The trials and tribulations of a gullible and naive gambler trying to start a home web business. A mind-blowing journal of frustration and 2,000 hours of research on “crush marriages.”

Researching a work-at-home business opportunity has kept me up until midnight for more nights than I (or my wife) care to remember, over the last 2 years.

“Peter, you are totally obsessed with starting your own web business”

…Yeah.

I estimate that I have spent more than 2,200 hours on the internet looking for the best option.

Finding the right home business work opportunity is definitely not as simple as I first thought.

If you’re considering starting your own home web business, there are literally thousands to choose from and every man and his dog wants to sell you one.

Just go to Google and type something like ‘internet business’ and prepare for the onslaught, there are around 385 million websites that contain that term.

It won’t take you long to check them out, right?

During this period, I purchased nearly 40 work-from-home business opportunities and money-making systems and tools ranging in price from a couple of dollars to over a thousand dollars.

And I have returned most of them for a refund (which I have received in all situations) simply because they didn’t do what I thought they would, hilarious!

One of the benefits of buying anything on the Internet is the money back guarantee!

During my research, I slowly but surely realized that there are three types of people who are selling anything you want to know about starting your own business on the web:

Guy #1 – The Con Man

The only money he has made on the Internet is selling dreams. Creating desire with a fabulous looking website, compelling graphics, scarcity tactics and gigantic claims.

Type #2 – The Professional Boffin

The real nutty professor. Smart, knows what he’s doing and actually makes a full time living on the internet, but it’s almost impossible to learn from him because teaching isn’t his thing. He continues to try to impress everyone with his nerdy techno babble. .. where’s a gun when you need it?

Type #3 – The Master

Internet marketers are successful in the sense that they have made their fortunes through direct, legitimate businesses on the Internet and are forced to teach anyone who will listen how to do it. That is your calling!

So, lesson #1:

When looking for a home business job opportunity… find yourself a teacher. Give the guys with gold chains a sharp turn and avoid the ones with their cardigan buttons in the wrong holes.

Danger Will Robinson

I’m close to 60 (years old) and I think I’ve been through quite a bit in my life, but I don’t think anyone is too old to start their own web business.

Marriage breakup, started a business from scratch, bought a second business that went bankrupt but

“…nothing prepared me for the constant and overwhelming frustration I experienced trying to educate myself about internet marketing”

I thought great, I’ll create a website and earn some passive income, it won’t take long.

… Mistaken!

It’s a classic 1 step forward, 2 (more likely 3) steps back situation.

Is that how it works.

You start researching a work-at-home business opportunity and decide on a system that’s going to do the job, and you jump in and buy it. You start following instructions and you get to a point where you don’t understand something, and there’s a lot of things you won’t understand, so…

• Spend time searching forums trying to find an answer.
• Post to forums and wait for a response
• Email the support desk and wait 2-3 days for a response
• Receive the answer only to find out they didn’t understand your question
• Email the support desk again and wait another 2-3 days

Looking for a work at home business opportunity has become the most frustrating “thing” I’ve ever tried to do.

You are so focused, excited, passionate, scared and eager to start your own web business and plunge into a strange world you know nothing about, and the first time you have setbacks, you can’t get help.

Aaaaaaaaaah!

But a work-at-home business opportunity is a great idea, so let’s move on.

Lesson 2:

So here are some tips that I think you should keep in mind if you are serious about running an online business that will give you a passive income. And there is nothing better than a passive income, you know, earn money while you sleep! How much will an online business earn? I don’t know, keep reading. This is what I know.

In my opinion, there are great opportunities out there to start your own web business, but when evaluating a work-from-home business opportunity, you want a system that gives you everything you’ll need, such as sales copy, email templates, a product to sell , graphics, research tools, pre-written articles, and a website to upload it to.

And IMHO, look for one with video tutorials so you can learn by looking over the shoulder of an expert. It’s better to create several smaller, discrete websites with around 5-10 article pages each rather than one large site with hundreds of pages, like I did. The latter just gets boring and if you choose the wrong niche… well.

I think the smaller sites will get you anywhere from $500-$1,500 per month, not bad for sitting on your butt!

You also want a system that is based on ‘organic traffic’ which is 100% free rather than paid traffic through the Google PPC network. The latter can be very expensive even if you are an expert. And last but not least, when starting your own web business, you want a proven and systemized business that runs on autopilot. Your perfect work at home business opportunity IS out there, you just need to find it. So… what’s next?