By Sharon Logan Logan

We’ve all dreamed of working from home harnessing the power of the internet, haven’t we? You know, the dream where you get to spend lots of time with the kids at the beach. Or the one where you get to sleep in if you feel like it or meet a friend for coffee in the middle of the day.

Well, should you do it? Should you take the plunge? Take this quick quiz to see whether starting an internet business could work for you.

1. I expect that starting up my own internet business
will cost me:
a) Nothing
b) Between $100 and $500 per month
c) Over $500 per month, it’s very expensive to start up

2. I expect that every day I will work on my new business for approximately:
a) 0 hours, after I’ve set it up, it should run itself
b) 1 to 8 hours
c) every waking minute

3. I believe that setting up an internet business is:
a) Easy, any fool could do it
b) Requires learning some new skills
c) Impossibly difficult, you have to be a technological guru

4. How long do you think it will take to be showing a profit:
a) within an hour
b) 1 to 3 months
c) 12 months or more

5. I believe that running an internet business is:
a) nothing like running a business in the “real” world
b) has many similarities to running an offline business
c) is much harder than running a business in the offline world

6. Advertising my internet business in some form is:
a) not necessary
b) essential, but relatively inexpensive
c) essential and very costly

7. Bookwork and time management are not my strong suit but I know:
a) that I won’t need to do either
b) a certain amount of both is necessary to know where you are in any business
c) something I will end up spending many hours on every week

So how did you go?

If you got mostly a) answers then you have unrealistic expectations of what running an internet business will be like. Don’t think about starting up until you’ve done a bit more research and have a better idea of what’s involved, otherwise you’ll just be wasting your money.

If most of your answers were c)’s then you’re probably not the type of person who should try running a business of any kind, internet or other. You need a certain amount of optimism and faith to start any enterprise and frankly you’re just too negative at this point in your life.

If you got mostly b) answers then you have a good idea of what you’re getting into and now is the time to do it!

Running an internet business does take time and money. The good news is it takes considerably less time and money than running most traditional businesses.

Let’s face it; overheads in the offline world are high. There’s rent, vehicle expenses, licences, staff wages, advertising and more. Once you have a computer, your online expenses are quite low, but you will need to spend some money on advertising, on your ISP costs and possibly on other monthly fees.

You will need to learn new skills. There is a lot to learn when you first start but fortunately there are lots of places to go for information and you never have to become some kind of super computer wizard if you don’t want to.

So, should you or shouldn’t you? It’s your decision!

About The Author

Sharon Logan is an Internet Entrepreneur and has run her own “offline” business for 7 years.
For a review of the best online opportunitiesbest online opportunities with “in-built” marketing visit: www.workfromhomebysal.com

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By elias georgi

There are literally thousands of home based business ideas that consumers can consider as a hobby or even as a full fledged business opportunity. The real question is how do you go about deciding which one will be profitable and which one will meet your personal needs for fulfillment and satisfaction. We will explore some of the criteria associated with this important decision and help you get started with your assessment in this article.

There are at least three main areas that all new entrepreneurs should consider as part of their assessment of home based business ideas. These are business viability and profitability; compatibility with your personality and needs and opportunities for long term growth both as an individual as well as for the business opportunity.

Viability and profitability is a key criteria, since no matter how much you might enjoy the business, if you cannot make sufficient money to pay the company bills and yourself, then you probably should consider another business. Many entrepreneurs will leap into something before they have at least completed a basic business profitability assessment. This analysis should include as a minimum the following attributes: study term should be at least 2 years, market potential, sales forecast, cost of sales, cost of purchase of product or manufacture of the product, all operations expenses, capital requirements for equipment and buildings, salaries, taxes, benefits, cash flow, profit and loss and finally funds that you may need to borrow to get started. While this seems like a significant amount of work, it can pay off by avoiding investment of time and resources into a business that never had a chance in the first place of being successful.

Next, entrepreneurs should make a very personal assessment of themselves to assess if they have what it takes to get a home based business started. Long hours, dedication and perseverance are often needed, as well as dealing with many startup related issues. Talk to other people in similar situations to compare notes and understand if you can deal with the rigors of starting a successful home base business.

Finally, everyone needs to feel successful, they need to feel that they accomplished something and they need to receive positive feedback from whatever they do. Although it is always difficult to make this assessment, it is important to assess your home based business idea from the perspective of whether you will obtain the kind of long term personal growth in terms of challenge, learning, and reward. Can the company grow over time into an entity that you will gain these rewards from in addition to the monetary reward.

Each of these areas takes some sole searching and you may not reach an answer quickly. However it is important that you complete these assessments in order to make the correct business decisions as well as personal decisions when you are assessing new home business ideas.

About The Author

Elias Georgi is an experienced and successful sponsor, mentor and coach for many thriving home businesses. Elias offers proven work at home business opportunities and strategies.