Really, there is only one question to ask yourself before you start a home business: Can you survive having your personal life and your business inextricably intertwined? Or, will a personal crisis (think two kids with serial cases of chicken pox) bring your fledgling business to its knees and destroy your credibility with clients and vendors?

If you are accustomed to dealing with home strife by burying yourself in work, where will you hide when your office is at home? Conversely, what do you do when your house is chaotic but you have clients coming to see you? Issue corporate blindfolds with your logo silk screened in 4 colors? Or just hope that your clients are so busy trying to remove the golden retriever hair from their navy pinstripe suits that they won't notice the chaos as they walk through it to your office. Corporate lint removers make wonderful gifts for new clients and you can have them printed with your company's logo, or your dog's name if that seems more appropriate

The point is, a home business is exactly that ... a business at home. And, if you aren't perfect, or your family isn't perfect, can your business and your personal life survive the power struggle for your attention? Before I forget, if your dog's name is Chelsea, I can give you a great deal on some terrific lint removers that happen to be hanging around.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Rowe.
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