Starting a home based business is far from a new concept but more and more people are looking to work from home and the tendency to work in the electronic or online market has been around for twenty something years now but still sees an unparalleled growth rate.In this so called economic slowdown or economic crisis we all hear so much about on the news and the situation we all find ourselves in makes many people search for an alternative income and a way of taking control of their lives and financial future and providing a better and more secure future for their family. No longer is there such a thing as a job for life or even job security and we cannot guarantee the continuity of our jobs and the standard of living we have become accustomed to.It is for this reason that the demand for home based business ideas is getting higher and more importantly Free home based business. By free home based business I mean the ability to create a business and an income stream without investment or with little or no start up costs, and this general applies only to business activities that can be conducted online as very often they can be started with no money whatsoever. All you need is your time and effort because all of the marketing tools, communication tools, accounting tools and information you need is available online and easy to find with a little effort.However, experts do advise investors about the risk of the entrepreneur mind set, as many people choose to quit their full-time jobs before setting the home based business in motion which is not always a smart move, better to start your home business in your spare time and quit your job once your income from your new venture exceeds that of your original job which can be within a few months if you put in the effort.For example online marketing, the creation of a simple web page, a blog or a comprehensive content rich site can all be done will little prior experience using simple tools already available online and also at zero cost. It should be pointed out however that in this example you might say there would be monthly or yearly hosting fee of such a website and a domain name (but even for this there are plenty of free blog services and free website hosting services available, just do a little research). And once a business is up and running is always good to have a small budget for making your business run smoothly and to leverage your time and effort with slightly more sophisticated tools, but in the beginning the free tools and services available are perfectly adequate to get started.As with any business before you get involved it is important to research and analyze things carefully, do a quick search for any IM product reviews and make sure you have a solid plan and make sure you know everything you need to know about the activity you choose to embark on.