The statistics tell us that more than 80% of small businesses will fail in the first 12 months. I would suggest that if they factored in all the people that start a part time, home based business, the percentage would be much higher. I remember working at my job, coming home tired, then blogging, creating articles, creating websites until the early hours of the morning.

But it was hard, because I was working while my Wife and kids were watching TV, and I found myself constantly distracted. After a few months, I realized that to make it really work, I had to treat my home based business as a business.

I had to commit. After all, if this was a brick and mortar business I'd be very motivated to get sales happening just to pay the rent. I had to believe it would work and just do it!

The scariest thing was giving up the income. The advantages far out-weighed the disadvantage of a regular income by owning a successful home based business. And with time, my income would be far, far better.

I knew my home based business would be the ticket to my freedom!

The worst part of your home based business will be starting. You will be wondering, How long will it take to replace the income I was so used to getting?

The short answer is - It is directly proportional to the effort you put in!

You see the strategy to owning a home based business is simple:

1. Research to find a hungry market that is buying, 2. Create a product that they want, 3. And then promote it.

But this strategy takes time to put into place. It could take 3 to 12 months to see income from this model, if you work hard at it. The income will come and then you'll wonder where it was hiding all this time!

But you need to survive after your savings run out :(

So how do you survive:

1. Sell on eBay - It's incredibly easy with quick returns. You have a massive pool of buyers waiting to buy. Start by selling stuff around the house that you haven't used in the last 12 months. Then ask friends and family for stuff they don't need or want. Once you become confident and know how to research and determine your profit margins you could buy product from markets and resell them.

2. Find work at Elance.com - other website owners need people they can outsource to - blog updates, translation services, article writing, report writing, etc. Once you establish a reputation, this type of work usually becomes very consistent and profitable. You also get to see what other home based business owners are doing!

3. Sell other peoples products - There are an abundance of products out there (information and physical), which will pay handsome commissions if you sell them. They can be found with a Google search. Free blogs can be set up within minutes, providing you a base to sell these.

4. Take on a part time job - Find a job for a few days a week that will supplement the other cash flow strategies you have in place.

Where there is a will there is a way! Treat your home based business as a business. Wake up each day with a plan. Initially that plan may be 'How can I add another cash flow stream today?' But that plan should also include the overall strategy - The BIG Picture!