If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.

Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in future, but they hope that day will be long down road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for rest of us in real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfirst into world of advertising, let me share some of lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.

LESSON #1

It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.

As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at end of road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on home business they chose or economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let this be you.

LESSON #2

All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. You must put in extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON #3

Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on kind of media and other factors, additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get most from your advertising dollars.

LESSON #4

As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.

Common distractions include: children, family, friends, neighbors, pets, phone calls, mail, household chores, video games, television, neighborhood children, visitors, and so many more.

As an owner of a home based business, you must always remember your purpose in bringing your profession home. What was your reason for wanting to own a home business? Was your goal to work from home so that you can share in lives of your children? Was your goal to be out from under rule of a tyrannical boss? Was your goal to have freedom to work when it is convenient for you? Was your goal to make tons of money working for yourself?

Here's a few good tips that will help you stay focused on your home business:

TIP #1: Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep your reason in forefront of your mind. If you forget your reason for starting your own home business, you will not be working for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let circumstance drive your activities --- and when circumstance is in driver's seat, you are more likely to crash and burn.

TIP #2: Remember --- your own business is a lot like a real job. Some people go to work to play, some go to socialize, and others --- most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment --- go to work to work and to make money. When you work for yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your productivity. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense to stay focused on getting as much done in as short of a period as possible?

Go to work to work and to make money. Leave playtime and recreation for when your workday has ended.

TIP #3: When you are dealing with family in course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With small children, you must take time when you must, but you should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific number of hours to your workday.

With older children, it is much easier to tell them that you will be working between hours of x and y. Your children and your friends must understand that certain hours of your day are devoted to activities of your business.

TIP #4: Don't permit your friends and extended family to run over you. Many people get blind idea that if one works from home then they are not actually working.