Online business is not a new thing, people have done it for years. The first companies to venture online were fortune 500's. They were able to see the potential the internet had to offer, now these companies have developed global markets and are even able to sell products online.

Everyone decided to launch websites when the dot com boom came. From small business owners, to anyone who wanted to be known, everyone started developing a web presence. Amongst all of this, companies saw the opportunity to reach a global market in another, not just through the internet but with word of mouth advertising.

Of course companies like Amway were functioning before developing a web presence, but now with the internet, their members had a much wider customer base to market to, the possibilities seemed endless.

Unfortunately with opportunity comes scams, and some companies were pyramid schemes where people lost a lot of money. Pyramid schemes had no real product behind them so people just gave money away in a sense.

Still, years after the first ones arose, con artists are still at it promoting lies and hype. Nowadays when you are searching for a home business, you have to look carefully and be wary. With html and javascript users everywhere, it takes one line of code to turn $1 a day in adsense to a $1000 a day adsense empire. There are many so called "gurus" who will gladly show you the secret to there success for no more than $47 and maybe your soul.

In the wake of the financial destruction these people have caused, many anti-scam websites were developed to help the average newbie. Ripoffreport allows people to report anyone who has scammed them with bad products or false promises.

The only true opportunities are the ones based on products you can see feel or use. Those nutrition companies always advertise their "wonder vitamin that cures cancer or something else crazy. Of course they can't legally say things like that if not reviewed by the FDA but most distributors at least stretch the truth a little. Health and wellness can seem over saturated, just during this year there was over 4 different company launches. Many of these opportunities have a high rate of attrition since the average distributor only enrolls 2 people. Still some companies have developed pay plans to help the average person and even if someone enrolls 2, if they get their 2 to do the same, they can see significant profit in a few months, if they choose to stay.

Travel based companies on the other hand are few in number with a larger market. More and more people travel each year, and the industry is at $7.1 trillion a year, and growing despite the gas crisis. Anyone who travels would also like to make money doing it. This little fast of human psychology has fueled many travel companies to over 150,000 distributors, or what most call RTA's (referring travel agents).

Both travel and the health and wellness industry are profitable and still growing, but the main factor is you. Most people quit too early to see success. Sometimes they blame the company or comp plan just because they couldn't call their own leads. People need to take their ego and emotions out of the equation and handle a home business as a real business. Only then can people see true success in the home business industry.