There are a lot of people out there who are excited about the idea of working from home and starting their own home based business. Unfortunately the opportunities to do so are somewhat limited unless you are willing to work really hard. Basically there are two types of home based business ideas that you might hear about. One kind is designed to make money for the person selling it, and the other kind is a legitimate idea but will require a tremendous amount of effort on your part. Most pitches you will hear try to combine these two into a fantasy that does not really exist: they are trying to sell you on an idea that they say is super easy to do and will not require much effort on your part, but will still make you bucket loads of cash.Some of the home based business opportunities are simply busy work that actually equates to making less than minimum wage. For example, stuffing envelopes or taking internet surveys online generally works out to be worth only about a few cents or maybe a dollar an hour. If you do manage to turn one of these flimsy ideas into a profitable side business for yourself then you will be working like a dog to make it happen. Is that really what you want in a home based business? Probably not.There are ideas out there for good home based businesses but they all require real work on your part to make them successful. There is no shortcut to success, but that does not mean that there are no good opportunities out there.

The best home based business is the business that lets you reach your goals. When deciding on a home based business it’s a good idea to evaluate what your goals are for your business and what benefits you are looking to gain from starting your business. When I talk about benefits, I am talking about things like making more money, having more free time, getting out of a job that you hate, etc.Nobody goes into business just for the sake of going into business!Ask yourself what you really want to gain from your business and be truthful with yourself. Do you want to get out of the rush hour drive? Is more money the main reason? If money is the main motivation, are you looking to make an extra income or to replace your full time income? Is the freedom to set your own schedule part of the motivation for you?Understanding the real reasons you have for starting your business will go a long way in helping you to decide what the best home based business for you will be. Ask yourself the questions above and write the answers down on paper. Get a clear vision of what you intend to gain from your business. Without this vision you will likely find yourself bouncing around from one idea to the next since you have no real vision of what you truly want from your efforts.Starting and running a business of any kind takes time and work to make it successful. Without a clear vision of the benefits that you will gain it will be easy to lose focus on your dream and eventually this will lead to frustration and possibly cause you to give up all together. In my own business I have found that when I got clear on my goals and why I was doing all this extra work instead of watching TV with my family, things became much easier for me.For me the best home based business is an Internet based home business. In answering the very questions that I listed above, it became clear that the Internet was the vehicle that would lead me to my goals. So what about you? When it comes to a business that can provide you with the income and still give you the freedom and flexibility to work the way you want, the best home based business might well be an Internet based business.