doing it on a normal computer wont yield anything
the current main pools are the equivelent hash power of 100,000,000,000 computers.
these days you need a special piece of equipment called a bitcoin mining ASIC
the current top rated bitcoin mining ASIC has the power of 4,000,000 computers.
which on its own is not enough to compete against the pools. as you will require about 25,000 units to equal the same hashpower as one of the top mining pools
however knowing the top pools get about 300btc a day, one asic joining a pool and getting one 25000th of that pools earnings is still better than nothing (starting at 0.012btc a day)
however here is the kicker,
with adjustments of difficulty and also competition from others. you may not break even within the year.(just based on retail price of an asic and a 5% reward adjustment for difficulty and/or competition per fortnight)
you would only really achieve an acceptable return of investment after costs if you can get the asic atleast half the retail price and also have cheap labour/building/electric costs.
so unless you are thinking of going super large and starting up a pool of your own with tens of thousands of bitcoin mining asics bought below retail prices, you would be safer to just buy bitcoin and hold it, and skip trying to mine bitcoin.
sorry if my post is not a fluffy happy reply informing you of being a bitcoin millionaire with just a small investment. but i prefer to just be frank in my posts.
Youve given a very elaborate explanation even though frank as it may be but youve not only enlightened op but me too because I come across all this cloud minning stuff and I asked myself if its even possible as they turn into scam at the end of the day... But I would want you to explain if cloud minning is even possible? Am asking as a rtesult of curiosity...