Well, it has been a tough couple of years and although most economies are now starting to crawl out of recession things are still on a knife edge, however, I believe that now is the perfect time to think about starting up your own home business and to work from home.

So why is it such a good time to start?

As business owners, website owners and marketers see economies leaving recession their thoughts turn to growing their businesses as consumer confidence grows. People everywhere and in almost every sector are starting to look for opportunities and are becoming ready to invest. This scenario in turn offers people looking to start their own home business a very unique opportunity.

What should you do? What is available?

This question is almost endless but it can be broken down into two different areas. You can either find a work at home job or you can start your own home business. The list of choices seems never ending and is indeed huge, just take a look at the following list as an example.

Running a website or web based business, writing articles for other websites, buying and selling items on online auctions, affiliate marketing, proof reading, translation, virtual assistant opportunities, purchase a franchise and turning your hobby into a job, for example, pet grooming/walking, genealogy or knitting.

As you see the list is huge and varied. It really is a minefield in choosing what the best option is for you. What will not turn out to be a dead end. What will not end up wasting lots of your money. What will keep you interested. What will provide you with the training and tools needed to succeed. What will make you money.

What do I think you should do? A little about myself.

I have been working in affiliate marketing from home for a while now and, previous to my current success, spent a very long time and lots of money trying to find something that was profitable and worked for me. Many people will tell you that the quickest way to a successful home based income is through purchasing a franchise but, unfortunatley, for this you need money, lots of money, and in fact many home based jobs and businesses require a substantial amount of money just to get started! This is not what most people want. Many people do not have enough money lying around to use as investment for this start up or, very sensibly, many people do not want to risk using their hard earned money on something or someone they know very little about.

What if I were to tell you that you can start your own work from home online business without having to spend a thing?

Let me introduce you to affiliate marketing. Quite simply, affiliate marketing is where you sell other peoples products or services online and in return receive a commission on each sale for doing so. You do not need your own product to sell, you do not need your own website and you do not need to spend any money - although a few dollars does come in handy just to kick-start you business and set you off on the wright foot and in the wright direction.

There is one thing however that is a must and that is the acceptance that you will need to spend an hour or two a day in order to build your business. Yes, you can be successful at affiliate marketing from home whilst looking after the kids but it does take work and planning to make it happen. Most importantly, you have to follow the right steps and use the right tools.

When I first started out with affiliate marketing from home I was looking after my two children Emily and Adam. I found myself on a steep learning curve. The hardest thing was wading through all the available information within the affiliate marketing industry (most of which was utterly useless and a waste of time) and trying to find out how to start and how to create a plan for success. Eventually I found the answer in Wealthy Affiliate, an online affiliate marketing program full of valuable training, tools and like minded people. Wealthy Affiliate is now literally all I use to run my growing work at home affiliate marketing business which has quickly flourished from a total start up cost of just $50 into a business which earns me thousands per month. I am on my way to becoming a wealthy affiliate. This I can say with hand on heart was the most important step I have taken within my affiliate marketing business and I will probably never make a more important step.

Wealthy Affiliate provided me, and still does, with a structure. It gave me step by step training, encouragement and a focuses course of action . Wealthy Affiliate also provides me with the vital tools required in order to succeed. Although some of these tools may not mean much to you until you too become an affiliate marketer, I strongly believe that nearly every successful person within the affiliate industry uses these tools.

Personal support and coaching
NicheQ industry reports
Site Rubix website builder
WA Jobs marketplace
Free unlimited web hosting
Your own blog and space
Rapid Writer system
Keyword research tool
Clickbank (product finder) research tool
Click tracking and link cloaker
Competition spy tool
And lots, lots more.

In my opinion there is one simple answer to the question "what work should I do from home?" You can spend a fortune buying into a franchise if you want but you will still need to put in lots of hard work. You can dip your toes into many other areas of the home business industry but you will ultimately either wind up at a dead end or waste lots of money, or indeed both! Alternatively and intelligently you can get into affiliate marketing and work from home with little or no investment and no risk and become as successfull in the industry as I have.

I know which path I would choose.