Business Organization

Among the first decisions to make will be what you are interested in setting up. Are you going to sell a product or a service? Are you going to be a Sole Proprietor or a C Corp? Maybe an S Corp is the right way to go. Whatever the decision, consulting with a small business expert or accountant is in order. You can usually find one through the small business bureau in your state government or through the Federal Small Business Administration office in your state. Some colleges and universities also have small business service offices. Whatever the venue, talk to someone who has the experience of starting up an independent home based business.

The point to realize is that you are not going to be perceived as the wonderful individual you are, but as a hard nosed capitalist out to make a buck. This perception is the same for the customer to whom you will be selling your product or service, and the government, local, state and Federal, who will see you as a source of tax revenue.

Once you have gotten by the business organization decision, the next step is to go on the site of the IRS and get yourself an EIN or tax ID number that can be used during the daily course of your business. This avoids the need to put your Social Security number on registration forms and provides your customers and business partners with a sense that they are dealing with a real business.

Affiliate Marketing or Theme Marketing

The next decision has to do with the nature of the online business. If you are going to sell a product, then the affiliate marketing world is going to be the world you will need to master. Your choice will be to sell other people's product or service in return for a commission or to create your own product or service to sell to the online world. Both of these options involve a host of skill sets and software packages that can be daunting for the newcomer.

To make it up the learning curve in this environment, you will need to research and work by trial and error to find the right program for you.

Most affiliate programs worth working with will have some price attached to the program. Some will charge a one time fee, others will charge a monthly charge. Whatever the fee structure, make sure the program comes with a written and video based tutorial that takes you through the steps of setting yourself up. This is vital because the process of setting up an online home based business is complex and time consuming, no matter what anyone tells you, and you have much better odds of making it with a well structured tutorial.

Even what I call a theme based program calls for a well defined tutorial. What I mean by theme is you will be designing a Web Site to sell your product or service as a one time business event. Unlike affiliate marketing where you will be setting up multiple Web sites and blogs to sell an inventory of affiliate products, with a theme based approach you will be concentrating your business around a single professional service or product and a single Web site and blog.