In previous articles, I've mentioned some of key elements of managing your online business when you are working at home: finance, marketing, time, purchasing and computing, plus of course need to manage yourself. This series has been about need to manage your business, even if you do work at home alone, rather than just let it drift with flow of days, weeks, months and years.

For this last part in series, I will partially recap, but also add in a few more suggestions that may help you deal with transition from employee to “own business manager”. Of course, this is a subject I could write a book about, so this short series has been merely an introduction, to get you thinking about your business in a slightly different light to way you might have done. I hope following points may assist in that process:

• Always be patient and do not expect instant results. The business world is not like that. Maybe over years you will have one or two lucky breaks, but do not expect them soon.

• Take a long term view of business from outset. This may be your one opportunity to do things right and make a decent income with freedom of working from home. Set yourself a target for 5 years’ time, then stepping stones to that target will emerge, one year at a time. Looking ahead 5 years you can set your targets high without being unrealistic.

• Always remember that knowledge you are acquirin g will be a growing asset. All of a sudden you may find others viewing you as something of an expert, and you will realise you have knowledge that is valuable, not only to you but to others.

• A piece of knowledge is like a building block. Add these building blocks you are making one at a time. Remember, if you try to put a roof on a building before walls are in place, it won’t be much of a building. Be patient in placing one block at a time, and there’s a good chance you will stand proudly in front of this building in awe and think: “wow, I did that!” And roof will be snugly in place.

• Spread your learning across all parts of business, especially those you don’t like. Never forget, every part of your business is inter-related. You need to be able to piece them together and bind them strongly.

In those early days hard cold steel and brass protected men and their ships. Today we have boat insurance, GPS systems, sonar and underwater charts.

While boat insurance is not as glamorous as a fancy cutlass nor as exciting as a cannon it does offer boat owner something that all cutlasses and cannons cannot. It can replace your ship if you lose it. In wild and wooly days of wooden ships and iron men you usually needed one ship to steal another.

Why not just sail away or blast somebody to flinders if they are trying to steal your boat?