Title: The Home Business Foundation Word Count: 1123 Summary: Having a successful home business can truly be one of the most rewarding achievements in one’s life. The reason I say this is; it’s very hard to do; if you can maintain a successful home business, you truly have achieved something fantastic. When starting a home based business I was very skeptical about many things. If you aren’t skeptical when you start a home based business, you might be in for a big surprise. It’s good to be skeptical; being unsure is what will drive you t... Keywords: work at home, work from home, home employment, home income opportunities, home working, money Article Body: Having a successful home business can truly be one of the most rewarding achievements in one’s life. The reason I say this is; it’s very hard to do; if you can maintain a successful home business, you truly have achieved something fantastic. When starting a home based business I was very skeptical about many things. If you aren’t skeptical when you start a home based business, you might be in for a big surprise. It’s good to be skeptical; being unsure is what will drive you to be successful. If you just jump into this business, you’ll loose a lot of money and probably quit in no time. You have to be very careful when trying to start and maintain a home based business. There are so many scams out there, and so many people who will take advantage of you in order to pad their own pockets. The first thing you need to tell yourself when starting your home business is, “I CAN DO THIS.” Having a positive attitude will be the driving force behind your success. If you can’t be positive; you’ll get eaten alive by the emotional ups and downs of the beginning process. The first couple of months of your home business development will be the foundation for your path to success. Picture someone building you a house; if you just say you want a nice big house, you’re being a little vague. You should tell that person you want a nice house on top of a strong foundation. If you live in a nice house that falls to pieces, you won’t be too happy. The foundation may not been seen by everyone, but you’ll be comforted knowing you are living in something that is safe and reliable. Sometimes the best things are not seen by those who are on the outside. I relate this to the success of your home business; the foundation you build will always be there, no one will see it, but you’ll be able to rely on it forever. Let me give you some tips on building a strong business foundation. Research is the number one aspect in terms of building your foundation; the more you read and study the more you’ll know about the ins and outs of this business. Be sure to take advantage of free advertising when you start a home business. A lot of people think you need to spend money in order to make money; well, they’re right, but you can also make money in this business without spending money. Free advertising is very time consuming, but it will be one of the strongest pillars in your foundation. For example, in order to make your website profitable, you need to first put proven products or opportunities on your website; you’re success will depend on what you have to offer. Once you have a nice product you need to get people to your website; getting people to your website can be done with free advertising. Write as many articles as possible, and submit them to free article directories. If people like what you have to say and find you to be credible, you’ll get some visitors to your website for free. This free advertising will eventually become the support you need to keep you motivated. Let’s say you profit about $100 a day from free advertising; that’s $700 a week, and depending on how many days there are in a month, you’re looking at $2500 to $2800 a month in profits. WOW!! Without spending any money you’re making over $30,000 a year; that’s the foundation I’m talking about. The foundation will always be there; you can rely on that money and feel good knowing you can count on that being there. I know tons of people who work 40 hours a week and don’t make that much money in a year. Like I said though, it’s takes a lot of time and effort to build that foundation. Let me go back to my house analogy; one of my friends builds houses for a living. He’s told me many times; the foundation he lays for houses is the most boring, repetitive and laboring jobs he’s does when building a house. Guess what, it’s the same in this business; writing an article every other day is very boring and repetitive, but it will be one of the best ways you can build a home business. Once you have built your foundation with free advertising; you can then start building on top of that foundation. Remember your building on something that has already been established, the rest is icing on the cake. I kind of make it sound easy, but it’s not; your paid advertising might be one of the hardest things you’ll have to do, that’s why you built that foundation; you’ll need something to fall back on while trying to take your business to the next level. A lot of that next level building will have to with advertising on search engines; search engine advertising is very competitive. Guess what though? There’s enough to go around for everyone to make some money. Be prepared to spend some money, and remember to rely on that knowledge you gained in the beginning of your foundation building. I built my business from scratch for over four months before I started advertising on search engines. PEOPLE, please don not jump into this; I know so many people who jumped into the paid advertising phase of their business before they were ready, and they got thumped. The competition is almost overwhelming; ever heard of the saying, “walk softly, and carry a big stick?” That’s what you need to do in this business; your research and patience will be the equivalent of “walking softly,” and your foundation will be your “big stick.” Too many people get caught up in the excitement of throwing down some money in order to make money; you’ll have to do it, but the more prepared you are, the more successful you’ll be. Search engines aren’t going anywhere, information isn’t going anywhere, and your potential visitors are definitely not going anywhere; as a matter of fact; my mentor has an article from Newsweek stating that something like over 50% of households in the year 2006 will have someone who has their own home business. That stat alone should tell you to take your time; your potential customers are going to be out there when you’re ready to get going. Oh yeah, I almost forgot; PLEASE HAVE FUN when starting and maintaining your home business!!