When I started working from home, I was elated, nervous, unsure, and overwhelmed at the same time. I have wanted to work from home for quite a while. Before starting, there were the endless hours of Internet searches, message boards, and search engines, trying to find the right work from home opportunity. It got frustrating because there is so much out there! When I finally found my opportunity, I told myself, I will persevere, I will not quit, I will work hard, and I will go as long as it takes for me to succeed.



I know many of you have been in my shoes ? running to a supply store, and stocking up on paper, pens, copier paper, printer cartridges, staplers, and white-out. You go online and order your business cards and flyers. You keep all of the receipts so you can deduct them next tax season. You might have even upgraded your computer software, bought a new fax/copier/printer/scanner, and unlimited long distance on your phone.

Then you're sitting in front of the computer in your makeshift office, and you log on, check your email, and get started marketing your business. You're adrenaline is running on high, and you know that everyone on the web can't wait to see what you have to offer. You just can't wait to get your products, and ads out there and start making sales, and attracting prospects. After you work hard all day, you complete your first day of business, check your email once more and log off, proud of a job well done.

The next morning, you awaken - barely slept a wink because you're excited and just know you've got work to do. You go into your office, turn on your computer, check your email, and check your web site stats. You're almost shocked into reality when you see that nothing happened, and that you didn't become rich overnight.

What happened? Why didn't anyone just flock to your web site and buy your products? You worked hard all day! And that's the first thing you need to understand to succeed:

? Give yourself a daily reality check ? Know that it's going to take some time, consistency, passion, motivation, and patience before you start to see results. That's what having your own business is all about. You must possess all of those things if you have a shot at success.

? Get over your fear of rejection ? You WILL hear more ?no's than you hear ?yes'. That's just the facts of life?Keep in mind you can never say the wrong thing to the right person, or the right thing to the wrong person. Shake it off and move on. (But when you're not the ?little guy' anymore, those people will kick themselves, their loss).

? Be able to be coached ? If you are involved and active, and even if you're not, you will learn something EVERY SINGLE DAY. Take everything you learn to heart, continue to improve, and if you are with a reputable business, don't try to reinvent the wheel, they are successful for a reason. Learn from your mistakes, and let people help you.

? Be adaptable ? Okay, this is kind of old school, but it's so true. It's especially true if you are doing business online. Things change by the millisecond everyday, and you have to be able to keep learning, change what doesn't work, and continue to stay informed of anything that may affect your business.

? Don't go into a deep funk ? There will be good days and bad days, we all know that. We don't like to talk about the bad days, but it's not the end of your business if you are not making sales or profit every day of the week. It goes back to being consistent. Stay on top of it.

? Get to know your product ? You can't find value in what you are selling if you've never tried it yourself. It's kind of like talking to people about McDonalds, but you've never eaten there. Why? Don't do it. You are more passionate, and more natural when talking with prospects when you know what you're talking about, and people will see through that.

I'm positive there is plenty more advice to go around that I have not touched on?but I wanted to share this because this is some of the things that I learned when I started out. I love what I do now, and I will keep working at it to succeed, and you can too. Good luck!