Average estimates show that almost 85% of the people who start a home based business for the first time quit within a year to return to a full time job. Why are all these people quitting when there are so many advantages to being your own boss and running your own home based business?

Is it their lack of profits? Is it a lack of motivation? Most figures show that it is the absence of a regular work environment. A recent analysis of 15 people who quit their home based businesses within a year revealed some shocking facts.

We have outlined this facts below as a list of Do nots if you plan to start your own home based business. By learning from the mistakes and problems of others you will be given a great advantage and a great leap into starting your own home based business.

Never choose something because you are inspired by others

You have got two choices in life; do what you love or do what you have to, to stay financially stable. If you look around your friends and family, most people will choose the second option and it is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make.

For example you might know a copywriter who is earning thousands and thousands of dollars a month just writing ad copy. This does not guarantee that if you start your own copywriting venture you will be successful. If you jump into a field without a basic level of knowledge you will fall flat on your face quite rapidly. You might know people who are making millions running a successful network marketing business from home, but is this the path for you? Can you sell these products to your close list of friends and relatives first? Ask yourself this really important question before you ever dive headfirst into any online business

Do not be complacent

Just because you are working from home you are not immediately available for completing and fixing all the chores that need doing around the home. Do not treat your profession like a hobby. Keep a separate area of your home as an office and work from there.

If you invest into some business equipment, such as computers, broadband, telephone lines and fax machines you will be able to maintain that single area as your office and thus instantly snap into focusing mode when you are there.

Never work without a plan

You always need to have your plan in hand before you start your home based business. How many hours will you work each day? What are the startup costs for the business? How much will marketing the business cost? Do you have a marketing plan? How big is your potential customer base? You need to make sure that future growth is one of your main aims because otherwise the business can just completely fall apart.

Never neglect the financial aspects

One of the main advantages of a home based business over a full time job is that you can start to cut out a great deal of your unwanted expenses. Start paying attention to and really managing your finances to squeeze every extra dollar out of your new business. If you are not particularly great with numbers, hire someone to take care of it for you.

If you set up a certain amount of money each month to re-invest into the business you will be able to easily maximize the amount you will be able to grow the business.

The most important thing of all is always have a realistic time frame and a profit margin target in mind before starting your home based business. If you have your finances sorted it substantially increases the level of success you will see from your home based business!