Type online business, home based business, or internet business into Google or any other search engine and you will get nearly 500 million results. It is literally impossible to research every home business opportunity that is out there. It cannot be done. Period. Instead, you have to narrow your search and realize that most internet businesses fall into one of several categories.

The main problem is that there really are a lot of categories: multi level marketing, direct marketing, affiliate marketing, survey completion, algorithmic racing software, foreign exchange trading, day trading, and the list goes on. Plus, to make matters even more difficult, many of them promise to provide you with: Your Yearly Income Every Month. There are usually at least 3 exclamation points after that sentence. Is this starting to look familiar?

The solution is to ask yourself 3 questions:
1. What do you want to do?
2. How much money do you realistically expect to earn?
3. Which business offers you the best opportunity for success?

What do you want to do?
If you are inclined to answer this question by saying, I Do Not Know, then you need to spend a little time going over it. Unscrupulous people depend on answers like this to tempt people with pie in the sky promises. In fact, studies have shown that less than 1 percent of home based businesses earn people a net profit of over $100,000 per year. So one of the best things to do, unless you have an extremely saleable and valuable skill, is to rule out any business that is offering you net earnings of over $100,000 per year. It is not impossible to earn that amount, but it is extremely unlikely. Also, spend some time asking yourself if you would really be happy completing surveys for products and services you have no interest in purchasing. Ask yourself if you will be able to devote the time necessary to learning about currency exchange rate fluctuations so that you can make a living hedging them.

How much money do you realistically expect to earn?
If you can be satisfied with an income of $100,000 per year or less, then focus on companies that offer a yearly income under that amount. That will weed out a lot of illegitimate businesses. On the other hand, if you really need at least $40,000 or $50,000 per year then do not spend your time investigating businesses that offer less money than that, but entice you by saying, It is Possible You Could Earn as Much as $50,000. If earnings like that were at all likely, the company would have quoted that figure in the first place.

Which business offers you the best opportunity for success?
Answering this question is part art and part science: or if not science than at least logical thinking about whether a particular business is one where you should be investing your hard earned dollars. Some of the basic questions you want to ask are: how are current economic conditions affecting this industry; is there a great deal of competition in this industry; will your income be dependent on selling something or encouraging other people to join up with you in some way through seminars or networking.

After you have answered these questions to your satisfaction then you can begin the process of due diligence on whether a particular company can deliver on what it promises. This is a subject for another article, but when you have gotten to this point you at least know that you have done a lot of the heavy lifting and are on your way to earning a good living from your home computer. Check back here or on our website for more insights into determining which home business is the right one for you.