The role of the upline is important. If the upline is there just to make money out of his downlines, he or she will have immediately killed himself in the business of network marketing. Nobody likes to have an upline who is so materialistic that they think about money or business volume all the time. Neither will they like to have a pushy upline who resembles the boss they are trying to fire.

The upline needs to be a leader of his organization. He should be sincere and treat everyone with respect. The upline’s role in helping the new downline get started in the business can be crucial. If the downline is joining a network marketing business opportunity for the very first time, the upline can help to shorten the learning curve and show them the way to success.

A downline would look for confidence and encouragement from the upline. The upline is the one who is there to inspire their downlines with motivating words. At the same time, the upline is also there to shield their downlines from any negativity where possible.

A great upline offers their downlines good support and assistance at all times by not only training and coaching but also counseling and strategizing.

Some basics such as mindset and skills are covered. The upline will also review the performance of the downline and, rather than finding fault, may work together with the downline to work out concrete strategies and plans to build their networks. The upline is also there to lend a listening ear to any problems and may offer another perspective in finding solutions.

Overall, a good upline needs to have the mindset of a leader, mentor, helper, servant and friend all rolled into one. "Give before you get" should be their motto. There is a saying that you will only achieve success once you have helped others to achieve their success. Then and only then will you and those in your organization be able to laugh all the way to the bank!

Even if your upline does not have the above virtues, if you wish to be successful, you need to adopt the right mindset if you wish to be successful in your network marketing business.

Every business must have a product to market. Without it the business is illegal. Be sure to find out what product you will be marketing when you are looking into starting a home based business.

It is good to look for a product that you will use or feel comfortable marketing. However people make money with all kinds of products even if they do not like it themselves. As long as the company has a product you can look further into the opportunity. Otherwise stop right there.

The company’s credibility is important. Find out as much about the company as possible. Do not think that the company has to have been around for ten or twenty years. In fact, new companies have better incentives as they are still growing their business.

Ask for the corporate office number and look for people like yourself who are making money.

Just to recap, you need to know what product they are marketing, a little bit about the company and how you will be making money.

Many companies have the option of bringing in business partners and marketing product, but you can choose whether you want to do both or concentrate of one aspect of the business. Some companies even have different products you can choose from.

An important point to note is that all business’ cost money to start. With a home based business, you rarely need a large capital. A couple of hundred dollars to get you started is quite often all you need. First of all just because someone asks for money up front doesn’t make it a scam. All real businesses cost money to start. After all if you were going to start a traditional business it would take money to get started. An internet business is no different. Many times it is the only way for most of people to start their own business, as a traditional business takes far more money to get it up and running.

Another important way of identifying a home based business, (not a scam), is a requirement to mentor and train people you get involved into your business.

Be sure to get the facts about the business for yourself. Often times people leave companies for personal reasons, and post bad reviews about the company, just because they did not get their way. With the access to the internet as it stands today, anybody can write anything whether it is true or not.

The above steps are a sure way of finding a decent home based business, without being taken for a ride by scammers.