opportunity where you can make money, or is company's information so full of hype and promises that it's just to good to be true? Keep in mind that a realistic home business opportunity takes time, effort, and money. But there are also limitations to spending that money too, especially when a work at home business opportunity promoter wants you to pay money in exchange for making money online.

Don't get me wrong; old adage "It takes money to make money" is true. But money spent should be money spent in producing your products or services, or spent in marketing you products or services for sale, NOT to show someone you are "serious" about their work at home business. Be very careful of these types of home based business opportunities where they want you to pay for "privilege" of promoting their products or services. From my experience, most of these work at home or work at home opportunities are scams, or self perpetuating programs. Remember that only ones that prosper from these types of home business opportunity are either those that start them, or those that find them before everyone else is promoting them and before people begin to learn truth behind this type of scam.

There are unexpected pitfalls and disadvantages, though, in owning and operating of a home-based business. Some are psychological, some are emotional, and others are purely physical. The unexpected stresses of a home-based business are really one of major obstacles that need to be overcome by business owners. Many new business owners are unprepared for just how much stress is involved, actually.

Home-based business stresses usually fall into three overall categories:

1. Psychological : Employees, Finances, Legal, and Operations

2. Emotional: Family, Friends, Change of Personal Routines, Personal Disruptions, Isolation

3. Physical: Sedentary Lifestyle, Poor Eating Habits, Overwork

Many business owners, in order to prevent psychological stress will have plans in place for dealing with these particular stress factors, prior to their occurrence. This is a proactive approach that is infinitely better than having a reactive approach to these occurrences.

Each business owner should have a financial plan in place for times when orders or clients are few and far between (slow times), as well as a good accountant to call when necessary. Each business owner should also have a lawyer who they trust and can turn to for advice if necessary (we do live in a very litigious society). And each business owner should have a plan for sickness among employees and hiring and firing protocols firmly in place. Machinery and replacement of business supplies should also be well planned in advance, and purchased according to well laid out plans for expenditures.

Leadership skills will need to be developed, as a new business owner who is used to being part of a team, will find working alone and "being in charge" a somewhat difficult transition at first. Books on leadership skills abound and it is a good idea to do readings on development of these to proactively avoid psychological stress that comes with this change in roles. Working alone and making decisions alone is quite different from conformity and decisions made within a group.

If a proactive approach is taken, psychological stresses of a new business can easily be prevented, or at least lessened.

The emotional stresses of a home-based business are usually a bit more difficult to ascertain and tackle when they occur. Some of these stress factors can come directly from well-meaning family and friends, unfortunately, and approach is of course, much different. Since a home-based business is directly tied usually to home life of an individual, there is less chance to escape these stresses, than with a traditional method of employment. A new birth in a family, a death of a loved one, illness, or simply a change of schedule of another family member, can greatly impact daily workings and routine of a home-based business.