But before you get carried away, ask yourself this: 

"Do I really want a business at all?" 

Not long ago, I heard a representative from an online lead company, a company that generates leads for the Network Marketing industry, say that many of the people who come through their home business website are really looking for an online job. The Internet equivalent of stuffing envelopes or some other simple task. 

Knowing this, they now screen out the home workers to ensure the quality of the leads they supply. 

Would screening leave you out? 

Maybe what you really want is a more rewarding job! 

Or just a spare-time task that will bring in a few extra dollars, now and then. 

If it really is a home business that you want, there are some decisions you'll have to make and some challenges you'll have to face. 

There are also some things you'll have to avoid. 

What do I mean? 

The Internet is rife with unproven schemes and bona-fide scams that are being passed-off as business opportunities. 

A lot of them abuse the Multilevel Marketing model by offering products or services with little or no real value to give their so-called opportunity the appearance legitimacy and keep it above the pyramid laws. These can include overpriced web hosting that isn't used by most of the participants and overpriced, online newsletters that go unread by most subscribers. 

The untold secret behind such programs is that no one really wants the products for themselves, they just want to make money by promoting the make-believe businesses on the hype-driven pitch: the one they fell for. 

Safe lists are another favorite scheme. For a recurring monthly fee, you can send email to every member of the safe list and receive hundreds or thousands of emails from everyone on the list in return. 

Nearly all of this email is funneled into junk accounts, expressly set up for that purpose at yahoo or hotmail, and deleted. It's the old game of sellers trying to sell to other sellers... incestuous marketing with an unhealthy outcome: you spend your money, you waste your time, and you ultimately lose. 

Mail-order had a similar inner circle of so-called dealers and dealer wannabe's who whiled away the hours and wasted their resources circulating an endless stream of 'hot new' money schemes among themselves. 

With subsidized postage a thing of the past, this game has become too expensive to play but as we all know, email is pretty much free which means SPAM and safe lists are where its electronic equivalent now resides. 

And there are also the money games that don't even pretend to offer a useful product. 

A legitimate business offers a real product or service. 

And a legitimate home business takes thought. It also takes work. 

A lot of people try to bypass the thought and work that's needed by signing on to a scheme they hope will magically put money into their pockets without having to use any brain power or very much effort. What's worse, when it doesn't prove to be the magic ticket to wealth they had envisioned, they abandon it for the next irresistible set of hype-driven promises they see. 

A real business doesn't work that way. 

Businesses are built with time, money, thought and effort... consistent effort over the long term. 

But because sharp con artists know that fabricated promises that turn on greed glands are exactly what so many want, they're the ones who put in the thought and effort necessary to quickly separate the thoughtless and the lazy from what little money they do have. 

There are legitimate MLM's and Network Marketing companies out there. They sell real-world products that people buy and use... products with intrinsic value that often outclass their everyday rivals on store shelves. 

So if you do want a home business, don't automatically write-off MLM. 

Today, a good MLM can be a quick way to start a home business because most companies will do the order-taking, paperwork, and product delivery leaving you free to do the marketing... the challenging, fun part of the business... and the part that actually brings in the money in Multilevel Marketing or any business. 

If you get into a business like landscaping, for example, you still have to do marketing if you hope to acquire customers and make any money. And do everything else, besides, or hire some good help to do it. 

Multilevel Marketing companies supply the products, services, and infrastructure. And the hired-help that takes care of most of the details, leaving you free to concentrate on the good stuff. 

Viewed realistically, any business in which you're doing the more mundane tasks, yourself, is just another job. And probably not a very good one, at that! 

So what do you want your business to be? 

Do you really want a business at all? 

Are you ready to give it the thought, work, and time it requires? 

Look to yourself for some honest answers. 

It's the only way you will ever find both happiness and success in any business... online or off. 

It's also a good way to keep from getting ripped-off. 

Most important of all, it's the only way of making your business whatever it is you want it to be. 

Larry Stepanowicz 
© Dollar Lines Online 
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Reprinted from Dollar Lines Online, an original content
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