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Before you even think about setting your own business up from home you must ask yourself a few questions; firstly, why do want to own your own business? Most people only like the idea of running their own business from home because they believe that they don't have to work as long or as hard, however this couldn't be further from the truth. Do you have a passion about the services or products that you are going to offer, or are you just looking at making a potential profit? Being passionate is a real key to the success of your own business - you can't just create a business because you think it will make you rich; people will only believe in what you sell if you believe in it yourself, and you can't make yourself believe in something if you aren't truly passionate about it.

On average 400,000 people start a business each year, around 20,000 fail and many others fail to make a significant profit. The main reason for this is a lack of passion for their product; they have no faith in their product and are just trying to make money, however this is one of the biggest downfalls. Another reason for businesses failing is the lack of space in the market. Many businesses create new products that are poorly researched or just aren't needed. The key to success is to ask your potential customers if they would be interested in what you offer, before you offer it! Build your product around your potential customers, give them something that they would use and that would make their life easier and more enjoyable.

So, how can you make money from your home? Well this is the million dollar question, but there are many ways which allow you to work from home whilst still making enough money to live on. Some examples would be:

Writer - there are many sites, such as Helium which allows you to write from home and earn money. You can choose to write in subjects that interest you and also enter competitions to win money. Joining a website is a great way to get started and when you have built your portfolio you can then approach magazines, blogs and websites to try and get your articles published with them. Helium also offers publishers the opportunity to purchase and publish your active articles as stock content - giving you more ways to earn.

Designer - many freelance websites offer projects that designers can apply for, and if chosen get paid to complete. You can choose what projects you want to work on and there is a lot of variety - from illustrations to logo or banner design, there is something to meet your criteria. This is also a great way to build up a varied portfolio which can be used if you choose to apply for jobs, as well as to promote your skills to potential clients.

Photographer - it is becoming more and more popular for photographers to make money on freelance websites by selling stock images. A stock image can be purchased by many different people and continues to earn over time. Photography can be split into many sections including - business, advertising, landscape, photo manipulation and modelling. Most websites allow you publish your photographs onto many different websites, however check with each website individually to make sure.

Artist - a great place to start for a budding artist is online, and one of the best websites to get started out on is DeviantArt - here you can publish drawings, digital art, photo manipulation and much more. Potential customers can then choose to purchase your print on paper, cups, t-shirts and much more. The community is also really helpful and you can get feedback (critique) on your work.

Programmer - working from home gives you more creative freedom as you can do projects that you might not have done before. You can go freelance and obtain projects that others have posted, you could create your own games or applications, or you could work as a contractor and select different jobs around your area and then move on to the next one. If you create applications or games, send them to companies such as Apple or Microsoft and see if they

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