When you are owner of a home business, you will find hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and focus.

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.

Well-meaning people may try to fill your doorway to bring advice about getting a real job. Others may simply believe that if you are at home, then you are fair game for chitchat and socialization.

Similar questions, in a dead-heat in frequency, vary around a theme such as "What tool should I use to...?"

Know-how and tools. Go to any forum on net, on almost any subject, and you will find hundreds or even thousands of people exchanging information on know-how and tools. "What is best way to write copy?" "Which autoresponder script is best for my business?" "What hosting is best for me?"

Very infrequently will you come upon a marketing discussion that talks about creativity and determination. Even more rare is a successful product that shows people HOW to be creative and determined. This is because tools and know-how are so much easier to write about.

If this, then that. Such a small phrase, yet it is bulk of what internet marketing training is all about if you have read even a small pile of ebooks geared toward making you a better sales producer.

And formula sells - bigtime.

But then, why are there so many people failing at marketing their business online? What is IT that separates masses from relatively few truly successful onilne small businesses?

It is this: You cannot teach people creativity very easily. Some would say it's impossible. Art classes are simply tools to weed out people that don't have IT so they can get busy pursuing another line of work!

And it is this: Determination (including work ethic, stick-to-it-ivenss, seeing something through to end) is even harder to simply instill in a person with written word or teleseminar. You cannot reach through your ebook to slap someone everyday to recapture their focus for them and keep them on-task.

The problem is compounded when you have one of above and not other. Creative people very often have no business sense or drive necessary to acquire it. Determined people fail gloriously in a gallon of sweat at five in morning without creativity. Nothing is probably more disheartening than having one or other. It must be like being able to see over fence, but not have what it takes to climb to other side.

Tools are tools. We must use them in any profession to best of our ability. Henry Ford used tools to create Model Ts. But did you ever read a story proclaiming that Ford won day with his tools? Of course not. The stories are about determinaion and creativity and that's it.

You can go out right now and get best software, most expensive copywriter, best programmer, and even best product since sliced bread. And you can fail. It's been done more times than success by a long margin throughout history.

This article is not about how to succeed at internet marketing. It is not about tools that will help get you over fence where grass is greener.