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.

The lesson we should take from this is that having ability to improve process of getting job quicker and cheaper, without compromising quality of job being done, will help catapult person who simplified process to top of his/her field.

Pennies saved in your home business can turn into dollars at end of day, and dollars can quickly multiply into hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.

Doubt me if you will, but let me ask you a question. Do you think a saving of two fifths of a penny could make any real difference in profit margin of a home business? Of course right answer is "it depends on how many transactions are done in a year, utilizing savings of two fifths of one penny."

You only have to think back a couple of decades to really appreciate this question. Do you remember nut that lived and died in a Las Vegas hotel room? You know one who was a billionaire, and was so worried about germs that he died of starvation? If you guessed Howard Hughes (1905-76), pat yourself on back.

Now Howard did not make all of his money on his two fifths of one penny. He did however make a ton of money from his two fifths of one penny. It seems Howard owned a can manufacturing company. And one day, Howard's team figured out how they could make one minor change in design of their food can to reduce amount of tin necessary to make a single can.