Home Based Business - The Most Valuable Piece of Advice You'll Ever Get

With so many unfounded claims of striking it rich with a home business, this article filters out the noise and boils down to the critical components of ensuring you choose a business that's right for you, and that you don't fall victim to the 97% of failed businesses every year.


You want to generate a massive income from the comfort of your home, spend more time with your family, retire early and rich, Right?

I definitely do. I believe that everyone has the right to realize the American dream...

Maybe start your day with a delicious, relaxing breakfast instead of an "eat-on-the-go" meal while you're battling traffic on your morning drive to the office?

Come and go as you please without having a boss on your tail about how long you were gone for lunch or why you can't take vacation that week because that's the week he is taking vacation?

Live a life of luxury and build something that is a real legacy to leave behind?

If you've answered an emphatic "Yes!" to each of these questions so far, then chances are good that you already possess the entrepreneurial traits and millionaire mindset required to be successful in a home business venture. But if you've ever had your own business or if you've at least researched business opportunities on the Internet, then chances are also good that you've realized that having characteristics of an entrepreneur are not going to guarantee your success.

Have you ever invested in a small business or purchased some of the many (MANY) "how-to" products out there only to wind up in a position where you've just invested your hard-earned dollars in something that did not generate the return you were banking on?

Well, there's some GOOD NEWS and there's some BAD NEWS.

The Bad: There's a nagging statistic in America that irritatingly points out that 97% of businesses will fail within their first 2 years. And we're talking about 2 years of grueling 80+ hour work weeks, including weekends, barely scraping by to make ends meet, fighting for a shining glimmer of hope not to fall victim to this very statistic.

Out of the 3% that survive their first 2 years, approximately 90% of those businesses will fail to become profitable and will wind up closing their doors, going bankrupt, and then leaving the business owner with a nightmarish load of debt to carry for eternity.

So what's the good news in all this?

The Good: As best articulated in his phenomenal, inspirational, and very widely read book, "Think and Grow Rich," Napolean Hill points out right up front that successful people all throughout history have shown, through empirical research (Hill spent most of his adult life on research for this book), that there are four things that together creates a monstrous force within a human being to compel him or her to succeed at whatever it is he or she is pursuing in life:

1. Thought - "this" idea that just hits you like a ton of bricks

2. Desire - that burning sensation that no matter what, "this" is it

3. Faith - utmost confidence in yourself that "this" is right

4. Auto Suggestion - continually telling yourself that "this" is going to happen

Altogether (along with a few other very useful concepts), having these four variables working favorably for yourself with a focus on your mission and goals, you are essentially guaranteed to succeed.

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you're still searching for "the right opportunity," then chances are that you haven't yet found a GREAT, legitimate business that offers you a simple and proven path to generating a healthy income from home. In fact, most offers you see on the Web deliver empty promises and over-inflated hype like "Make an easy 6-figure income from home without lifting a finger, sitting around in your underwear while boat loads of money are automatically deposited into your bank account..."

Any savvy business-minded professional should run, and run fast from these types of claims.

So let's consider your options:

1. Create your own product - lots of research, design and legalities to maneuver, investment of your entire savings is required 99.999% of the time or else forget about getting private investors to fund your business idea, hopefully you've assessed the market well enough that people actually buy your product AND that you're business consequently becomes profitable

2. Buy a franchise - HUGE initial capital investment, long hours by you personally managing the operation and employees, if done just as the franchisor (essentially, your boss) told you, profits may start trickling in approximately 2-3 years

3. Start an eBay store or your own ecommerce web site - invest in inventory, find products with a high enough margin to be profitable, stock inventory yourself or drop-ship (drop shipping model eats into most of your margin), and then maybe survive all the stiff competition to be a $50-100K per year business (yeah, there are people making tons of money, but they are savvy and have been doing it right and continually perfecting it for years)

4. Get involved in network marketing or direct sales (but not multi-level marketing) - limited initial capital investment, products are already packaged, tested and there is a proven market demand, exceptional leverage of your time and money, multiple streams of income so you're not relying on only one source for your family's bread and butter, very few organizations offer true ongoing support to help you build profitable business

I'm a big proponent of the network marketing and direct sales model (but not MLM), for new entrepreneurs who have never had a business of their own, for career changers who want something bigger out of life, to semi-retired folks who have built and sold several businesses over their lifetime. This is arguably the best option of all. Did you know that 95% of all home businesses are usually found in the network marketing or direct sales industry? When you're looking at the direct sales industry, the compensation model is best suited to replace your current full-time or six-figure income when compared to anything else out there. Just food for thought.

Final thought:

Do your due diligence before selecting a home business. You want to find a reputable company that has top-tier products that are standalone (can be placed for sale on a brick-and-mortar store shelf), has an excellent compensation plan, offers a supportive community to help you build your business, and has industry leaders building their businesses with this organization (this shows you that the best of the best are there, which means you probably are selecting a very good organization to work with).

See you at the top!