What are the key factors to consider when you're looking for the best home based business ideas? The most important point is that you need to find a venture that matches your personal needs and characteristics. What works for another person may not be the answer for you.

How can you choose between the hundreds of different possible businesses out there? I'd suggest three very useful filters you can use when sifting through the possibilities.

Assuming that your primary motivation for starting this new venture is to make extra money, the first step is to decide what results you want to achieve in money terms, short term and long term. It's good to be very clear on the figures as you will need to weigh up each idea in terms of its ability to help you achieve your goal.

Do you need immediate cash flow? If so, you will probably have to sell your labour. Longer term, though, do you want to get to a position where your income is not dependent on continuing to work, so you can quit your day job? Unless you manage to build an extremely large bank balance, the best way to achieve this is to develop a significant stream of residual income - at least sufficient to cover all your living expenses.

Second, how much time do you have available to commit? The best home based business ideas for someone working full time are of no use to you if you have just a few hours a week. On the other hand, it is certainly possible to find ways to make extra money part time. It just takes longer to build your income levels. Indeed, the advantage of combining a part time home business with a day job is that you can focus on your long term residual income strategy without immediate cash flow pressures.

Third, what do you really like doing? What will you feel inspired to keep on doing even when the going gets tough. We all have up days and down days. No matter how great the potential of your new venture there will probably be times when you feel like giving up. The secret is to keep on going, to make small steps forward every day as Jeff Olson writes about in The Slight Edge.