Revised - The Best Home Business

The Best Home Business
Written by Kevin Kannmacher

So, you want to start your own business? You have worked
at a large corporation, and decided that you can do better
than they can. Besides, look at how much they charge their
clients. If you could charge just half of that, you could retire
so much sooner!

I do not know what it is about large corporations that
bothers me so much. I compare the intelligence of most of
them to the reliability of a product. The reliability of any
product is based on the reliability of each of its components.
Perfect reliability would be 100%. For example, if
something consisted of five components, each with a
reliability of 95%, then the product's overall reliability drops
to 77%! To me, this is similar to the "intelligence" of a
corporation. Many intelligent people work there, but as a
group, the overall intelligence seems to drop considerably.

You only need two little things to get started down your
entrepreneurial path of having a business of your own, 1)
Products, and 2) Customers. Actually, these are very big
things. Customers are a business' reason for existing. Put
another way, customers allow a business to exist. And to
attract customers, you must have something to sell.

There are several alternatives available to you. One solution
is to buy a franchise. With a franchise, you buy the whole
package including store, products, operating procedures, and
usually enough market recognition to get at least a few
customers walking through your door. However, you had
better have access to a lot of cash to purchase a franchise.
Some of the more well known chains will cost you more
than $1.8 million per store!

Another alternative is to buy a business that is for sale
through a business broker. Like many other things that are
offered for sale, it is usually better if you know something
about what you are buying, including the current owners,
the products, or if any specialized knowledge is required. If
you work through a business broker, they can help guide
you. Of course, it is very useful if you have had direct
experience in the business that you are considering to
purchase. Depending on the financing arrangements, this
option will also require significant capital.

There is always real estate. Many people have been very
successful at building large businesses in and around this
market. I believe that "bargains" will always exist in real
estate, but like everything else, they take a great deal of
effort to find. This industry provides you with several
options. You can buy properties only to rent them at a rate
higher than your cost. You can buy properties to sell at a
higher price. Or you can be a real estate broker by bringing
buyers and sellers together and collecting a commission fee.

The last method that I am going to discuss is Network
Marketing. This industry is known by other names such as
multi-level marketing or MLM. The basic premise of
Network Marketing is that the products can be sold face-to-
face without stores or middlemen. This industry has created
some negative images in people's minds. I am sure that
many have an aunt or uncle somewhere that is still not very
welcome at family reunions because of trying to sell you
something that you did not need or want. You can still hear
them saying, "This is the best vitamin mixture in the world,
and it also can be used as a wonderful car wax! All you need
to do is buy a measly 300 gallons!"

One fact about this industry is that for usually less than
$500, you can be set up to sell select products or
services. The internet has enhanced some of the marketing
methods in the Network Marketing industry. The Web
allows you to reach the attention of potential customers
faster and less costly than before. The potential for an online
business is huge with over 165 million homes with internet
access in the U.S. alone! It has also been estimated that
online holiday retail and travel sales will be nearly $12.0
billion for 2001.

The "best" business is the one that you have a sincere
interest and desire in. If you can not become passionate
about the business that you want to start, then you probably
do not have a match. You will become a statistic in the
businesses that failed. So before creating your business,
listen to yourself, and to those that are close to you, to see
what creates that spark in your eye when you talk about it.

________________________________________________________________

Kevin Kannmacher is a Strategic Business Consultant
exploring marketing opportunities on the internet. Visit his
website at http://www.InitialSuccess.com for additional
information and other FREE marketing articles.