The first thing you must do before start home based business is some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first hand, just how many people there are in your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be "willing to stand in line and pay money for it". This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed toward the "detailing" of your business plan. The more precise and detailed your plan covering all the bases relating to how you'll do everything that needs to be done the easier it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should show you start up investment needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedure, your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneur jump in on an extra income project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time requirements more than they can meet.

Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set your plan in motion and start making money.

Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting and building a profitable home based business, so read very carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the capital and the available time to sustain your business through the first six months of operation.

Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the income from your business during those first six months should be reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach your planned first year potential.

Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the fruits of your labor. But the first six months of operation for any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the money you business generates for yourself during that period.

If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your workload. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy.