A home business environment is not much different from scenario above. In absence of corporate rules, you must develop your own self imposed "home business rules". Set a time for work, for play, and for household activities. If you just decide to "go with flow", you often get no where at all.

I used to think that money was most important asset of my home business. Being quite naive, I thought that with more money, I could be successful faster. After all, money is king. With more money, I could buy more "big time" advertising, hire assistants and equip my business with best software systems.

It didn't take me long to realize that time is more important than money. Money simply cannot buy time. But with more time, I can all make all money I want. Put in another way, I would say that MORE TIME is more important than just MORE MONEY. But none of us, not you, nor me, can have more than 24 hours a day at our disposal.

So, as a home business entrepreneur, we need to ultimately learn how to make best use of time that we have. This easy to say, but it will take discipline to see it through. Discipline is not easy to achieve, but it CAN be done. Just focus on doing a little bit every day, and stick to timeline you had laid out, and you will get into productive rhythm that comes with discipline.

4) Continuous Self-improvement

The home business arena is highly competitive. As an entrepreneur you will need to keep up with any event that will effect your business, for better or worse.

Corporations usually have mandatory training courses for all employees. If you are someone who attended these courses just to get away from doing work, or just to get some extra sleeping time in class, then you need to change your attitude.

As an entrepreneur you must to find ways to enrich yourself with more knowledge. Take that accounting class, attend that local business seminar and read related books. Don't see these as additional expenses, see them as long term investment. An investment in knowledge, after all, yields best return.

Every type of business is subject to slowdowns. If you do not continuously improve your skills and knowledge, simply throwing in more money or hiring more people when that happens will not solve problem. The only way to move forward, to get to "the next level" is to acquire new knowledge. New knowledge opens up more opportunities for your business.

5) Commitment to Your Goals & Deadlines for Success

"I want this on my desk by 2.00pm".

Sounds familiar? Most of us seek a home based business because we want to escape pressures of a 9-5 job. The word "deadline" may send a shiver through your spine.

The irony, however, is that deadlines are EXACTLY what you need to succeed in just about anything. As an entrepreneur, these deadlines always are, and must be, self-imposed. There are many book on how to set and achieve goals (my recommendations at http://www.home-business-association.com/books/) and I suggest you read as many as you can.

Having family around you can be used to your advantage. Communicate your goals to your wife or husband. Promise your kids a vacation when you've finished a major task. Soon, you will get little "bosses" running around telling you to stop watching TV and get to your work. Well, at least they are "adorable" bosses!

An excerpt from book 'Think and Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill (pg. 15):

...a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on battlefield. He... gave order to burn ships that carried them. Addressing his men before first battle he said "You see boats going up in smoke? That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice - We win - or we perish".

They won.

And no matter what YOUR goals are in seeking self-employment and an entrepreneurial life, with commitment to your goals and determination to meet your deadlines, you too will win. Take positive aspects of your current of former work environment to build a healthy and productive home business mentality to ensure that you are heading towards success.

Here's to your success. Cheers.

The work has to be done one way or another, so you might as well do it in a regular, orderly manner. You will find out that it is actually easier to do things this way. There will be nobody to stand over you and demand that you get things done and follow rules. It is up to you to make plans and stick to them; make your own rules and use them to help yourself. Keep daily tasks up to date and there will be plenty of time for you and Discipline to share a beer and watch some TV.

We all have tasks to perform which we like less than other jobs and it is tempting to put off doing these things. The result of that, however, is that these tasks pile up and one day we find we have to face a mountain of nasty jobs and get through them before we can go on to something we like better. It is on days like this that we regret turning our back on Discipline and, if nasty jobs are bad enough, we promise ourselves that we will be reformed characters in future and never again will we let things slide.

When we finally finish nasty jobs and turn our minds to more pleasant things, it does not take long for our resolution to waver; we forget our faithful friend, Discipline, and start to slouch again, tucking those nasty jobs away for later while we hang out with those no-good characters Slovenliness and Procrastination. Before we know it, we are back facing same mountain.

Never forget that Discipline is your true friend. He will forgive you if you forget to invite him around for a while and he will help you sort out any mess you made in his absence. No fair weather friend he: no matter how often you shun him or just plain forget him, Discipline will always be there for you, ready to help you make a fresh start.

This is one of a series of articles published by author, Elaine Currie, BA(Hons) at http://www.Hunting Venus.com Subscribe to Online Profit Course newsletter by mailto:huntingvenus@SubscribeMeNow.com 100’s of free tips and advice on working from home. You may republish this article only in its entirety and with all hyperlinks intact.