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Can you believe that in the United States more than 35,000 people are starting their own home based business every day? Yes, that’s right, each and every day - and that market is exploding as our economy is tanking. Not surprisingly though, most will not succeed. Industry historic data shows than only 5% of those will be successful. You can increase your odds dramatically if you know what to do and partner with someone who can show you the path to success. Read below for my outline of some of the key ingredients to joining that 5% club.

KEY #1: It is a business - right? Just because you run your business from home does not mean that it should be run as if it were a hobby. The single biggest reason that home based businesses fail is that they are not run like a business. If you have never owned your own business before, then do some research. No, you are not trying to blow the doors off WalMart, but that does not mean that you do not have to have a solid business plan in place. I am not saying you have to have a formal, 35 page document suitable to obtain outside financing. You do, however, have to put a reasonable effort into creating a plan for your business. Some questions you need to answer: What will your marketing plan and budget be? Who is your target audience? What need are you filling?

KEY #2: Know your outcome. Sounds crazy doesn’t? But are you going to succeed? Or are you just going to try? I’m a private pilot and so humor me on this analogy. What’s the most important thing that a pilot does? He knows his outcome. He knows his destination and he knows he’ll get there and even knows, weather permitting, how long it will take. Then what happens? Well the most important thing is that he takes action (takes off), notices his progress (am I on course or off course, do I need to make a slight correction, or major deviation) and makes constant corrections until he arrives at his destination. This sounds so simple, yet most home based business owners don’t do it. They “give it a try” but they are not committed to the outcome. Would you want to fly with a pilot who was going to “give it a try”? Well, would you want to go into business with someone with the same attitude? Of course not. Know your outcome and commit to doing whatever it takes to achieving it.

KEY #3: Keep your Goals Attainable. Many people fail because they set themselves up for failure from the beginning. They make their first goal to make $10k a month and then when they only make $200 their first month have a big let down! Now each product is different and has different price points, commissions, profit, etc but set a goal that is realistic. If you make a $500 commission on each sale, make your first goal to make $1000 your first month. Then when you achieve that success, expand your goals.

KEY #4: Turn your goals into Tasks. Now that you have a list of achievable goals, analyze them and turn them into a set of tasks that will be necessary to achieve those goals. Sounds simple, right? It is, but you’ve got to do it

KEY #5: Transform your Tasks into a Plan. This is absolutely critical. The difference between a dream and a goal is that goals are defined and have a plan to achieve them. You must take these tasks and schedule them onto your agenda - allocate time to work on them, set due dates. Remember Key #1 - treat this like a business. If you were working for IBM and you had a $30,000 budget to achieve your goal, how would you define that plan?

KEY #6: Invest in yourself. This could be simple. It could mean allocating a half hour per day reading about a new marketing strategy. Or maybe you need to refine your bookkeeping skills. Investing in yourself with ongoing training seminars, books, training courses, etc. If you are running a home based business then your business depends on you - don’t forget to invest in improving yourself and thus improving your business.

KEY #7: The 80/20 Rule. Understanding the 80/20 rule is a real gem to success. I highly suggest you do some reading on the subject. Here’s a simple example. Take the action that makes you money (making calls, for example) and spend 80% of your time on that task. If you only have 10 hours a week to work on your business, 8 hours should be spent on making calls (in this example). That means that you only have 2 hours left for “everything else”. Effective business entrepreneurs understand and practice this principle religiously.

KEY #8: Time Management. Lack of organization leads to frustration and that leads to you joining one of the 95% who end up quitting. The real key to time management is not letting it manage you, but scheduling specific tasks on your agenda and focusing on them and only them at that time. In today’s electronic world we easily get distracted by the phone, the email, etc Successful business people know how to effectively manage their time.

The bottom line is that there is no magic pill to be instantly successful. A home based business is just like anything else in life - we get out of it what we put into it. If you run it like a hobby, then don’t be surprised when it pays you like a hobby. If however you commit to running a well planned and executed business, it just may provide you with the financial freedom you desire.