In today's world there never seems to be enough money made by working for someone else that's why the number of people looking to work in their own home based business is skyrocketing. The U.S. Department of Labor reported in 2004 that over 15% of the work force over 16 years of age worked at home, that translates to over 20,600,000 people.
There are many choices to work from home anything from the popular service business (landscaping, window or gutter cleaning, maid servicing and so many others). To online opportunities (network marketing, MLM, affiliate marketing and more). I have been involved in a conventional home business for over 25 years, I owned and operated a window and gutter cleaning service. The business was very profitable but it came with a cost. The work was physically demanding constantly climbing up and down ladders, the hours were long and when you hire help you have to constantly make sure the work is done to your standards. Plus you have to keep good records for tax purposes and dealings with the government.
After 25 years of my home business the physical labor part of my work became too much to bear, when I let my employees do all the work the quality of the work went down along with the amount of work completed plus the bottom line suffered, service businesses have major problems when it comes to keeping employees around for a long time, most good employees realize that they can make more money working for themselves, our business was a business that the investment was minimal but the pay out was great (as long as the weather was good).
As long as you intend on being on the job site or you can find key employees to act as field supervisors the service business can be a great business for you. The most money I ever made is when I worked with one helper who was with me everyday, it was easy to make a few hundred dollars a day. When I decided to grow is when the headaches started.
Any businesses that rely on individuals that are not in the trades (electricians, plumbers etc.) are individuals that will not be around on average for a long time. The main reason for this is that service businesses typically pay their employees a very low wage, if you are going to go this route your best bet for an employee is go to your local college and talk to the career counselor there and have them help you find good students who want to work part time, you normally will have these individuals for up to 4 years, they are easy to train and they appreciate the work. Also when they graduate they normally can help you find a replacement.
These are the reason I got involved in the internet and over the last 3 years I tried many different opportunities, everything from MLM companies to affiliate marketing like Clickbank, Amazon and Commission Junction these were okay opportunities but I never made enough money to cover my time or expenses. This brings me to Network Marketing by definition it means: a business in which a distributor network is needed to build your business. There are many choices and companies out there to choose from unfortunately most are a waste of time and money with little pay out, but there are a few that offer real products and real opportunities.
The best way that I found to find the right company is by joining opportunities that allow a free sign up so you have nothing to risk then you can learn what there system and products are all about once you join a few and compare the payouts and training it will help you make an informed decision. This works because I joined about 7 opportunities this way I learned which one was the right one by doing my due diligence. It takes a little time and effort to make money in a home business, there is no get rich quick plan out there that really works, if there was I would have found it by now!
My favorite choice is to make a living online the computer is an amazing machine if you work it right it is like a non stop cash generating machine, the internet is still an infant and only is going to grow bigger and bigger, plus with more and more people wanting to work at home an online home based business is the way to go.