Once you have a home business up and running, you still have the mostimportant job of all to accomplish, that of building your list base ofcustomers and or clients. After all, without your list base of contacts, youwill not have any reason to have a business, will you? It doesn't matter what kind of business you have choosen because in every business, whether it's a product or service, there is a need for customers/clients.There is no business, online or offline, that can survive without the benefitof a customer/client list base. Even if you are a service provider of a creative nature, you will always need fresh leads/prospects in order to assure that you will constantly have those who are interested in buying what you create and sustained growth! For some people, the idea of building a list conjures up the idea of going door to door or making phone calls to people they don't know,but that is not the idea at all. In fact, the best tool is providing a good service so that your customers will refer others to your business. Word of mouth is always a better sales tool than anyother type of networking that you can do.Of course, even though referrals are your most effective new leads tool, that doesn't mean that it is or should be your only tool. Even with referrals, you need to do some networking if you expect your business to be successful and to continue to maintain success. That doesn't mean that you have to get on the phone every day and contact people nor does it mean that you have to constantly surf the Internet to find others who are interested in what youhave to offer. However, you do need to take time on a regular basis to perform networking activities, which may vary from contacting you referrals to having a leads source of the freshest and hottest prospects out there, but we need them exclusively and at the peak of their interest. The value of networking has been underemphasized in many respects, and becauseof that, many new businesses are doomed to fail before they are even out of the planning stages. However way you choose to network for your business is not the issue, but if you expect your business to succeed you have to promote it don't be fooled into thinking that once you have your customer list base, you no longer have to promote your business because if you accept that line of thinking, you will not be in business for very long. Customers are fickle, so they will not always buy goods or services from you. You need to have a backup plan for those times when "regular" customers decide to utilize the services of another provider. Unless your product or service is unique, which is unlikely unless you are an inventor, people will go where they find the products or services they want at the price they want to pay.Always be prepared for these slow times by continually networking for an ongoing stream of new customer leads.