The experts say to write a business plan.
That seems like an awful lot of unpaid work.

Cherilyn Lester has written an article you might enjoy entitled "Top 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Starting a Business."

Her "Start Up Mistake # 2: ... Although the planning process may seem long and tedious now, it will benefit you more than you could imagine in the future... Your plan should guide you, but not constrain you."

Wondering what her number one is? It's choosing too general a field. We will talk a lot about finding your niche as we go along.

Have you decided on how much money you are willing to commit to this venture? I suppose that ideally you could get started with no out-of-pocket cost, but your time is worth something, even if you are just working the new business in your "spare time."

A tougher hurdle to overcome, if you're trading a paying job for an attempted startup, is the "opportunity cost," that is the loss of that paycheck that you could be earning instead.

In "Work-at-Home Success," Donna Fenn cautions us about another factor to consider: "Remember that whether you're offering a service or selling a product, you'll need to market yourself to customers, complete the job, and then wait to get paid (30 to 90 days)."

Even if you are trying to start up "on a shoestring," the best strategy for getting to profitability may involve some investment in "how to" guides, software, or advertising.

We have investigated and tested many products to help you get going, and will recommend to you only those that we feel offer outstanding value, granting those our coveted "Muddie" seal of approval. In the spirit of full disclosure, we must mention that we often choose to represent, on a commission basis, the products that we recommend.

And now we award a Muddie to "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" by Corey Rudl. This has been the best seller in this field for some years now, but, sadly, Corey died in an auto accident in June 2005.

Read our review, and come back when you are done.

Let's go to Lesson 2 , and start to choose and sharpen our niche >>>