The prospect of a profitable work-at-home business is incredibly attractive. Every year, millions of people investigate and implement various moneymaking strategies in hopes of building their own successful work-at-home career. Unfortunately, most of them fail to realize a profit. Those failures can usually be traced back to one of three primary causes. Let’s look at what dooms so many ventures and how one may be able to work around those obstacles.

First, most people hate selling.

Most home-based business strategies require making sales to other people. Whether online or offline, selling is often the very foundation of these opportunities. Unfortunately, most of us don’t like to sell. In fact, many people find the process of dealing with prospects completely unnerving. It can be hard for people to conquer their distaste of sales and this leads many to give up on their dreams of operating a winning home business.

Second, most people can’t sell.

Those who can get past their reservations about selling are still unable to close deals. Even though some home business packages will claim to “teach anyone how to sell,” the ability to successfully market and to convert prospects into buyers is an art form. Not everyone is a natural salesperson and learning the tricks to successful selling can take years and years. The lack of sales skills kills many home-based ventures.

Third, most people lack time and time management skills.

All of us are burdened with long “to-do” lists. Many of those pursuing a work-at-home career do so while maintaining a full-time job, too. Home-based business opportunities can take a great deal of time to build and operate. The clock is always ticking, and twenty-four hours per day isn’t always enough time to manage one’s life and a business. Countless work-at-home plans become victims of the clock.

So, if one wants to operate a successful home-based business, they will need to get over their distaste for selling, develop top-notch sales skills, and find a way to put in late night after late night in order to make things work, right?

Well, that is one approach. However, most of those interested in controlling their own financial future would prefer to work smart instead of working hard. That’s why they seek out proven home-based business models that don’t require making sales or massive time commitments. Instead of trying to climb over these obstacles, many successful entrepreneurs have found ways to avoid them completely.

Some great work-at-home opportunities don’t require selling or staying up all night just to get things going. By finding these non-intensive passive revenue streams, one can maximize his or her chance at home business success.