Small businesses and home based businesses could be considered the heart of the US economy. I am going to start by introducing you to home small or based business opportunities. Please take a minute to give me a thumbs up if this is helpful and make sure you join my fanclub so you can be informed as more hubs are written. This is the first of a network of small and home based business articles. If you want an article about something in particular, let me know. If I don't already know enough to write an article, I will research it for you then write a page.

The following stats were obtained from NBBTA Online.

• Home based businesses are a $427 Billion a year industry!
• The average income for an income-generating home business is $63.000
• Home businesses represent 52% of all small firms
• Over half of all home businesses survive for over 5 years
• Over 20,000 entrepreneurs earn more than $1 Million per year

The next sections will give overviews and the links section will point you towards specific articles on each topic. Read on and get ready to start making money!

There are multiple types of businesses that can be done from home. Before you start your business, you need to think about what type of business you want to run.

• Sell products you have on hand. You can have a product that you sell. You can buy in bulk and sell individual things for profit.
• Selling someone else's product. This can be anything from candles to make-up to lingerie.
• Sell somebody else's service. There are programs that allow you to market everything from electricity to phone service.
• Franchise. Join an established business as an independent owner. You will get instant name recognition, a proven system, and a very high chance of long term success. This business model has turned McDonalds into a worldwide giant, but they started out as a small business. The downside is that franchises can be very expensive to start.

One of the best reasons to start a business is to save money on your taxes. There are some great books out there that detail the tax benefits of running a home business so you can learn a lot from a little bit of reading. You will want to use a tax professional though just to make sure you don't break any rules. If you are used to doing your own taxes, this will be a new expense, but if you knew you could give somebody $100 and they would give you $1000 or more back, wouldn't you do it.

Here are a few things that you may be able to deduct once you own a business. As a general rule, you will get 25% to 30% back of everything you deduct so a $1000 deduction puts $250 to $300 back into your pocket.

• Business start up fees.
• Mileage on your car when you use it for business purposes.
• Internet connection.
• Cell phone.
• Postage.
• Tax return fees.
• Office supplies.

I highly recommend you research taxes more for your knowledge and hire a tax professional for peace of mind. I know exactly how my taxes are going to turn out, but I really sleep better knowing a professional will support me in an audit.

Your new business will be set up in one of several ways. There are benefits and drawbacks to each.

• Sole Proprietorship. This is the easiest way to set up your business. Basically, you just declare you are in business.
• Partnership. This is very similar to sole proprietorship but more than one person owns the business. You better trust your partner.
• Incorporation. This is what most of the big businesses are. There are great benefits both legally and tax wise. There are a lot of paperwork requirements with this type of business.
• LLC. LLC is becoming very popular. It stands for limited liability corporation. It combines some of the benefits of a corporation with the easier format of sole proprietorship.

Once you start your business, you need to spread the word so people will start buying what you are selling. This is an area that tends to cost a lot money and big companies spend millions of dollars on business advertising. There are some free or low cost options that can help you get your business going. Once you make it big, you can start spending more money on advertising and build your business even more.

• Word of mouth. Tell everybody you know about your new business and ask them to tell their friends too.
• Put a link at the bottom of your emails. Most email systems allow you to put a signature at the bottom of every email. You can put something like "check out my great widgets at www.mysite.com".
• Give out business cards. Get business cards made and hand them out every chance you get. When you strike up a conversation the check out line give them a business card when you leave, after you eat at a restaurant leave one at the table, or any other time you can get the word out. Business cars only cost a few pennies each so they are a pretty cheap way to spread the word.
• Use classified ads. There are many free and low cost classifed ad newspapers out there. You probably have a few in your local area and you can find others on the internet.
• Build a website. There are so many easy ways to put up a website now that it really is a business must. Heck, you can put one up right here on Hubpages in no time.
• Put an ad on your car. Once you have a website or a business phone number, you can have them stenciled onto the back window of your car for the whole world to see.
• Rent a billboard or put signs in your yard. Ask friends and family to put up signs too.

These are just a few ideas. Be creative and spread the word. There is a certain percentage of people that consider buying your product or service that will buy. That means that the more people you get to look at it, the more money you will make.

There are many great opportunities out there to make money with a small or home based business. There are also people that will take advantage of you. A little bit of research before you start can save you a whole lot of trouble and money. There are a couple easy things you can do to avoid scams.

• Look for companies that are members of the Better Business Bureau or it's internet business division BBB Online.
• Find somebody that is already doing the business and ask them about it.

• Search the internet. You can go to Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine and type in the business you are considering followed by the word scam. This is less reliable because many people will write about something being a scam just to get attention or draw attention to their product.

Most times, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Use a little good judgement and you should be ok.