The most frequently asked question I receive as an Internet home
                      business consultant usually goes something like this; "I would really like
                      to start my own home business on the Internet, but I don't know what."
                      The short answer is - Start with what you know and enjoy.

                      There are a number of good reasons for this

                      By drawing on existing knowledge, you can concentrate on building a business rather than
                      learning about a new trade, product, or service.

                      Starting and running a home business means long hours and sacrifice. It is easier to do
                      when you are doing something you enjoy.

                      Selling what you know and enjoy is less difficult for non-salespeople. Selling what you know
                      and enjoy is less difficult for non-salespeople. 

                      The Internet offers unique opportunities for the home business entrepreneur. It creates
                      the ability to reach a much larger potential market for your product, service, or information
                      at a much lower price than through conventional advertising mediums.

                      The Internet and World Wide Web are still in their infancy. Right now, you can get
                      everything you need to put your business online - free. It is like someone offering you a
                      store (web hosting), full time staff (web pages, auto responders) and advertising (lots of
                      advertising) for free. All you have to do is come up with an idea for a product or service to
                      put in the store. 

                      One of my favorite examples is my mother's home business. She builds very creative and
                      unique birdhouses. She uses scrap lumber from a local sawmill (free) and driftwood from
                      the local beach (free), to keep her material costs low. Another local artist provides the
                      miniature sculptures for a percentage of the sales. She started by building and selling
                      these for the local tourist trade in Homer Alaska, and was doing ok. But when we put them
                      on the Internet (http://www.ptialaska.net/~cortez/) sales really began to soar. Not
                      everyone that would be interested in the birdhouses can afford to visit Homer, and we
                      certainly couldn't afford to advertise to the world in any other way. We were able to reach
                      this larger market by using free web hosting, design, and promotion services. Once we
                      developed a flow of traffic, we were able to create additional income streams by selling
                      other peoples products as well. (I'll discuss this further later in this article)

                      This business model can work for just about any product that can be shipped. What unique
                      item can you build using local materials? Do you have a craft or gift idea that is unique?
                      How about a kit or plans for something you have built? 

                      Information is another type of product. What do you know or know how to do that would
                      be of interest or value to others? You can either sell that information as a report, or a tip
                      booklet. Or you can give the information away at your store and sell other peoples related
                      products for a commission. The advantage here is that once you put your information in the
                      store it is done. You don't have to keep building it and shipping it. If your not comfortable
                      with writing your own material you can use a ghostwriter (http://www.home-work.net).

                      Another home business opportunity that is unique to the Internet is based on common
                      interests. What do you have a special interest in that others may share? Music, books,
                     computers, cars, gardening, collectibles, etc.…? The idea in this business model is to create
                      a site with information and resources available online of interest to others. Then you select
                      products to sell of interest to people that would be visiting your site. For instance, if you
                      had an avid interest in a particular type of music. You could develop a site that was a
                      resource for others with that same interest. The site could include links to artists sites,
                      reviews of the latest releases, concert tour information, photos, sound clips, interview
                      excerpts, a chat room, or discussion board. You become an "associate" of one of the CD
                      distributors online and receive a commission on CD's that are sold. The distributor does the
                      entire order fulfillment. The number and variety of companies that have an associate
                      program online is growing daily. They cover all kinds of products and services from gifts to
                      computers or web hosting to credit cards.

                      Start with what you know, apply some imagination, and open your low cost home business
                      online. The market is growing everyday - world wide.

                      Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/, your
                      source of FREEWare Content online. 

                      Bob Cortez has 20 years of sales and marketing experience. Through Total Quality Marketing
                      he is providing consulting services to home based entrepreneurs looking to expand their 
                      business online and take advantage of  the tremendous opportunities available.

                      Reprinted from Zongoo! Business