Has the idea of starting your own home business ever crossed your mind? If it has then you are not alone. No matter if you want to replace your full time job or just have some additional ‘walking around’ money, there are tons of opportunities out there for the motivated person.  But no matter what type of work or program you get involved with, there are a couple of hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing a home business that will keep you from wasting your time (and money) and get you started on the right path. The first (and most important) principle: find out where the money is, and start there!

This may seem very obvious, but the beginner looking to start a home business falls into this trap more often than not. A quick lesson in what I mean. Say that you’re contemplating the start of a new home business and all of a sudden this awesome idea pops into your head. You’ve just come up with an idea that (in your mind) will change the world.

As you delve into the idea even more, you realize that you’ve never seen anything that comes close to your revelation anywhere, and you start to feel really excited! In your mind’s eye you begin to see dollar bills raining from the sky and accumulating in big piles on your front yard as you imagine how much money you’re going to make with this ground breaking, life altering product.

Now take a deep breath!

The likelihood of you finding a new product that you want to make money with that doesn’t have any competition on the internet and does not appear in stores, magazines or catalogues, is almost impossible. Remember, we’re talking about a home business here that you can get up and running quickly and start making money.

As an aside, I don’t want to discourage anyone with a great idea that may have the potential to change people’s lives for the good to not pursue their dream. The steps to take and the time involved to make that dream a reality, however, are somewhat different than starting a home business from scratch.

  Now you might be thinking ‘but wait, if I can get in on the ground floor of something and it takes off, I could be a zillionaire in just a couple of short years’. While there may be a one in a million chance that this could happen, pioneers exploring new territory also get something else; lots of arrows in their backs when they’re blazing these new trails. The world of business is chock full of small businesses, products, books and services that never made  asingle penny.

  After the owners had their product or service developed and spent lots of money and hours of work on their project, they ran right into a hard truth about business; they didn’t see if there was a market first before they created their product. And if you don’t have a market, it doesn’t matter how perfect or unique your product is- if no one pays money for it, you are out of luck (and a lot of time and effort).

  The order of these business steps is sort of like putting your pants on in the morning- sure, you could put your pants on first and then your underwear, and there’s nothing wrong with running around your house like this pretending you’re Superman or Batman, but you wouldn’t want to go outside like this ’cause people would notice!

One of the most important concepts in business is to find a market first, then build a product for that market. Because unlike people noticing that your underwear is on the wrong way, they won’t even notice your product, because there’s no market to notice it.

Of all the niches out there, one that many would be entrepreneurs still flock to is the internet marketing niche. Although the demand for these products and services is off the charts, the competition in this niche is brutal.. But many savvy home business entrepreneurs are learning everything they can about how to use the internet to market to their own particular niche, be it knitting, golfing or any other category you can think of.

  If you’re interested in learning how to use the internet to market some sort of product or service online, then check out Home Business CEO. These two entrepreneurs have put together a recipe for anyone trying to own their first home business or even start an internet home business from scratch. Warning: the sales letter is a little over the top, but don’t let that put you off. These guys know what they’re talking about and the info that they provide for getting off to a good start is second to none.