My preferred route to start a home business is to start an online business. The reasons being that the start-up costs are minimal compared with an offline bricks and mortar enterprise. So if it is not a success, you can try something else online without losing a lot of money.

So what kind of online home busines can you start? There are a few options available.

1. Sell items on eBay.

2. Promote affiliate products.

3. Sell your own product - physical or digital.

4. Refer someone else's business and collect refer's fees.

None of these methods are simple although all of them are achievable. The method you choose will depend on your personality and interests and experience. For example, someone interested in rabbits could use that knowledge to promote affiliate products related to rabbits or start their own product and sell it themselves.

Once you decide what to sell, you need to educate yourself on the methods used to generate traffic and convert sales.This is often the hardest and most overlooked part of setting up an online business.

Then you need a website to show the world that you exist online. This is best done by using a website editor package where the website building and hosting and site submission are all included for a set fee paid monthly or annually. The advantage is that you save designer fees. You also have control over the web site. For example, you can make a quick change to your site yourself without having to contact your web designer. Some packages include blogging facilities and eBook publishing software as part of the deal.

So there you are, that is the basic route available to start any online business. However, it is only a map and you must make the journey yourself by taking action and this is what stops most people from achieving anything. To learn the business, you have to get going and inevitably make some mistakes all the way. As long as you learn from these mistakes, it is still a step to your ultimate goal.

(c) John Lynch