The Work From Home Work Dream - Simple Steps to Make it a Reality

Do you wish you could work from home? I've been making a living from the Internet for 13 years and I think the work from home - work at home model is simply fantastic. Is it easy? No. And that's the big misconception.

For some reason, when people think about Internet-based businesses they somehow believe that they will be easier to start than off-line businesses. I've been in this industry for a while and I just don't think that's true. Yes, it is true that there are work from home, work at home opportunities today that just didn't exist ten years ago. But it's also true that free markets are rather efficient. As new opportunities present themselves, the ever-enterprising capitalists take advantage of this fact and race to those opportunities quickly. As a result, competition today for your work from home work dream is fierce. If that's what you're after, you will have to work for it.

So where should you start? If you are new to this idea and doing research to see how well it is going to work, I have some strong advice for you. First off, hold onto your non-work from home job as long as possible. It is a slow road to ramp-up your online income. It is simply fantastic to have a paycheck coming while you do this. Additionally, there are many things about how the Internet works that simply favor time. Google, for example, likes older domain names than new ones. Pagerank accumulates over long periods of time. Growing your email list is a long-term initiative. These are all things you will learn about.

So let's get practical now that you've agreed not to quit your day job while we figure out exactly how you will support your work from home work dream.

First, I want you to join Amazon Associates, Google AdSense and Commission Junction. These are all free programs that have robust support teams. You need to do a ton of reading on how they allow you to make money from their considerable brand power and market presence.

Next, you need to start developing a presence on the Internet of your own. You need a virtual shingle. If you are technical, fantastic. You can do this at no cost other than your own time. If you are not technical, I want you to buy an Niche Income Store from IncomeStores.com. I am closely involved with this project and talk to participants every day who are making money with this inexpensive software platform. It's turnkey, so you'll be up and running with Google, Amazon, eBay and Commission Junction in no-time.

Finally, you need to start to get involved with the online work from home - work at home community. You need to join forums and start to network with people. See, for example, the forum at Forum.IncomeStores.com for robust discussions about how to use online tools and marketing strategies to maximize income from Amazon, Google, eBay and Commission Junction. There are many others. Find a few where you feel comfortable. Be critical of forums where the responses are short or too sales focused. You need information and strategies. Over time, if you become a regular, you will find you are making friends in these online communities with other work from home types. This is critical. A few of them will someday give you an opportunity to work together on a project. I've done this through forums. Virtual teams, just like face-to-face teams, are much more powerful than you sitting alone at your computer.

Follow these steps and put in the appropriate amount of hard work required to start you own work from home business and you will be pleased with the results. Just remember that it won't happen over night. Anyone who tells you it will is simply not telling the truth.