By now there must have been millions of column inches written about how to work from home and make a good living without having to deal with commuting, bosses, office politics, stress, overtime etc.

New opportunities appear at every turn; they come in by email, snail mail and even to my mobile phone. There are also whole shelves of magazines available at the newsagent's covering a myriad of money-making topics. Each time a new opportunity presents itself it promises to be The One. The one that will make me so rich I can sack my boss; or will enable me to live on a Caribbean beach with just my laptop for company (to count the money with I guess); or even one that I would have to do nothing for in exchange for a mailbox full of cheques.

Like a lot of people, I became what is known in the trade as an information junkie; someone who spends time and sometimes significant amounts of money on manuals, books, courses and seminars. Most I have found interesting, some I could even envisage making money from if pursued. But while it may be obvious how a business could make money, I now look back and ask myself would I have made money doing that?

Now it has to be said that one or two of the opportunities I have investigated have gone on to make me money. In fact, a property search business that I set up as a result of attending a one-day course is still running 4 years on, and has helped me keep my head above water financially when other aspects of my career were experiencing lean times.

The search business appealed to me on a number of different levels; the people I work with are interesting, the actual business of carrying out searches is often fascinating, and there are people willing to pay for my services. On top of all that I am home-based and write most of my legitimate expenses off against taxes. But what made it really work for me was that I was actually interested in building that business from the start.

Yet I couldn't say that about the majority of the opportunities I was being bombarded with. When confronted with yet another no-brainer of an opportunity, I would sometimes beat myself up for not getting involved; I thought I must be a failure and destined never to be successful at anything as I just wasn't getting it.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can honestly say that if I had been genuinely interested in something, I could have got involved with more energy and commitment than perhaps I otherwise would have done with something that just seemed like a good idea at the time.

A case in point: imagine my excitement when I was presented recently with an opportunity to get involved in something that ticks virtually all the boxes in my qualification checklist. Tick one: a new business being formed with seasoned, trusted and successful owners with vast experience at the helm. Tick two: a software product that I can use myself as it would help me make money in my main hobby of trading the financial markets. Tick three: an incredibly generous compensation plan that would get even the most jaded campaigner off his or her lethargic derriere.

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