The US Headlines:

Hard Lesson: Americans Tighten Wallets

Retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion

Wall St Week Ahead: For stocks, high anxiety still rules

All that money you've lost — where did it go?

1 in 6 OWE MORE than their house is worth.

Global Auto Market in danger of total collapse in 2009.

In these uncertain economic times some people are looking for way to save money, while others with a more entrepreneurial spirit are looking for way to increase their income.

If you are reading this you are most likely one of the latter. If you are looking to increase your income, you have one of four alternatives:

1. Get a better job

2. A traditional business

3. A Franchise

4. Start a Home Based Business with Network Marketing

Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Get a better job:

Pros: Secure income, fringe benefits, no monetary investment needed

Cons: Loss the seniority from the previous job, compete with younger job applicants, start to accumulate the necessary amount of time until retirement again. Need to further education to qualify for a higher position.

Starting a traditional business:

Pros: Be your own Boss, make your own hours, Tax advantages of owning a business, you are the decision maker; you have complete control of the business.

Cons: Requires a full time commitment. It is highly competitive and cutthroat. Requires a working capital for Rent, Telephone, Inventory, Advertising, and your salary until you business starts to consistently yield a profit. Traditional businesses have a high failure rate (80% within the first five years) mostly due to under-capitalization. If you are one of the 80% that fail you are going to be heavily indebted, your savings are going to be exhausted, plus you are going to have to attempt to reenter the job market after a prolonged absence.

Acquire a Franchise:

Pros: Be your own boss, Training, a proven system of success (but that does not guarantees your success), a system of operations that you must follow

Cons: The large initial investment to purchase the franchise anywhere from $50,000.00 to $500,000.00 makes it prohibiting option for most people.

Start a Home Based Buisness with Network Marketing

Pros: Requires minimum initial investment, no degrees or special schooling. Minimum monthly expenses, it can be done either full time or part time (most people do it with 10 to 20 hours per week), you don’t have to leave your job. Your success is determined by you inventiveness, hard work and commitment. You are in business for yourself but not by yourself. You are part of a team effort. You have a mentor (up-line, sponsor) that is as interested in your success as you are. You have a high income potential due to the concept of residual income. What all these means to you is very little risk for your investment.

Cons: Traditional Network Marketing has a bad connotation with the general public. If you don’t choose the right person to mentor you he/she can slow down your success. There are different compensation systems you need to familiarize yourself with if you want to maximize your profits.

I have owned both types of business, and I have found out that with the inception of the Internet and the web 2.0 technology; starting a Home Based Business with Network marketing is a very good option. By using attraction-marketing techniques you can take away the sting of the bad connotation because the old sales technique of harassing your friends and neighbors are obsolete. You have to make the investment of time in order to learn how to use the Web 2.0 technology, but there are places, like the Renegade University, that make it extremely easy to learn with the use of video tutorials and webinars.

Roberto Guerrero is a Network Marketing coach, teaching people how to be successful using web 2.0 technology and Attraction Marketing