Congratulations, you have made the decision to start a home-based
business on the Internet. this is the first step towards financial
independence for you and your family.

For a business to be successful, you will need to develop a complete
business plan. You will need to research the business that you plan on
joining. You will also need to set up a budget and work schedule.

When choosing the business that you want to pursue, you need to do some
research. There are 1,000's of business opportunities on the Internet and
100's of new programs coming out all of the time. Every one of them will
tell you that you will be successful. But lets face facts, if it was as
easy as they made it sound, everyone would be doing it.

The truth is, 95% of all Internet marketers fail. Why do they fail? The
majority that do fail, do so because of two reasons.

First, they tried to go into business without a workable business plan.
they sign up for a program, and start pushing out to everyone they know. A
lot of the time, they don't even know much about the program or the
products. They just know that their sponsor told them they were going to
make a bunch of money, so they run with it. Do you think that IBM or Pepsi
started without a plan? I don't think so.

A successful business must meet several criteria:

Is it a marketable product?

A legitimate business must have a marketable product to survive. Any
business depends on product sales.

Will I use the product?

You need to choose a business that has a product that appeals to you. It
is much more difficult to market something you don't use or believe in.

Can I teach someone else how to duplicate my efforts?

If you can't teach others how to duplicate your business efforts, how
can you expect to achieve success.

If your business can't meet these three basic factors, you may need to
reconsider whether it is right for you.

Researching your business is an important part if the decision process.
The more informed you are, the better decision you can make. Talk to the
person who presented the business to you. I suggest speaking on the phone
or through a live chat on the Internet. It is difficult to get to know
someone via email. Try to communicate with their sponsor, find out as much
information as possible. Go to one of the popular search engines on the
Internet, like http://www.google.com, and type in the name of the
business and you should get links to several other people's websites who
are also involved in that business opportunity. Contact them and ask about
the business. Tell them you are thinking of joining and want to get some
good information. Make sure they understand that if you join, it will be
under the original person you spoke to. Try to get the true story and not
a bunch of hype.

The second reason for failure is lack of upline support. If your sponsor
gets you to sign up and then forgets about you, your chances of failure
increase dramatically. Stay in constant communication with your sponsor
until you are entirely comfortable with the business. If your sponsor
won't help, try to contact their upline until you find someone to help.

Now it is time to put your business plan together.

The first thing you need to do is create a work schedule. No matter how
many hours a week you plan to devote to your business, write down a work
schedule. If you decide to work 10 hours a week, for example, decide which
10 hours you are going to work. Once you have a schedule in place, STICK
TO IT. This is YOUR business and you need to work the schedule. If you
have had a job, you were expected to work a certain amount of hours. This
is no different.

Next, you need to learn all about your business. Go to your website and
read every page and every word. I know this sounds very time consuming,
and it is, but it is very important. If you don't know your business, how
can you properly present it to someone. Knowledge is power. Take notes if
you need to. Sign up for any training that is offered. Learn about any
promoting tools or systems that are available.

Next, you need to set up your monthly budget. This should include the
cost of the business, as well as an advertising budget. You should
definitely have some money put aside for advertising, no matter how
little. As with your work schedule, once you establish your budget, STICK
TO IT. If you budgeted $50 a month to spend on paid advertising, spend
it. I know that life will throw things at you to make you have to change
directions, but this will be a key to getting your business off of the
ground.

The last thing I want to cover in this article is patience. Any
successful business will take some time to grow. Don't become discouraged
because you aren't making big money in the beginning. When you start your
business, make a commitment to work towards success for at least one full
year. Remember the old saying, "Rome was not built in a day".

Jim Clary