It’s a small percentage of businesses that launch each year and are actually successful. There’s no way to guarantee that your home base business opportunity  will be successful, but taking the right steps to invest your time and energy on research, networking, targeting your audience and some form of media/advertising, and your chances will be much greater.

I’ve seen good friends and strangers fail because they failed to develop a business plan–I’m not talking a plan to obtain financing, I mean a simple 5-10 step plan that lays out their processes and goals. Having a simple strategy where you’ve laid out the goals of your business or even your job will determine where you want to be and what you can accomplish for your customers. 

A blog I read pretty frequently, My Wife Quit Her Job, listed a handful of businesses that Steve C (the author) will patronize as long as they’re in business because of they way they do business and the investment they make in him. Your business, you as an employee, could be what makes the difference for someone else out there. That requires no money. Others will return to your place of business, maybe to you specifically based on what you do. Wouldn’t you like to be one of those businesses?

I read a blog not long ago on Expert Business Resource by Brad Huisken that rang true with me, so I filed it away for today. Huisken discussed a survey and its results.  When surveyed about their shopping experience, 41% of retail shoppers were satisfied with their experience. Huisken’s speculated about the other 59% and if they were disappointed or wowed by their shopping experience.  

Although, I deal primarily with Internet businesses, I can related because I’m often not very impressed with businesses customer service. On a recent shopping trip to Wal-Mart (which honestly is not always pleasant) I had money from my mother-in-law to purchase a Christmas gift for my daughter. I was doing this because I’m one of the few people who understands my daughter’s cryptic clues about what she REALLY wants for Christmas.  I also was using an old gift card and making other purchases for our home. So, I had three different orders.  Once I was done, I thanked the patient Wal-Mart associate who handled my seemingly confusing transactions. She was efficient and patient-for me it was a satisfying shopping experience.   

 This got me thinking about how others handle the needs of their customers.  It’s no longer good enough to have a shopping experience, you want to make it a positive interaction for each one of your customers. And you’ll find that with a home based business opportunity, this couldn’t be more true. There’s a tendency for your customers to have fewer people to interact with, so you have to make every experience count. The more you can personalize it, the better results you can give and doing it all with efficiency can give your customer that impression you don’t want them to forget.    

While trying to manage my two-year old son recently-and I’m not talking about friendly re-direction- I mean real two-year old issues like hiding anything that might hurt when you get hit with it, because you will get hit with something at my house. Managing temper tantrums, using discipline consistently and tears, there will always be tears. I am reminded that much of parenting-or any relationship for that matter- comes with its fair share of power struggles. And then I got to thinking about how power struggles within a business can cause turmoil and sometimes the break down of the business.

So, I came up with a few characteristics that can help anyone working with another human being in any kind of business. Like Shawn Hessinger at Boot Strap Me says, teaming up can cut costs which gives your business more bang for its buck.

First, consider that having different skills within the same business is an asset. Working alongside someone that may be highly skilled in technology while you are great at presenting could make for an outstanding presentation. As long as you are on the same page, having different skills is a bonus for your venture.

Second, although being honest in and of itself isn’t bad, being honest and tactful is even better. Hand in hand with this is being open to criticism. A business grows through changing and improving. Be willing to give honest feedback, take criticism and make improvements and you’ll see your business evolve. And criticism shouldn’t be internal only, getting feedback from your customers is priceless.

Finally, be flexible. Working with someone can be a challenge by itself. Working together can multiply your efforts and divide the labor, so take advantage of it.

The bottom line, is if you are a business opportunity seeker, an existing business or a lone employee, teaming up with someone else can really improve the quality of your work and the quantity, so don’t shy away from a partnership.

An up and coming career for individuals who no longer want to work for someone else, but have enough corporate experience to be valuable, is working as a business coach.   

As a business coach it helps, but isn’t necessary, to have past experience with many aspects of starting a business. If you have an area of expertise, becoming familiar with businesses in that arena can work in your favor.  

Minimally, you should be familiar with legal issues involving business startup, where to start marketing, business models, business plans and helping new businesses secure funding. This usually will require some financial investment, but there are always less expensive options.    

An idea that doesn’t require so much business background and has a lower startup cost is a service or product like Carrie Lundell’s of  A Kid’s First Keepsake Journal.  Lundell used her past experience as a clothing designer to create a product that would allow children to be creative themselves. Whether, it’s scrapbooking, card making, or crafting a specific product that you can sell, these are all ideas that can be done from home.   

Whichever end of the spectrum you are on, professional or creative work, it all looks the same in the end-a business opportunity seeker who is independent and successful. Decide where you can be most valuable and then hold nothing back. The journey is exciting, but realizing your goals is exhilirating. 

I read a saddening article this morning from the Rockford Register Star.  They interviewed families who are being effected by job loss, the sagging economy, high gas prices and costly food. The specifically touched on the families who have had to decrease the time their children spend in daycare or abandon daycare altogether. I thought this article was sad for a few different reasons. You may or may not agree with my viewpoints on childcare or working moms, but please no judgment, just read.

First, I’m sad for the children who are continuing in daycare, but have lost many of their friends to low enrollment. I know children are resilient, I have two, so I know. I was a kid, so yeah, I know. It can be heart-breaking to see children missing their friends and truly sad over such a loss.

Second, I have been through financial hardships, so I understand what it means to be forced to choose needs over wants. Thousands and thousands of families across the United States are struggling to provide housing, food and the basics right now. If you are having trouble deciding which flat screen is the best deal, you are not one of these people.

Lastly, the families in the article are pulling their kids from daycare because they can’t afford the gas to get to daycare, their childcare costs have forced their finances upside-down, they are choosing food over childcare, job loss, or taking an alternative shift at work where they can work nights, while the other spouse is at home and childcare is unnecessary. These are some of the examples, a fraction of what families are facing.

As a work at home mom, I have found a bright spot in all of this. Many of these families would be ideal candidates a home based business opportunity. As Steve Olson noted in a recent blog post, working from home and/or being your own boss offers a lot of personal freedom. If you are considering working from home, want to save money, spend more time with your children (or dog-whichever), expand your work base knowledge and contribute to your household’s finances, then working from home may be a good option for you.

Over the next several days, I will cover some legitimate ideas of how you can make that happen. And as always, leave a comment with your own ideas on working from home, or topics you would like to see us cover.

Being a mother of two, I frequently reflect on what I’m teaching my children, by what means and how it will affect them in the future. I just read a great post by Steve regarding silent lessons children learn from their parents. Steve touched on how he learned about money from his parents. And that got me thinking, what other silent lessons do children take from their parents? What do children pick up simply by intuition as opposed to anyone sitting down and teaching them?

What came to my mind was anything that required, discipline, hard work and sacrifice. That list has no end.

As far as my work from home based business goes, my children will know that you get what you work for. That with discipline and sacrifice you’ll get what you want out of your work. Because of articles like Steve’s I will not let some lessons be so silent. Not only are children very sharp with the details, but they have memories like an elephant.. If I’m going to be responsible for what they take with them into adulthood I want it to mean something.

I can’t say enough how much I appreciate and patronize companies that make efforts to go green. In her interview with Startup Princess Suzy Connor of Susy Jack Contemporary Paper Goods  discusses how she wants for every person to consider where their goods come from. Everything we buy and throw away came from somewhere and ends up somewhere. Susy Jack takes that as a challenge to make eco friendly products with little waste.   

So, while you’re working your serious home based business today here are some easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint.  

#1 If you haven’t, switch you regular lightbulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs. This is not only good for the environment, but will save you money as well.  

#2 Keep your thermostat low this winter. Once you weatherize your home and throw on an extra shirt, you probably won’t notice a few degrees difference. By keeping your thermostat turned down, you’ll again, save money and reduce the rate of energy consumption.  

#3 Recyle! Some neighborhoods, like mine, still don’t offer curbside recycling, but the schools in my area plus actual recycling centers have bins open to the public to drop off recyclable items.  Get a list from your local drop off site or find one online to get a good picture of what items you can recycle.  You would be surprised at how much you can recycle and how dramatically your waste will be reduced.   

These are just a few ideas, to find out more, go to Recycling Revolution.  

Not long ago, I stumbled upon a fantastic site where women come together to share their blogs. Out of so many inspiring and humorous blogs I’ve read, I was so elated to see so many women banding together.  BlogHer was started by a team that included Jory Des Jardins.  After a successful event where women bloggers came together, Jory and her team saw a need and started BlogHer.

It started as simply as a passion and has exploded into a business.  With this in mind, I also considered some inspiring words of wisdom from Sarah Bray, of S. Joy Studios -who just today reached out to me.  Sarah suggested that letting your personality shine through in your work- making it completely you- will be what draws people. Truly, there is no other person on the planet just like you, so the same goes for your business or business idea.

Whether you want to start home based business, freelance from home or work collectively with a team, there will be no other individual with your same skills or abilities. If you commit yourself to success and let your passion drive you, you’ll be amazed how quickly things can change.

Recently, I’ve met with some big minded people who are ready to start their own business, have great ideas, are prepared and energized. Probably half of those folks are in it for the money, or what they think will be big money. It’s noteworthy to mention that some business start-ups can be quite costly but certainly not all of them. Now others are in it to fulfill a dream.

Pamela Slim from Escape from Cubicle Nation wrote an amazing blog that really laid out the difference between externally pursuing a job and internally pursuing your life’s work. She went on to explain that many people are in pursuit of the “perfect job,” but ultimately end up very disappointed.  The perfect job would be different for each one of us, but none the less is usually a fruitless pursuit. Slim goes on to discuss that while you can certainly find a good fit in everything you do-from recreational hobbies to a job (and I would add in relationships as well)- that really you have to be happy with what your life’s work (pursuit) is, not just the short-term position.

The Fast Company posted an article (inspired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone) that blamed our current financial crisis on greed. I would agree that this is a factor, but not solely responsible-that’s a whole different blog. The truth in the claim is that many of us have, are and will be consumed with finding the job or business that nets the most profit. Now we all want to make money, pay our bills and be successful, but like I said earlier, if you are only focused on one aspect-if you’re only desire is to bring in the money, there will be many parts to your business that will suffer. Regardless if you are running a serious home based business, working for someone else, or partnering with someone at a brick and mortar location, your business will suffer and you will hate your job if the only thing you look forward to is bringing in the cash.  Starting, running, working in a business all require a full body and mind investment. Slim says that there will be a theme for you to narrow in on in your pursuits. Transformation is what inspires her.

Reflect a little today and determine if  you’re in it for the right reasons. And if not, what can you do to change that? At the end of the day, what will be your life’s work? I challenge you to make your job or business about more than financial gains today. Be willing to make a difference.

While trying to manage my two-year old son recently-and I’m not talking about friendly re-direction- I mean real two-year old issues like hiding anything that might hurt when you get hit with it, because you will get hit with something at my house. Managing temper tantrums, using discipline consistently and tears, there will always be tears. I am reminded that much of parenting-or any relationship for that matter- comes with its fair share of power struggles. And then I got to thinking about how power struggles within a business can cause turmoil and sometimes the break down of the business.

So, I came up with a few characteristics that can help anyone working with another human being in any kind of business. Like Shawn Hessinger at Boot Strap Me says, teaming up can cut costs which gives your business more bang for its buck. And we will all work with somebody at some point, so why not save money at the same time?

First, consider that having different skills within the same business is an asset. Working alongside someone that may be highly skilled in technology while you are great at presenting could make for an outstanding presentation. As long as you are on the same page, having different skills is a bonus for your venture.

Second, although being honest in and of itself isn’t bad, being honest and tactful is even better. Hand in hand with this is being open to criticism. A business grows through changing and improving. Be willing to give honest feedback, take criticism and make improvements and you’ll see your business evolve. And criticism shouldn’t be internal only, getting feedback from your customers is priceless.

Finally, be flexible. Working with someone can be a challenge by itself. Working together can multiply your efforts and divide the labor, so take advantage of it.

The bottom line, is if you are a business opportunity seeker, an existing business or a lone employee, teaming up with someone else can really improve the quality of your work and the quantity, so don’t shy away from a partnership.