Do your family and friends often refer to you as a "control freak"? If the answer is yes, then it's likely that you would find the idea of running a home based business very enticing. One of the biggest advantages of running your own business from home is that you are in charge of everything and you are in control.

Another reason to look at taking control of your life and work is if you're a no-nonsense hard working individual and feel you would love to throw all your enthusiasm and energy into your own business. If you cannot abide office politics or colleagues who expend more effort avoiding a task than it would take to do it, then a home based business is the one for you.

No matter how appealing you find the idea, think long and hard before stepping out of your paid employment. Whilst the idea of total control is very appealing, the down side of running your own business is that you will also be solely responsible for every aspect of it. Your familiar job title will be a thing of the past. Unless you have significant financial resources and plan on outsourcing some tasks, you'll be wearing all the hats.

If the thought of this makes you panic, relax and think about it a little more. Make a list of the skills you might need to operate your business. If you are lacking in any areas, go in search of the knowledge you'll need. If you have no marketing knowledge, do some research and start looking at what other businesses are doing. You might even find you can enroll in a basic marketing course to learn a little about it and gain some confidence. If the service you will be offering from your business is one other businesses (such as an accountant) might use, why not offer them a service swap?

Once you decide that a home based business is for you, begin to plan ahead. Unless you have plenty of back up savings, don't leave a paid job before you are ready and reasonably confident you can generate an income from home. If you are able to, start your home based business before leaving your employment, and work on building up your clientele part time. Alternatively, if you can afford to do so, consider dropping your employment to part time so you can start spending time on your new business. Decide exactly how you will approach building your home business up and make a plan, listing the steps you need to take to achieve you goals.

Having a home based business certainly gives you a great deal of control over your working day, your work environment and your life. You may have to work hard but just remember that even though you can end up doing tasks you don't particularly enjoy, you're in control!