It doesn't have to be a perfect home business but one that you enjoy and have skills to manage the day to day projects.

Day by day people scour the internet looking for a home based business to set them financially free. What happens more often than not is that people end in worse shape than when they started. Why you ask? The answer is not so simple.

The key to finding a home based business starts with knowing yourself. That means knowing what you are good at and what you do not do well. You must also be honest with yourself when doing this. We would all love to be perfect in every aspect of life but the truth is we are not and we have to accept this fact. This is important because picking a business in which most of the tasks that need to be done are your strengths will increase your chances of success. For example let's say you are not much of a talker. You do not talk much to people who you do not know and you keep to yourself usually. You are however extremely organized and love to write. It would most likely be in your best interest to be an article writer or ghost writer. They do not require you to do much talking or go to meetings all the time.

The next thing you need to know is the product or service that you will be offering. The more you believe in your product or service, the more you will sell.

Now before I go on there is a handful of people in the world that could sell ice to an Eskimo or sell water to a fish but these people are the exception rather than the rule. For most of us if we do not believe in what we are doing we will not reach the level of success that we desire. People will be able to tell if you believe in your product or not. So if you are looking at a network marketing company try being their customer for a couple of months before you join the business.

Once you try the product or try the service then you will know how you feel about it. On top of that you will be more prepared to answer question about it because you have become familiar with it.

Pick a business that relies on your strengths and a product or service you can believe in you have to choose what your budget is going to be. Remember that most home businesses take at least months before you really start seeing results off so it is important to keep within a budget until then. If you decide to join a mlm you may have the type of sponsor that says you should buy this or buy that it will really help your business. Remember that you need to stay within your budget. If the recommended items are out of your budget ask your sponsor to rank the items by importance. This way you can stay in budget and get the items most needed first.

OK now you have your business, our product, and your budget now you are ready to start your business. Just remember that it is a business and should be treated as such. Running a home based business can be more difficult than running a traditional business. Running a business from home offers many distractions; Kids, TV , your bed, etc. You could have followed this guide perfectly but mess this up and you will not succeed. If you do not take it seriously you will just be wasting money and wasting time and since how most people start up home based businesses to have more time and more money you would be defeating the purpose. Make sure the home office is secluded so that when you are working you cannot be distracted.

Now that you have your business running you must market it. Marketing is how you get customers. Now there are many forms of marketing such as newspaper ads, flyers, TV ads, mailing lists, pay-per-click ads, power-linking, and many others.

How you market your business is up to you. Each technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Obviously you will want to keep your budget in mind when picking a method of marketing.

Diversify your marketing as much as possible, and remember... the more people that see and know your business the more business you will do.

Whatever home based business you choose should be well thought out with at least an outline and preferably a business plan. You don't need to detail every little item or task but have a general idea of what you want to do, when and how.

Most online businesses fail within 2-3 months as opposed to 9-12 months offline. Why? This is a multiple answer question and somewhat complex but it can be boiled down to these reasons:

1. You don't pick a topic or subject you are excited about and have skills to weather the ups and downs and long hours to persist. 2. You don't want spend or don't have the financial resources. If you treat your new business like a brick and mortar store, you will be more likely to succeed. 3. You aren't ready to go through the frustrations, long hours and budget drain that a new business entails. 4. You aren't willing to learn new things or be 'coachable'.

If you do the above, your chance of succeeding has just entered the 'most likely to succeed' category!

And DON'T choose Internet Marketing as your home business as it is dominated by very shrewd and aggressive marketers.