With the vast array of opportunities available to the novice entrepreneur, the task of choosing which way to go when starting a home-based business can seem very overwhelming. The tendency to fall for all the “hype” surrounding the many “get rich quick” schemes can sound the death knell for your home-based business before it even gets off the ground. Beware of anything that promises “instant riches”and “overnight success” since these promises certainly do not hold true for the Newbie. Instead, one has to keep one’s feet firmly on the ground and employ commonsense when researching these possibilities. Having said that, there are a multitude of legitimate online business opportunities which can, most certainly, yield high rewards within a relatively short timeframe if they are marketed in the correct manner. Let’s take a look at just some of the legitimate opportunities which you could consider when setting-up your home-based online businessDropshipping….In order to sell products from a website, you need to have products to sell. Dropshipping is one system for providing you with those products.A traditional store in a mall (called a “brick-and-mortar” store, as opposed to an online store like you’re building) would have to get its products from a wholesaler. The owner would have to buy a quantity of products up front, risking his or her own money. If they sold, great! If not, he or she would be stuck with them! Also, if he or she sold any of the products to a distant buyer, the items would have to be boxed up and shipped.However, if you’re set up with a dropshipping supplier, these two troubles vanish. First of all, you rarely have to buy any product up front. Rather than getting the products, you simply get access to the products (usually by signing up with the supplier). You put these products on your website for sale.When a customer buys an item, the shopping cart and merchant account systems built into your website transfer his or her money to you. Then, you turn around and buy the item (for the lower wholesale cost) from your dropship supplier. You tell them the end customer’s address, and they pack and ship the product to him. Meanwhile, you keep the difference between the wholesale price you paid and the retail price you charged the customer.No stocking of inventory, no upfront product purchase, no shipping hassles. Certainly something worthy of serious consideration.eBay…selling products on an online auction site such as eBay is also worthy of your consideration and can be lucrative as long as you’re fully aware of the fees involvedI, personally, know of a guy who set-up his home-based business to make money from his hobby of trawling flea markets and garage sales for items and then re-selling them on eBay….and his business is most successful! So successful in fact, that he now employs staff to handle his admin whilst he spends hours most days enjoying his “hobby”Informational Products….a rapidly growing market with a veritable influx of prospective buyers during this economic downturn. Digital downloads are the big attraction here since there’s no physical product and therefore no shipping companies required.The Internet certainly provides a huge potential for making money, whether it’s to supplement an existing income or to replace a full-time salary. As unemployment levels rise, so does the number of people researching how to make money online so why not tap into this rapidly expanding market when setting-up your home-based business.Mentoring Programs…something that every Newbie should have….a mentorI cannot emphasise enough the requirement for a mentor when first setting-up your home-based business. Getting first class training from top earners in the industry will get your business off on the right foot from the word “go” and can mean the difference between success and failure. The amount of information out there is totally overwhelming, particularly for the Newbie, and “information overload” and “analysis paralysis” are two symptoms often suffered by the Newbie Net Marketer. Having all this information is great….IF you know what to do with it all. By enrolling on a reputable mentoring program at the outset and following those who are already in the know and prepared to share their knowledge with you will certainly ensure that you won’t fall victim to either of these nasty little pitfalls.Like everything on The Internet today, there are “good” and “not-so-good” mentoring services. I suggest researching many of them and find the one that best suits you and is within your start-up budget. The cost of these programmes varies and the most expensive is not necessarily the best so do your due diligence before committing yourself.