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These days it's not easy to make ends meet, which is why many people are looking at home based businesses to make sure that they have sufficient income to meet their monthly obligations. A home based business can allow you the financial freedom to enjoy an added income stream, or a full time living if you make the right preparations and choose the right business model.

 One of the key ways to ensure that your home business is successful is to leverage the knowledge that you already have, so if you've been in sales take advantage of that and have a go at Internet marketing, which uses the same principles, just different channels to reach a far wider audience.

If you have experience in consumer goods then choose a home based business that is based on the same principles. You can often make just as much, if not ,ore money than you would doing a nine to five job.

However there are certain differences that need to be taken into account such as the fact that as a home business owner you are responsible for all your costs. This includes you medical care and your IRA. So make sure that what appears to be a healthy income stream does in fact take these factors into account.

Before you start your home based business you are going to want to make sure that your expenses are kept to a minimum, at least while you find your feet as a self employed businessman or woman. Your home is the perfect base as, in affect you are already paying the rental for your business premises. However you may have to upgrade some of the tools that you will be using to run the business.

For instance if you are using an Internet connection that is slow you may have to look at a different plan in order to send larger files more quickly and if you're going to be running a business based on an Internet model and host your own website with ecommerce functionality then you'r certainly going to have to improve your current IT infrastructure.

The good news is that there are plenty of service providers who can remove much of the burden from your shoulders. Finding a supplier of ecommerce functionality is actually extremely easy. Many of these suppliers will not ask for a monthly rental agreement, but will take a percentage of each transaction. This may be a preferable option while the business is still in the start up phase.

For those who are slightly more at home with risk there are other options such as becoming a day trader in stocks and bonds. This is a high risk business and certainly not a recipe for getting rich quickly. For every success story there are hundreds, if not thousands of disappointed investors.

So the golden rule should be followed. Stick with what you know, but use new tools to achieve your objectives. The reach of the Internet makes it easier than ever before to start your own home based business.