Picking the right home based business is more than just finding the one that seems to offer the most company stability. There are quite a few factors that go into selecting a home based business and none of them should be taken lightly.First, don’t focus so much on finding the perfect home business or network marketing company to join. The trick lies in finding the best match for you. You should never go with a company that you aren’t sold on because you think it has the best compensation plan or the best potential income. You’ll burn out quickly and never be as successful as you could be if you took the time, from the beginning, to find a product you believe in and can really get fired up about.What are the keys to finding the perfect home based business?Viable ProductsCompanies that do not offer viable products are companies that are out to take advantage of others. You do not want to be associated with or have your good name associated with these types of home based businesses. A viable product or service is the first thing to look for in any type of MLM or network marketing organization.Of course you want a little more than merely viable products. You want products that you feel will change lives, inspire people, make the world (or the people in it) beautiful, or simply make people happy or more productive. Regardless of which, the product needs to be a real product that people can use and that has value.You want a product you can really believe in and feel inspired to share with everyone you come in contact with. That is infinitely better than the average product that many companies offer. A viable product and a product that you believe in will make you not only happy but also make you more financially successful. It does this because you can maintain your commitment and enthusiasm when you believe in your products or services.Company StabilityThe stability of a company is important but don’t let that talk you out of joining new or emerging network marketing companies. The truth of the matter is that as long as there is a solid business foundation in place, competent leadership within the company and the specific organization or branch of the company you happen to be joining, and a solid product, there is no reason that even new businesses can’t achieve great things. Getting in on the ground floor can be exciting and very rewarding.However, it is a wise course of action to do a little bit of homework about the company’s founders and the science behind the products being created. You don’t want to stand behind a product that you don’t understand. In addition, it’s never a bad idea to do a little investigating to find out as much as you can about any company you plan to join. You’d probably do no less with a brick and mortar business venture.Company stability is about a lot more than just how long the company has been in business. A few questions you want to ask include:• Can the company deliver the products and services sold?
•Does the company have a good reputation in the MLM community? How about its leaders?
• Is there any bad press about the company now or has there been in the past?
• Is the company in good standing with the Better Business Bureau?
• Where are the products manufactured and/or shipped from?
• Can the company make payroll?
• How well does the company treat the people who are building it?Don’t simply talk to the people who are trying to recruit you to join the company. Try finding those who have been in the company and left. Find out what they have to say about the company and its stability. After your investigation, draw your own conclusions from the good, the bad, and the indifferent points of view you may have heard.Compensation PlanThis is an important factor when you are considering joining a business venture of any kind. You need to know how, when, and why you get paid. You need to be able to understand this clearly. Some MLM companies have compensation plans that are so convoluted you need a personal accountant to sort it all out.Ask yourself these questions as you do your initial research:•Do I understand the compensation plan?
•Can I explain the compensation plan to someone else?
•Do I believe the compensation plan is generous enough?
•How long will it take to reach the next level of the compensation plan?The ability to quickly climb the ladder of bigger commissions and payouts is one that will help you maintain your motivation and reach new heights in your business but it’s all a moot point if you don’t understand the plan yourself or can’t explain itto potential business partners. We all know how frustrating it is to put in long hours for pennies so make sure you find a compensation plan that is generous enough to make your dedication profitable.Residual IncomeThe final thing that is the icing on the cake in a great home -based business is residual income. This is the one thing that makes all your efforts today pay off tomorrow and for many tomorrows to come. Residual income is making money off efforts of the past, whether those are your efforts or the efforts of others in your organization.Wouldn’t you like to be able to make a tiny percentage of the money that is earned from the efforts of 10, 100, or even a 1,000 other people? Can you imagine what that will do to your bottom line month after month? How about if that amount grows with time, attention, and growth within your company and organization? Residual income makes all that and more possible.Keep these four factors in mind as you look for the perfect home based business to meet your needs and you will be sure to find the perfect business for you – a home -based business you can believe in and be excited about!

I am going to give you the steps I used to begin my online, home based business and it will take you less than an hour (being realistic). It’s so easy!1. Find a niche market you are interested in which you know has hungry buyers. Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find top keywords that you can base your site content on.2. Buy a domain name and hosting for less than $20 – I find the best value for a domain name is GoDaddy (coupons are available if you Google them) and Hostgator as a hosting provider (I recommend their ‘Baby’ package) for new home based businesses.3. The hosting provider will email you nameservers which you will need to change in your domain account settings. This means your blog will appear when you type in your domain to the browser.4. Create a WordPress blog which will be uploaded to your server. The reason I use WordPress is that it is incredibly flexible for getting top ranks in search engines and easy to update. They are also a great trust builder, so make sure you add some affiliate products for you to gain healthy commissions from buyers.5. Change the nameservers in your domain account for your home based business domain.6. For the topic which your blog relates to, you want to write articles or have them written. This really isn’t as hard as you may think as there is so much material out there already (just don’t duplicate other peoples content).7. Submit these first to EzineArticles (EZA) as they always rank best. Once approved, you can then create variations of the articles and submit to other article directories but in the resource box, always create an anchor text link pointing back (backlinks) to your main site. As you create more articles and backlinks, your site will rank higher and traffic should flood in.8. By now you should be making nice commissions from your home based business and people should be loving your blog, as you are feeding them with valuable information. Take advantage of this and offer a free report in exchange for their email address. You can do this by signing up to Aweber for an autoresponder. If people want your report they will opt in, submitting their name and email address. Once you build a list, you can promote other affiliate products and make even MORE money.9. Promotion is the key to any business success but the great thing about home based businesses is that you should only need to work at most 3 hours per day! It sure does beat 9 – 5! At your own will just keep submitting articles, bookmark your content at social media sites and promote in related niche blogs and forums.10. It really is that easy to start a home based business. Create a blog that sells affiliate products, promote the main blog page using articles and social bookmarking, then once the traffic starts to flood in, the blog will rank higher and higher, meaning more money!The most commissions come from being extremely targeted in the market you want to approach. So if you enter the body building niche, stick with that and do not sell products on how to spice up a relationship. People search online for specific things, so keep your blog specific to what you are trying to promote.

Now that you have made an offer to acquire a commercial property and are waiting to close escrow, you may want to start looking for a property manager to professionally manage the property. Your real estate investment advisor should present you with 2 or 3 local companies, each with its own proposal. Your job is to decide which company you will hire. The property manager will be the main point of contact between you, as the landlord, and the tenants. Her main job is to:

Receive and collect the rents and other payments from your tenants. This is typically simple until a tenant does not send the rent check. A good property manager will somehow get the tenant to pay the rent while a lousy one will throw a monkey on your back!
Hire, pay, and supervise personnel to maintain, repair and operate the property, e.g. trash removal, window cleaning, and landscaping. Otherwise, the property loses its appeal, and customers may not patronize your tenants’ businesses. The tenants then may not renew their lease. As a consequence, you may not realize the expected cash flow.
Lease any vacant space.
Keep an accurate record of income and expenses, and provide you with a monthly report.
A good property manager is critical in keeping your property fully occupied at the highest market rent, the tenants happy and in turn helps you achieve your investment objectives. Before choosing a property management company, you may want to:

Interview the company with focus on how the company handles and resolves problems, e.g. late payment.
Talk to the person who will manage the property day to day as this may be a different person from the one who signs the property management contract. You want someone with strong interpersonal skills to effectively deal with tenants.
The property managing company normally wants a contract for at least one year. The contract should spell out the duties of the property manager, compensation, and what will require the landlord’s approval.

Agent’s Compensation: you will have to pay someone to manage and lease the property. You may have one company to manage the property and a different company to lease the property. However, it’s best to work with one company that handles both managing and leasing to save time and money.

Management fee: the fee varies between 3-6% of the base monthly rent for a retail center, depending on the amount of work needed to manage the property. For example, it takes much less time to manage a $2M retail center with just a single tenant than a $2M retail strip with 12 tenants. So, for the center with 12 tenants, you may have to pay a higher percentage to motivate the property manager. You should negotiate the fee as a percentage of the base rent instead of the gross rent. Base rent does not include NNN charges. Ideally, you want a lease in which the tenants pay for their share of property management fee.
Late fee: when a tenant pays late, he is often required by the lease to pay late fee. The property manager is allowed to keep this fee as an incentive to collect the rent.
Leasing fee: this fee compensates the property manager to lease any vacant space. In a typical lease contract, the leasing company wants 4-7% of the gross rent over the life of the lease. It also wants the leasing fee to be paid when the new tenant moves in. In addition, the leasing company wants around 2% of gross rent when the lease is renewed. The tenant may also ask for Tenant Improvement (TI) credit, typically between $10-20 per square foot to pay for construction expenses. So if a new tenant with a 10-year lease goes under after one year then you may lose money. As the landlord you should:
Approve a long term lease (10 years or longer) only when the tenant’s financial strength is solid. Otherwise, it may be better to reduce the lease to 3-5 years.
Make sure the new lease has a provision for some kind of rent escalation, preferably based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), i.e. inflation which is 3-4% a year instead of lower fixed 1-2% annual increase.
Consider TI request from the tenant as one of the factors to approve a lease. The TI credit depends on whether you need the tenant more or the tenant needs you more.
Negotiate for a flat rate renewal fee, e.g. $500 instead of paying a percentage of the rent for the life of the lease. The negotiation is easier with one company that handles both leasing and management.
Negotiate to pay the leasing agent a lower percentage, e.g. 4% when no outside leasing broker is involved.
You can see that it’s very important to minimize tenants’ turnover rate as it has a direct impact on the cash flow of your commercial property. A good property manager will help you achieve this goal.

Monthly Report: each month the property manager should send you a report on income received, expenses incurred, and property status. You should Review the report to see if the numbers make sense. You should:

Request a report showing both rent and CAM fees received.
Request a separate bank account for your property and have a monthly bank statement sent to you. Without this, the property manager will deposit and commingle all the rents from all properties that she manages into her company’s bank account.
If you instruct the property manager to send you the excess cash flow then you will also get a check.

Landlord’s Approval: the management contract should specify the dollar limit for exceptional maintenance expense above which would require your approval. This amount varies from landlord to landlord as well as the type of property. However, it’s typically somewhere between $500 to $2,000 dollars.

Communication with property manager: in the first few months, you and the new property manager should communicate often to make sure things go smoothly. You should give instructions in writing, e.g. email, to your property manager and keep records of all your correspondence. If the property manager does not do what you instructed, you may refer to your records and minimize disputes.

If you want to work hard for your money, you may want to manage your own property. However, if you want to work smart, your partner should be a good property manager.