I am currently running a website about home based businesses that I started a few years ago. It is a simple guide to home based businesses. It is basically an informational site and the main revenue is from ads and not from product sales.

Every quarter or so, I will get an email that will read something like this:

"Please, I want to make money on the Internet."

In the beginning, I took the trouble to craft a few paragraphs as my reply, essentially repeating what I said on my website. I would also ask about the background of the sender, so that I may be in a position to better understand what he wants and what he can do.

I don't think I ever got a second email. The sender was probably looking for a simple turnkey solution and I didn't offer him one.

Come to think of it, there was an instance when somebody emailed me and told me he liked my site very much. And that he would very much like to join my site. It took me a moment before I realized that he was thinking that my site was some sort of business opportunity that he could join and make money.

I designed electronic circuitry and wrote software programs for a living. I studied electronics engineering for 3 years at the polytechnic to get my diploma, and it was only after about 5 to 10 years of working experience that I consider myself good enough to ask for a salary of a few thousand dollars a month.

Many business opportunities are marketed with claims that a few hundred to a few thousand is attainable in the first month. And the potential income claimed will skyrocket after that. And they will claim that any Tom, Dick and Harry can do it, with no experience and an hour or two a day.

What can I say except, "Use your common sense."

If you were approached on the street and offered $100 to deliver a parcel to a nearby address, what would you do?

You will run away like you were planning to break a few Olympic records right?

Unless you are Miss Universe, he is just not going to offer you $100 to do something so simple. You know that something is not quite right. Besides, why can't he do it himself? But don't ask him that 'cause he is going to have an excellent excuse.

The Internet may be cyberspace but things are no different from the offline world. Stop looking for a quick kill, put your nose to the grindstone, do your homework and sometime soon, you will be the proud owner of a successful home based business.


About the Author

By David Lim. David Lim is the webmaster of a website about starting a home based business. He assumes a no nonsense approach and holds nothing back. If you want to start a home business, his site is worth a visit.