Sunday, October 28, 2007

Navigating the waters of Internet Home Business Opportunities


Due diligence and thinking big!
By Gary W. Miller Jr.

If you're like me, you've sat down at the computer and began searching online for business opportunities. Not just any kind of opportunity, a home based opportunity. You've probably typed various things into Google. "Earn money from home", "Make money part time", "Internet business" and ultimately you've been inundated with site after site promising everything from millions to mansions and everything in between. I remember scratching my head both excited about the possibilities but also equally cautious. The news media, our parents, and life in general have taught all of us to have a healthy dose of skepticism. So with that in mind, I decided to dig and find out everything I could about these "amazing" opportunities. With that in mind, I've put together a series of steps over a few blog entries to help you navigate the waters of Internet home businesses.

The first thing we all encounter when we begin out Internet business search is that their are a lot of people involved in Internet money making opportunities. That's good news! We now have to filter out what's junk and what isn't. This is commonly referred to in the Internet business community as doing due diligence. In basic terms it means researching information about a person or business.

You may be reading that saying, "Ok that sounds responsible but how the heck do I go about doing it?"

Step One:

Do basic Internet searches on home based businesses on the Internet. Visit a lot of pages. Let me rephrase that, visit a TON of websites. Consider this window shopping. You'll notice immediately that many of the pages look the same. The ones that stick out though, for whatever reason, bookmark them in your browser. You'll be coming back to them to really start investigating. Right now, it's just about seeing what's out there. Spend some time doing this and I highly recommend you do it over multiple sessions. In other words, come back later in the day and do some searching or put it away for a few days and search some more. This will give you fresh perspective each time. Remember, the point of this step is not to sign up, deeply investigate, or even email someone. It's simply to get you exposed to the variety of businesses out there.

Scan the content of each website but don't agonize over every detail. That will come later when you're narrowing down your opportunities to the ones that you seriously want to investigate. Believe me, their will be plenty of time to pick apart the many pitches. I will show you how to do just that in later lessons. For now, bookmark the ones that look promising. The reasons they appeal to you will vary; the money looks great, start up costs are low, the website looks really professional, you really like the audio clips, whatever. Again this isn't about deep investigation, it's about first impressions. As you know, first impressions are everything so go with your first gut reaction. It will certainly pay off later.

Ultimately, have fun with this. You will absolutely, without a doubt, go to many websites that are advertising pure garbage. However you will also land on some that have some great potential. Let your mind get excited about opportunity. Remember you don't need to know exactly how it all will work, but you can already begin to foster positive thoughts that success will happen! I remember sitting down after doing some searching with a pad and paper and I started writing down all the things I wanted to have in my life that a little more or sometimes a lot more money could help with. A simple exercise like this really gets the juices flowing and the effect that such thinking can have on your future business is unparalleled. Your thoughts have power!

So get something to drink, get comfortable, and get to searching. I'll see you back here next time for step two; Making Contact and Reading between the Lines of hype advertising.

Live Radically!
Gary

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post. I want to run a business one day, and I've thought about a home-based one. And yeah, a lot of them can be very shady. I’d like to buy a business instead of starting one from scratch, but I haven't found many good opportunities that sound legit. Any suggestions? Advice? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Jennifer -- Have you looked into small business groups in your area, like your Chamber of Commerce? They might be able to direct you to the right places and help you.

I also recommend BizTrader.com, which is an online global marketplace where you can buy a business, and even sell a business. There's a wide selection (legit) of businesses for sale, so I'm sure you'll be able to find what you're looking for, home-based or not. You can also find a lender or broker. Check it out and good luck!