Today, working at home online is one of the greatest privileges which an individual could have. This is more if an individual can do it profitably.

That is not to say that working at home online is not hard work. It is not even about the thing that it is the easiest thing to do. Actually, one thing which is extremely important is being able to have the discipline to work. This is as much and as hard as you would if you were punching a time clock.

If you work online from about 9 AM until about 6 PM and you do this for 5 days a week, and sometimes if you have given some commitments for a new product release or you are working on a web site, you many need to work for many hours in the evening. However, those are days that when you would have finished the day and when you know that although you have been working for 9 hours, you actually wrote or designed or created for 3 or 4 hours. So, what are the advantages of working from home

1) You can set your own hours of work and you can work days, nights, or split shifts. However, it is important to schedule the time to work.

2) You have flexibility at home and when you want to take off, you can actually do that.

3) You have all the freedom of knowing that you are the controller of your income. You will be paid exactly what you are worth and you get nothing more, nothing less.

4) You can work in just about any field you want to work on and you can choose.

5) You can work on any project you choose and you can balance your time on that. If you want to write articles, you can do that or if you are keen on designing a web page, you can do that or if you want to write sales copy or email your subscriber list, you can do that.

There is a very important issue about time management here and that is the fact that you need to know yourself. If you know you write better earlier in the day, you can do that and then leave your busywork to do, like answering emails or studying stats in the later part of the day. You can do that when you are fresh and you can design when you are fresh.

If you have researched the facts and after you have weighed the pros and cons and have finally decided that a home business is right for you. But now you need to figure out what type of business you want and how to proceed with marketing this business.

There are many types of home businesses but not all of them are right for all people. You need to ask yourself these questions: Do I want to start my own business from scratch Do I just want to join an MLM and sell for someone else Do I want to sell physical products or digital products Do I want to do all the work online or offline too Do I want help with my business or do I want to go solo Do I just want to become an affiliate and sell other people's online products.

MLM/Direct Sales - The Company you sell for is in control of how you run your business. You are paid a commission for sales and usually have to recruit a downline.

Distributorship - You are in control of your own business. You keep all profits and do not need to recruit a downline.

Digital Products - Selling digital products such as ebooks is done online and there is no need for an inventory, shipping or worrying about damaged goods.

Affiliate Programs - many people make a good online income just by selling other people's products.

Service Provider - This would include such things as virtual assistant, party planner, pet sitter, etc.

These types of businesses can be combined to form one very successful business. Such as applying for a distributorship and then also offering ebooks on your online store site.

Once you have chosen your business and gotten all your permits, tax numbers, etc, you will need to start marketing your new business. There are countless ways to do this online and offline.

Offline Marketing :

Offline marketing would include: business cards, flyers, attending your community events and networking, attending expos, craft fairs, trade shows, postcards, phone calls, newsletter advertising, door hangers, radio, fundraisers, school functions, catalog distribution, mailing lists, home parties, car magnets, brochures, seminars, yellow pages and more. Use your creativity to come up with your own unique marketing ideas.

Online Marketing :

Marketing strategies online include: link exchanges, search engines, autoresponders, online auctions, email press release, online chats/seminars, ebooks, blogging, tutorials, ad swapping, ezine publishing, article marketing and much more!

To market your home business takes a lot of work, consistency, time and commitment. Handing out a couple business cards and throwing up a website will not suffice. Work as many as these marketing ideas as you can. Find out which ones really work for you and then expand on them. Then try more!

I want to make sure you understand that you cannot treat your business as a hobby. If you want a successful business with a full time income, you have to work your business full time. If you find one of these programs that claim you can make thousands a week for 5 minutes of work, (that actually work) please let me know. In the meantime, start using some of these ideas and get your business name out there!