To successfully become a mentor, you must think in terms of a trainer, a financial expert, and a technical advisor if you want to help someone start their home business. After all, that is precise reason for mentoring - to bring together an individual with success. Your first task is to determine exactly what individual hopes to accomplish. As a one-person training staff, you will need to know everything about potential home business as well as get to know personal hopes and dreams of your protégé. In effect, you are providing your expertise and/or time to help another person achieve their goals for success.

Having a mentor to help you successfully start up your home business is a stroke of luck if you are on receiving end. You explain your wants or needs to your mentor and he/she will provide you with suggestions based on their past experiences. You will be wise to listen to these suggestions, as they are mostly methods that have already been tried, tested and proven to work. Your home business mentor can help you with advice on start-up costs, technical advice, and guide you through process of establishing sales leads, getting funding you need, and most likely provide you with names of others who are specialized in their respective fields.

Why go it alone, making same mistakes that have already been made by others? Let a mentor help you on road to success by giving you benefit of their experience.

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4. When business is slow, you must learn to say "no" to anyone, even friends, who are trying to sell you unnecessary items. When business is good, you will probably allow more vendors to show you new equipment or new lines of so-called "new and improved" merchandise; otherwise, concentrate on your basic needs. However, take particular care that you are courteous so these vendors will consider you a friend.

5. If you commit yourself without investigating all details and charge ahead, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Be certain that you are prepared for all situations and emergencies that could arise. It pays in long run - regardless of cost - to ask for professional advice before you start on any plan; it may prevent failure of your business. A business without a plan is like a boat without a rudder, you may be lucky and drift safely shore but most likely you'll end up on rocks with 90% of other home business owners who fail because they don't have a plan and goals.

6. Another way to assure success of your home business is to be sure of direction your business is heading. You should be aware of your daily progress and monitor what your competitors are doing. Stay abreast of business trends and sales information for your particular industry.

Whether your home business succeeds or fails is dependent upon good money management, having decisive goals and a definitive plan on how you will achieve them. Also your motivation and ability to foresee and solve any problems if and when they occur, is a deciding factor as you whether you succeed or fail.

Take bull by horns and decide now where you want to be at end of year, in two years time, in five years and set about following a precise plan of action to achieve your goals. Take daily action to ensure success; if you truly want to succeed you will take daily action, work hard and persevere.

"Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure." -- Benjamin Disraeli

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