Is it really a free home based business opportunity? Can I make money without paying anything at all? – Those are about the most often repeated queries put forward by people who are hoping to find a way to make money at home online. People who see an advertisement for a free home based business opportunity want to be reassured that “free” means it will never cost them a penny to run their home based business and that they can easily make money at home online without investing anything. I’m amazed they could even start to believe such a thing could be possible.When people ask me the “is it really free?” type of question, I give them an honest answer. The answer to both question is usually “yes, but…” and they tend to be disappointed and feel that they’ve been tricked and that the advertisers lied when they offered a free home based business opportunity. It is true that fortunes can be made from a free home based business on the Internet and it can be easy to make money at home online but that is not the whole answer.I am completely anti-hype but I don’t think all Internet advertising is as misleading as people often claim. If you consider the average Internet advertisement, its wording is no worse than the standard “up to 50% off” claims we take for granted in offline advertising. We know that only a selected few items will actually be reduced by 50% and we don’t feel at all cheated if we find a bargain with just 20% off its usual price. The thing is, people see things differently when they are searching the Internet for ways to make money at home online, their expectations are far higher, they are more willing to believe improbable claims and their disappointment is, therefore, quick and keenly felt..If you tried to tell the same people that they could make money at home with an offline business without incurring any costs, they would laugh you out of the auditorium. However, the Internet is a strange environment and people need to get acclimatised before they can recognise a legitimate way to make money at home online and to understand what is “free” in the context of a free home based business opportunity. After just a small amount of experience, people will realise that the free home based business opportunity is going to cost them money one way or another if they want to see profits accumulating at any significant rate. The ones who persevere also eventually realise that the cost of running a free home based business online is far less than the cost of running an offline business.Let’s think seriously about starting a business. First, how about an offline business. Suppose you decide you want to open a shop and sell dresses. Before you see any profit at all, you will have to pay out for premises (rent and taxes), services (fuel, water, phone), stock, insurance and advertising. If you are going to continue with your current employment while you build up the new business, you will also need to find staff and add wages to your list of expenses.Now let’s think about our free home based business opportunity on the Internet. You need to budget for a product (the equivalent of the stock of dresses), a website (the equivalent of the shop premises) and advertising. The list is shorter and now the Internet home based business opportunity is looking like a much better deal by comparison. The products can be obtained either free of charge or for a small price, the cost of a website is small change compared to the cost of premises, this will be a home based business, so you won’t incur any additional service charges or insurance. An Internet home based business can be set up to run 24/7 with just a couple of hours work a day, so you can continue to earn money at your currently employment without having to spend anything on staff wages. That just leaves advertising costs.Advertising your free home based business is the thing that’s going to take up the biggest part of your budget. If you were opening your first shop on a limited budget, you would not be able to afford large premises in the prime part of the busiest shopping district where you would benefit from passing trade. You would have to be content with a small side street based shop and, to make customers aware of your business, you would have to advertise. In order to get a steady stream of visitors to your shop, you would need to advertise consistently and continuously. You would need to place your advertisements where they can reach your target market and you would need to make sure your advertisements appeal to your prospective customers so that they would be prepared to make the detour from the main street to check out your products.The Internet works in the same way. Nobody will know about your new free home based business unless you tell them. You can have the best website in the whole word but, if you don’t advertise it, it would be like keeping your shop door locked, the blinds closed and the lights off. No visitors means no potential sales and that inevitably means no profit. You have no advertise, simple as that. There are many free advertising resources available online for your home based business but you need to be selective as, although there are some very good free advertising resources, the results to be obtained from the free companies are not always as good as paid advertising. Another factor to consider is that using the free advertising resources can take up a lot of time and you need to place a value on your time and decide how it can be spent to best effect.A free home based business opportunity does sound like the ideal thing for the numerous people who are looking for ways to make money at home online but are unwilling or unable to spend any money to do it. Many people leap into the first free home based business opportunity they see advertised and just as quickly give up when they find out they need to invest time and money in order to make money at home online with an Internet based home business. If these people would think things through, they would realise that starting an online home based business is far less costly than starting an offline business and the stage of getting into profit can come very early. Even if a free home based business it is not entirely free to run, being your own boss rather than being someone else’s employee is priceless.

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

Over the years I’ve reviewed many “get quick rich” programs. They essentially all say the same thing or make the same promises about earning thousands of dollars a week part time, with very little effort. Typically they start with a story about how the individual who started the program was a step away from being destitute, and then persevered and discovered a secret formula of building wealth, and will sell that secret wealth building formula to you because there is so much opportunity with this formula, that everyone can be successful.

While I am far from being a cynic, I do look at these programs and know that it is never that easy. Starting a home based business takes hard work. Sure there are hundreds of benefits, and the potential to earn a full time income, and possibly even become wealthy starting a home based business. However, over 95% of people fail. People fail at their home based businesses for a lot of reasons, but primarily because they go in with improper expectations and without a real plan or timeframe to build their business. Let’s discuss what to expect when starting a home based business.

Whether you are a mom looking to start a home based business, a retiree looking for part time income, or anyone else looking to work from home in your spare time, you have probably searched the internet and come across dozens of business opportunities that makes a lot of promises, and provide a lot of testimonials about how much people have made with a particular program. While I do believe that this information is true and accurate, and that you can make a lot of money with a home based business, you need to have a realistic approach and use some common sense. Here are some guidelines on what to expect as you build your home based business, and some “gotchas” to fight through:

1. Don’t expect to make money right from the beginning. A home based business takes commitment and takes some time. You should have a business plan or at least a timeframe on when you expect to make money, and work towards that goal. I think so many people fail at starting a home based business because they believe they will make money within a few days of starting the program, and when they don’t they get discouraged and quit. Set realistic goals and as you meet those goals you will be on the right path.

2. Setting aside time to build your business can sometimes be a challenge. Mom’s looking to start a home business may have to drive their kids to different after school activities, as well as a host of other things. Other people have other commitments in their life. The beauty of a home based business is that it’s your business and you can go at your own pace. I know for me, there have been times when I had other commitments and went a few days without being able to focus on my home business. That’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. Make a schedule, even if it’s only for 20 minutes three times a week, and get something accomplished. The key is perseverance.

3. Find a program or a business that is fun for you or something you really believe in. Start a home based business by looking at the things you know and like, and instead of it being work, it will be fun. It’s much easier to find time for things you enjoy or subjects that you really understand and are interested in.

4. Don’t look outward, but from within. Although there are many people who can help, you really need to help yourself. There are a lot of mentors, and don’t get me wrong, you should find one or a group of them that can help give you guidance, instruction and tips. However, do not expect someone or a program to do it for you. You need to be independent to a certain degree, and willing to try different things all the time. The success of your home based business is really up to you and you alone.

5. Be willing and ready to change. As you continue on with your journey to build a successful business from home in your spare time, keep in mind that when you just get started there will be a learning curve. How you start may not necessarily be the way you end up. Through trial and error you will learn the best tactics and strategies and the best way to manage your home based business. Remember, every time you fail at something, you are learning how NOT to do it, and you are getting closer to be successful.

There are so many people who want to make money from home, and build a successful home based business today, that it’s inevitable that many will try. Unfortunately, a lot of these same people will fail because they will have the wrong expectations. Expect hard work. Expect that nothing comes easy. Expect a sense of accomplishment by owning your own home based business. Expect success will take time. If you accept these conditions and work through them, you will be a success in your home based business, and will reap the rewards of the hard work and dedication you committed to.