Creating Your Own Home-Based Business

Elena Fawkner If you're looking for a way to make money from home and
you've been online for any length of time you will have quickly
become aware of the preponderance of business opportunity
sites and ads for many and varied business opportunities.
In particular, you've probably been bowled over by all the
promises of the fabulous internet riches that can be yours,
if you only join so-and-so's innovative new groundfloor
opportunity that everybody who is anybody wants in on.

This week I received an email from a subscriber asking for
my opinion on a particular business opportunity. She was
asking what I "really thought" about it because she had
been "burned so many times in the past I just don't know
who to trust". Sound familiar?

I've received several emails like this over recent months from
people who have been dudded by the charlatans who seem to
come out of the woodwork at the mere whiff of a victim, er ...
prospect. This latest one though got me wondering exactly why
it is that so many people seem to be looking to make a profit
from promoting or participating in someone else's business
opportunity or product rather than creating their own, using their
own ingenuity. And this applies not only to scams but to
legitimate business opportunities (yes, they DO exist). After
all, no matter how legitimate the opportunity, at least some of
your hard work and effort is going to benefit someone else.

Now, admittedly, promoting someone else's product (such as
by way of affiliate programs) is a good way to get started in your
online career, but it's not going to make you really serious
money. By "serious" I mean sufficient money to represent a
worthwhile return on the investment of time and effort you must
expend to earn significant commission income. By spending the
same amount of time and effort promoting your OWN business,
your return must necessarily be much greater. After all, you keep
100% of the profits for the same work!

Why is it that some people, let alone those who have already
been burned, keep looking for someone else to deliver the
answer to their prayers rather than creating it for themselves?
Or worse, give up entirely? I'd be willing to bet that, for a goodly
proportion, the answer is "I don't have any products of my own
to sell" or "I don't have any good ideas" or "I don't know where
to start".

Now, it may be that you're just dabbling with the idea of an online
business and, for you, promoting a few affiliate programs while you
gradually get more involved is a good place for you to be right now.
Many of us started out doing exactly that. But for those of you
who are ready to get into this in a serious way, have you thought
about doing it for yourself? Why not let go of the idea there is
a perfect opportunity out there with your name on it if only you
can find it, and instead devote your time and your energy to
creating it using your own brainpower?

I believe, absolutely and without equivocation, that ANYONE can
make money with their own business. The key is to make sure that
what you choose for your business is something you are passionate
about. If you are passionate about what you do, your natural
enthusiasm and motivation will lead you to develop ways to exploit
that passion in a way that can generate income.

Let's say one of your absolutely favorite things in the whole world is
gardening. You've always loved to garden, you have ever since you
first got your own place and you do it every chance you get. Think
about how you might translate that natural interest into a profitable
business endeavor.

Here's just one suggestion how you can turn your green thumb to
your financial advantage: start a gourmet herb business! You could
indulge your passion for gardening by planting a herb garden in your
backyard, drying and packaging the herbs you grow and marketing
them to a niche market. Your niche may be the gourmet market,
for example. You might decide to experiment with various
combinations of herbs to come up with some exotic gourmet herb
blends that are truly original.

You would need to invest in a small greenhouse perhaps and learn
about how to dry herbs and all the other facets of a herb business.
But once you've mastered that, and experimented with various
blends to create a unique product, it's simply a matter of packaging
them attractively for your market.

As far as marketing's concerned, this would take place both online
and offline. You will, of course, have your own website from which you
offer your exotic herb blends for sale. Your website would contain a
profile of all the various herbs, what they are good for, recipes and
other resources that your site visitors would be interested in. In time,
you may even expand into producing herbs for the homeopathic
market! You could supplement your website by publishing a weekly
or monthly newsletter devoted to all things herbal, including hints and
tips for your subscribers wanting to grow their own herbs or who
are interested in the health benefits of herbs.

Offline, you could approach local businesses in your area to stock
your products and attend weekend markets to build your profile.
By placing advertisements in local newspapers and taking an active
role in your local Chamber of Commerce you would make the
contacts that you need to become known within your local community.
Other ways to indulge your passion for gardening while at the same
time operating a profitable business venture include: growing your own
vegetables to produce gourmet pasta sauces; starting a packaged
seeds business or a garden design consultancy service. It doesn't
matter. Just make sure it has something to do with what you are
truly passionate about.

Gardening is, of course, just one example. Perhaps your
passion is sewing, needlecraft, woodworking, computers, sports,
parenting, travel, automobiles, leadlighting or any one of a million
other things. There is absolutely no reason in the world why you
cannot take that passion and convert it into a money-making
enterprise, particularly with the internet as a marketing medium.

So, for those of you looking for the right business opportunity "out
there" somewhere ... STOP. Let go of the coat-tails, reach inside
yourself and grab the one thing you are TRULY passionate about
above all others. It is your ticket to a profitable, home business of
your very own. And best of all, it's 100% all yours.

About the Author

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical home business ideas for the work-from-home
entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com