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Creating Your
Own Home Based Business
by 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 ground floor 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 a dud by the charlatans who seem
to come out of the woodwork at the mere whiff of a victim,
or, 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, lead lighting 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.
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical home business ideas for the work-from-home
entrepreneur. Visit http://www.ahbbo.com
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