I was watching Good Morning America this morning for the first time in a long time. Usually our television is tuned in to Sesame Street or The Wiggles or something similar. The segment that I got to watch was very interesting – it was in their “Take Charge of Your Life” segment and dealt with women working from home. Tory Johnson is the founder and CEO of Women for Hire and she had some good advice for people interested in being a WAHM or starting your own business.

According to Johnson, the first question you need to ask yourself is “what kind of business do you want to start?” In order for your home business to be successful it must be something you like and something you are good at. You’re going to be spending a lot of time working and promoting it, so it helps if you like what you do.

Next, you need to determine how much time you can REALLY devote to your business. When you decide what type of business you’d like to start you then need to figure out how much time you need to devote to it in order to make it a success. Set your expectations based on this, or you’re doomed to failure. If you can only spend an hour or two at night on your business when the children are asleep, is that enough time to make it a success and to pull in the income you want or need?

Another point Johnson made that really hit home with me is not to make excuses about the time you need to spend on your business. I know working from home that it is easy to say “I’ll do it tomorrow” or when something comes up in my personal life that needs to be addressed I work on that instead of my web sites. You can’t be successful as a WAHM if you make excuses, a point that I needed reinforced in my own head. I did some thinking of my own about this. There are a lot of hours in the day that are wasted or misused. For example – do I need to do the laundry while the boys are napping, or can I get up an hour earlier and take care of it before the boys get up for the day? Do I need to do dishes when they are napping, or can I do them while they are sitting in their high chairs having lunch?

Finally, Johnson says that you need to figure out what your business will cost you. How much money do you need to put into the business versus how much money you actually make is a consideration for most WAHMs. If you need to hire a sitter so you can do the work, do you make enough money to pay for the sitter and to bring in the level of income you want to bring into your home? Is it worth it?

I’m so glad I got to watch this segment today. I feel that I am refocused on what is important with my business and am going to try to look at my day differently for time that is misused or wasted. I know I can be a success as a WAHM – now I just need to go out and do it!