Running a small business is not for everyone. It can be thrillign but it can also be unnerving. Succeess depends a lot on attitude and discipline. That is not to say that owning your own business can't be exciting but throughout the process you must keep in mind that this is not a hobby but your livelihood. This is where most business owners fail.

Many people believe that it is a great idea to own your own business, work from home and not have a boss to answer to. And it can be. Being accountable to only yourself can be a real challenge for most. The majority of people need deadlines in order to get things done. So if you work for yourself you have to be able to set deadlines and adhere to them.

Self motivation is crucial if you want to make money either online or offline. Write your daily, monthly and yearly goals down and keep them someplace where you will see them every day. You may want to place a post it note on your computer, on a poster board on the wall and in your purse or wallet. This will act as a mental brake light when you start deviating from your plan to go for that trip to Starbucks, take a two hour lunch break or nap the day away.

A business and marketing plan is also key. Choose a few marketing tools like article submissions, solo ezine ads, press releases, and joint ventures and have a concrete plan of how you will use these tools and how often. Ex. Once a week I will place a solo ad in an ezine with at least 10,000 subscribers. Once a month I will send out a press release on Prweb. Once a day for five days of every week I will write and submit a new article to the directories using my new article submission software. And I will devote three hours a week to locating and initiating joint ventures.

As is the ability to budget both your energy and your money. Ex. You know you can spare $150 a week for essential advertising. Plus you will devote 25 percent of your revenue to buying more advertising on a monthly basis.

And the ability to delegate is crucial to your business. Their are plenty of sources that you can go to get your day to day tasks completed by professionals at a reasonable price while you focus on marketing. Ex. Rentacoder.com, Guru.com, etc...

Finally another challenge to the home business owner is the sense of solitude. If you do best in an environment with a bunch of co-workers, a work at home business may seem daunting. You can go hours if not days and weeks without seeing another person. So I always tell my clients to join networking groups and also to deliberately schedule time in for their friends and family. It will be much easier to work throughout the days or evenings and get things done if you have something entertaining and social to look forward to.

Running your own small business can be really exciting and very profitable. Simply make sure that you know what your goals are and stick to them.


Caterina Christakos is an entrepreneur and business coach. No more System Closes your Sales for you.Learn the system that actually works: http://automaticworkathomebusiness.com/money_making_business_opportunity.html