You ask, “Okay, I’m starting a small Homebased business, not a huge million dollar International Conglomerate! So I don’t really need a ‘Business Plan’ for that, do I?”

Actually, its all more reason to have a business plan.

Do you need a comprehensive 500 page business plan full of color graphs and charts and color 8 x 10 glossy photographs, going into gory detail and providing a 5-year and 10-year projected income statement? No, not really.

But you do need a business plan which is complete enough to anticipate typical problems you will face and provide solutions to overcome them

When I was a young soldier I learned The 6 ‘P’ Principle – Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. This has been genteely modified to The 5 ‘P’ Principle for drawing room society!

Starting a home based business without a plan is like choosing Wrong way.

Starting any kind of a business requires a “plan of action”. This is doubly true of home based business ventures if for no other reason than added complexities of home based business operation.

You are starting your business. You need a plan.

Your very first consideration must be: “What business am I going to be in?” Are you selling apples, oranges, pencils on corner, what?

A couple of more questions quickly come to mind. “What kind of space am I going to need for shipping? Inventory? Office? Pick-up and Delivery?”

We already have 5 questions to ask –- and answer – and we have skipped first question for a homebased business altogether.

The number one question which needs an answer: “What kind of zoning exists in my residential area which might affect my home based business?”

In no particular order, here are some of things that I had made note of.

Choosing path...in beginning, my enthusiasm was very high (perhaps too high?) and I was chasing off on several different home-based business opportunities at same time (exhibiting "dog in a meat market" syndrome, I suppose) and not focusing my efforts enough to be successful at any single one of them. I finally reigned myself in and focused on a single work at home business opportunity.

In other notes I find reference to emotional and/or psychological issues that I experienced and are probably typical for most people when starting a home based business. When working at home a person can, at times, experience a feeling of isolation which is probably brought on by lack of interaction of a work force environment.