The strong growth in home based business activity continues and, according to Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, fifty-two percent of ALL small businesses are home-based.

Some home based business owners have been known to become "workaholics" because their office is so accessible. Don't become a slave to your business...get out of your home office regularly to renew and revitalize yourself.

Close door to your office or otherwise remove yourself from your designated "work area" and go into your "home" area to live your personal life. If your business involves use of telephone and you find it difficult to ignore a ringing phone in office, simply turn ringer off and turn volume on answering machine way down. If your business is internet based, just turn off your computer (or at least get away from monitor and keyboard).

With all scams in home based business industry, many stay-at-home moms have a very difficult time finding legitimate and well paying home employment. It can be a costly experience, when you think you have found a great job opportunity only to find that you have been scammed by an unscrupulous individual you can’t contact. Hundreds of these so-called work-at-home schemes exist, and it can be very frustrating trying to weed thru them and find legitimate opportunities.

Many legitimate companies do hire stay-at-home moms. However, these jobs do tend to be scarce and many of them require that you have a great deal of experience or education to perform them. No one will "get rich quick" working at home. It will not happen. And those ads that guarantee that you will are false. Remember old saying "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is"? Well it does hold true! So be careful when considering one of these opportunities.

So how is a mother supposed to do what she feels is best for her family and still contribute financially?

Many of us stay at home moms, climb aboard guilt train when we even consider doing something for ourselves; taking a little down time, finding a hobby or anything that we feel takes away time and energy from our homes, children, & husbands. We tend to forget that we too are human beings and day in day out “same ole same ole” can get very old, very fast.

There is an alternative to working at home, that takes up a very small portion of your time, can make you a little extra income and can get you out of house for a few hours. A part time job may just be answer you are looking for. Most part-time jobs require less than 32 hours per week and some require less than that. Now if you need to actually earn a living, then part time work would probably not be a wise choice for you. Part time jobs may have other drawbacks that make them bad choices as well.

A few things to consider: Part-time jobs rarely pay more than $6-$8 per hour depending on skills required, and type of job you will be doing. Some jobs pay as much as $11-$12 per hour, but they are rare. Be prepared to earn just a little above minimum wage for most part time jobs.

Most part time jobs do not offer benefits. There are those that do, however. If you have time to do your homework, you may just be able to find one that does. You will be better off, and more apt to find a good part time job, if you do not make this a top priority.