Running your own home based internet business is a piece of

cake. Right? Well maybe, maybe not. It certainly can be.

However, all too often the exact opposite is closer to the

reality for many eager home based business owners.

You've probably heard how easy it is to rake in tens of

thousands of dollars practically over night, and how you

can have all kinds of "free time" and extra cash for

traveling and shopping at your favorite store.. Just throw

up a web site, add a few affiliate links, post to some

forums and presto - you're in the money!

But the reality is this. If you want to succeed in your own

home based internet business, whether it's affiliate

marketing or selling your own products, you will have to

work at making it successful. You have to make it your job

to succeed. You must treat it as your job, not as your

hobby. That means developing and maintaining committed to

the task.

It's great to think that with just a few easy strokes

you'll be running on auto-pilot, bringing in loads of cash

and then on to the next venture. But without some simple

planning and consistent effort you're setting yourself up

for failure.

To aide you in this effort, here are a few tips to help you

develop good habits for achieving your goals:

STAY ORGANIZED:

Set up folders in your email program. You should set up a

folder for each contact and keep important correspondence

while deleting what you don't need. If you belong to

membership sites that require passwords, keep the "welcome"

letters where you can find them.

Set up folders on your desktop. If you download a lot of

software, ebooks or PDF books from specific individuals

simply name a folder on your desktop after the author or

site owner. Then when you download something you can place

it in their folder.

Make your own HTML home page. For quick and easy access to

all your important sites make up an HTML page with

hyperlinks to your most frequently used sites along with a

brief explanation of each site. Keep it on your desktop for

easy access.

While it is possible at some point to eventually catch up

on being organized this way, starting out that way and

keeping it organized will save you hours and hours of

searching, frustration, and missed opportunities.

STAY FOCUSED:

Set aside a specific time for working on your internet

activities. It could be from 7pm-9pm every day or whatever

time's good for you. During this time try everything

possible to not get distracted from doing only what needs

to be accomplished for your business. Try to use the same

time slot every day so you get into a routine and get used

to the working mindset. I have found that setting aside

time this way is important not only for myself, but other

members of the household (my wife, kids and the dog!) - all

know that

this is important "do not distrub time for me as well! Oh,

and my the way, save the surfing for another time.

SET ASIDE A WORK SPACE:

Make sure that your have a clearly defined work area to put

your work materials and important files into. It is

important that your family know that this area is off

limits.

Finish one task before starting another.

As the old saying goes, "Put one foot in front of the

other." Don't start working on something new until the

first task is completely finished.

BE CONSISTENT:

Work the ideas that "work." When you find something that

works well for you work it hard and get as much out of it

as possible. If you're submitting articles to a certain

site and they're paying dividends, keep feeding the cycle.

LEARN FROM FAILURES:

Don't get discouraged. Each failure's just a learning

process. Use any failure to your advantage by taking the

lesson and applying it to your next venture.

Test, test, and more test.

Always test headlines and ad copy. A small change can reap

huge rewards. With these few simple steps you will stay

organized, stay focused, be consistent in your efforts and

build a solid foundation on which you can build your

internet empire!

After all, you are the one who will ultimately determine

the success or failure of your business!

Best of Luck to you in your internet endeavors!