Like everything else, owning your own home business franchise is far from being a sure-shot to success. Granted, a franchise is a great way to get ahead in business without having to reinvent the wheel, but there are always hurdles to overcome in every new endeavor, some of which can be detrimental or even fatal to your new home-based operation. Like a good traveler looks over a map and listens to others more experienced than himself in order to get a lay of the land before setting out on a trek, a wise self-starting businessperson should look at potential pitfalls before jumping into the odyssey of work from home franchising. Below is a list (in no particular order) of seven great problems that many people have experienced when converting their living rooms into offices and getting into business for themselves.

1. Lacking Motivation
Some people are frankly not wired to work without oversight, mostly because if there's no one looking over them, they don't work. This is personally detrimental and generally a gaping character flaw, but as far as a home business is concern it is certain doom. When a company is run by Me, Myself, and I, and I don't feel the urgency to make it succeed day in and day out, Me and Myself are not going to make up the difference. Contrary to popular belief-and some advertising-no business runs itself; it takes intense effort and a good deal of personal sacrifice to reach any business goal. If you have a hard time working on nothing but your own drive, a home business is not for you.

2. Confusing Work and Play
What happens when you work in the same place you live, play, eat, and sleep? Well, lots of things, but one possibility is that you find yourself unable to separate those facets of life; the lines blur together, and you wind up working and playing at the same time, which means that you're not really doing either. Too many home business owners lose productivity, pleasure, and rest because they don't exercise the discipline to draw boundaries between work time and play time.

3. Not Being Prepared for Growth
When life is simple, it's easy to get by in life and home business in nothing more than a studio apartment with a TV, stereo, computer, and printer. But what happens when business takes off and you suddenly need the use of a fax machine, professional-grade printer, a network server, and meeting space for clients? You could put the extra equipment on the bed and sit clients on the kitchen counter, but we wouldn't recommend it. Think ahead instead and be ready for growth.

4. Lacking a Presentable Business Area
A lot of us, if we're honest, do not excel at cleanliness. Friends may be willing to accept the sink full of dirty dishes, the bras strewn across the couch, and the fact that you have to move books and paperwork to clear off a chair for them, but a business associate will not. Too many work at home businesses suffer simply because the home is not designed-and maintained-with client meetings in mind.

5. Doing Something You Hate
This one seems like a no-brainer, but it really isn't. Often for the sake of promised revenue, new franchisees can easily be drawn into work for a business with "guaranteed success" that they have absolutely no interest in. Even if the home based business you're looking at mildly interests you, make your life a good deal easier and think twice before taking the plunge; it's rare that a person can really do well in an area he doesn't like.

6. Not Staying Up-to-Date
Everyone knows someone who is consistently about a decade behind the times. In business, this is a huge mistake. Particularly in a country that prides itself on novelty and technological advance, the way to reach people and push your company ahead is to use all the modern tools at your disposal. So if you're the guy still running off nothing more than a landline and dial-up modem, go visit an electronic store before your business suffers.

7. Spending the Money Saved on Overhead
Really, this is why we get into the home-business racket to begin with: the draw of saving money. There's no added rent, mortgage, or utilities with a business in your spare bedroom, so owners save piles of cash. And what are we all drawn to do with money saved? Spend it. Which of course means that it's no longer saved money, and when that financial hardship comes around, neither a new kayak or a trip to Cancun is going to keep the business afloat the way a savings account will. Just because you've saved money by running your business from home doesn't mean that money doesn't still belong to the business, and not making that distinction can be costly.

I heard it said that it's good to take lessons from both those who've succeeded and those who haven't, because looking at methods and ways of life that fail allow you to learn what not to do without paying the cost of doing it. In one man's words, this is letting someone else pay your "dumb tax," so let these seven mistakes sink in, and don't let your business pay an unnecessary toll.

May 19, 2008