I was responding to yet another desperate plea for help the other day, when I realized that people really do NOT take enough time to choose a home-based business.

How can that be?

One day you just wake up and say, "Hmmm, I think I'll quit my job and work from home." The next day you have jumped into something that you have no idea about!

This is NOT the way to find success from home. In fact, you are setting yourself up for failure if that is the way you go about making such a major decision.

What do you like to DO? That is the major question that you need to ask yourself, and you truly need to take at LEAST a month to figure out your likes and dislikes, before you make a career change or start a business that is doomed before you even get started.

Two resources that may help you along the way are "The Work-at-Home Workbook", written by HBWM Founder & Director, Lesley Spencer; and Marci Taub's "Interview Yourself for Working Moms: a guided journal". Both books are excellent ways to document your life, career and business goals.

The former is only available through Mom's Work-at-Home Kit (http://www.momsworkathomekit.com), but this workbook alone will save you more time and money than any other resource available. It is a true workbook, with page-upon-page of ideas, information and tools so that you can choose the home-based job that is right for you, as well as information about how to set up your business and how to grow it to success.

Ms. Taub's book is just what a female soul needs to find oneself, as well as to move forward and grow to, and with our own goals and expectations. The confidence that can be gained by being secure in your strengths and weaknesses helps move through whatever situations we put upon ourselves in our lives. Be it trying to maintain a career while mothering your children, or being the best mom you can be – this journal will help you find you.

Over the course of a month, I want you to keep a list of the things you like to do. I do not care what those things are, from grocery shopping to talking on the phone to walking the dog. Write down EVERYTHING you do that you enjoy.

At the end of that month, look through your list and identify five of the things as your favorite activities.

Only after you have compiled your top-five list are you truly able to find the home-based business that will work for you, and that will offer you a fighting chance to become successful at.

Do you enjoy shopping? Look into becoming a secret shopper. Do you like to cook? What about being a personal chef? Are you interested in decorating? What about working as a salesperson for one of the many at-home business opportunities that offer decorating products?

There are loads of books available that can tell you how to find success as a home-based working mom. But, the only true way to know that you are going to be successful is to know yourself, know what brings you joy and to know how to turn those passions into a fulfilling and fruitful home-based career.

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Tammy Harrison is the mother of four, and the Independent Creative Representative of Home-Based Working Moms. She can be reached via email at CreativeRep@hbwm.com.