Okay, so someone just approached you the other day and asked you to take a look at something “so amazing and incredibly important”. Somehow you feel like you have an idea of where this is going but you can’t really say NO because the person is your friend, co-worker, neighbor or a stranger who just gave you a very sweet complement.So, “that” someone’s enthusiasm and “your” curiosity, force you to take a look at “that” something… Sure enough it is about a home based business and it starts like this: RIGHT COMPANY, RIGHT INDUSTRY, RIGHT PRODUCT, RIGHT COMPENSATION, RIGHT SYSTEM, RIGHT TIMING, and before going any further you lose interest.Question is: why do you lose interest? Well, only you have the answer to that. Some people say “I have been pitched so many times by those get-rich-quick schemes and I am not a fool!” Others say, “it sound too good to be true!” So, because we tend to be protective of ourselves, we give up on the quest and choose to accept the mediocrity that we live in.Here is the deal: There are opportunities to make money from home. And there are real home-based business opportunities. You just have to find them.But how do you spot one? According to Harvard Business Review, there are five areas you must evaluate whenever you are taking a look at a new career or a business opportunity:I. THE INDUSTRYWill you be providing SOLUTIONS to REAL PROBLEMS or NEEDS and not just luxuries? Are these problems and needs affecting a large group of people? Is there a trend that predicts that you will continue to provide these solutions for a long time?In short, there must be a need and a marketplace for what this business is operating. If your new career will be in an industry that is not expanding, sooner or later competition will clog the market and you will have to be very good at what you do otherwise you will not make it. Case in point: Remember when real estate industry started? You could make lots of money selling real estate even if you were not so good because there was less competition. Today, you have to be a very good sales person and a good expert to sell homes.To conclude here, you must provide solutions that improve the quality of life and provide peace of mind rather than more headaches. People are concerned about quality not quantity.II. THE COMPANYYou need to evaluate three things here:1. History: How long has the company been in business? If it is a start-up company, you are taking major risks because, first they have to meet market acceptance before they can market their products or services. If it has been around for a while chances are it will be here in the long run provided the market isn’t saturated2. Future: Is the company public or private? Public companies also trade their shares in the stock market which can be a good way to predict where the company will be in the future. If the company has been around at least five years and is publicly traded in the stock market, it has to be legitimate for two reasons:a. Being public means you report your claims to the public and you must be honest otherwise you will go down.b. The federal government would never let a company that is illegal operate for such a long time if it is illegal.3. Credibility: What do third party sources say about the company? What do the media say about the company leaders and their marketing strategy? If you have just received information about a company from the company website, it makes sense for the information to be convincing because it was provided by the company itself.III. THE PRODUCT/SERVICEA lot of people fail to evaluate this area because most of them are hyped in how much money they can make selling the product or service. Three things you must make sure to evaluate here:1. The Price: Is affordable? If you have a great product and the price is too high, you will shrink your market. Remember, your potential customers are the people that can benefit from your product or service. Most companies offer great products but their price is very high and the only way to afford it is to sell it. If a product can’t be purchased alone by the middle income family, you are going to sit on them before you can sell them. If your product is better than the one sold at Wal-Mart, but it is more expensive; no one will buy it – they would rather go to Wal-Mart so they can save!2. Uniqueness: This is one of the biggest problems that many people fail to study before jumping in home-based business. For instance, if you were approached by company XYZ to be their marketing agent. But they offer the same product that company ABC, MNO and JKL or at least products that solve the same problem, then you are in for competition.3. Easy to Use: Your product can’t require any add-ons otherwise you will have trouble selling. For instance, if you sell cell-phones but your customers have to also busy service from you, they can’t use Verizon or Sprint, and then you will limit the number of people that can buy your cell-phone. It is not “convenient” to buy a video phone, for example, if the only way to enjoy it is for everyone you call to also have a video phone.If your product is not affordable, unique and easy to use, you have to be a sales person to convince others that what you are offering is better than what they are already using or what they can get for cheap at some store.IV. THE COMPENSATIONYes, we are talking about money here. How much, how fast? The traditional way of living is working for someone else. But with a home based business you are the boss. So, how much money you can make and how fast depends on how much work you put into your business. When it comes to network marketing, you have to be careful not to be involved in a pyramid scheme. A company that uses pyramid scheme has the following characteristics:1. Associates are PAID FOR RECRUITING others as well as for selling products2. Offers rewards/points but NO REAL MONEY for selling or recruiting others3. Downlines can NEVER MAKE MORE money than their uplines.Look, if you sold one product, you should get paid for it. If you sold 20 you should get paid even more. If you have an upline who sold one bottle, for instance, and you sold 30, it is not fair if they make more override commissions on the 30 you sold than you do simply because they are above you. That is why people say you make money off of others. So beware of that…V. PERFECT TIMINGIn the real estate you have heard it is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. In the world of business however it is TALENT and TIMING. Timing, however, is more important that talent because if you are at the right place, at the right time you can be an average person and make real good money. But if you are at the right place at the wrong time, you must be TALENTED (meaning, a good sales person) if you want to make any money.Sometimes, we get hyped by new companies because they promise massive success if you get in at the “ground floor” of the company – but the industry has been around for a while. Truth is, what is so different about this new product is what will determine its success. People don’t buy companies anymore. Brand names don’t mean anything anymore, people want products and services that are cheap and they actually work.