I worked from my home, operating a successful catering and



bread baking business. Outside of my home, I was the owner

of two prosperous businesses, a weight loss center with

individual counseling and several coin operated Laundromats.

Looking back, although both of the businesses outside the

home presented many challenges and were fulfilling in many

ways, working from home has been the ultimate luxury.

Anyone can be their own boss and if you are considering a

home based business, here are seven tips that I hope will

help make you successful as you begin your new enterprise.

1. Select the right business: There are many business

opportunities available. There are freelancers working from

home as coaches, writers and marketing specialists for

example. The positives about this kind of business are it

has very low start up costs; a disadvantage is you have to

set up your own marketing and operational structure. There

is usually no “turnkey" operation for these types of

businesses.

The catering and bread baking business allowed me the

flexibility to spend as much time with my three young

children as I needed and was an outlet for my creativity.

But I didn’t consider the physical labor involved and the

storage space I would need when I decided to go into this

business.

2. Organization is necessary: Working from home required me

to be very organized. I had to plan deliveries around the

time the kids were in school and did my baking at night. I

had to keep track of my customers, billing and receivables.

Planning my days in advance is one of the many things that

helped me to stay organized.

3. Self-discipline: Being a self-starter is a pre requisite

for being an entrepreneur. No amount of organization is

enough if you don't have discipline. There are many

distractions when you work from home. Creating and sticking

to your daily plan provides boundaries for you.

4. Self-confidence: Trust yourself; know that even on those

days when things don’t go exactly the way you expect them

to, do not take it personally. Having a mentor or someone

who is familiar with your business to talk with can be

helpful in boosting your confidence when things go a bit

awry.

5. Willingness to work hard: Working for yourself requires

hard work especially in the early stages. You may need to be

a jack-of-all-trades to get everything done. There’s going

to be a learning curve for you with some of these tasks.

6. Understand the financials: I didn’t think through the

financial aspects of my first venture and as a result, I

didn’t make any money. Since then, I’ve learned to do much

more research into a business before deciding if it’s the

right one for me. I determine what the starts up costs are

going to be as well as the ongoing costs and how long it

will take before I make a profit.

7. Marketing and selling: No matter what business you are in

you will need to connect with people in order to sell

yourself and your business. If you have no prior experience

in this area, someone in your network may be able to

recommend a company or organization that can assist you.

Again, having a mentor or a coach is useful in this area.

Being an entrepreneur has been challenging and rewarding for

me. After many different ventures, I have found the perfect

business for me - it has a minimal initial investment,

allows me to work from home and provides support and

mentoring. I sincerely hope these tips will assist you on

your way to finding the perfect business opportunity that

will create abundant personal and financial rewards.