If you think that owning a home based business is all a bed of roses, take a few minutes and read the following article from author and business owner, Kirk Bannerman. He addresses a few common myths and misconceptions here.

Myths Regarding Home Based Businesses

The dream of instant riches without any effort is a frequent misconception of many that think they want to start an o­nline home based business. So many times you will hear how easy it is to sign up for a few programs and throw up a website and then just watch the money come rolling in. Sorry to burst your bubble folks, it just doesn't happen that easily!

In the course of my home business coaching activities, I have often found that people head into the startup of their o­nline home based businesses with a wildly optimistic and unrealistic mindset.

There is a misconception that you can come o­nline and set up an Internet based business and be making big money within a few days. This is absolute hogwash and it has not been my experience nor the experience of anyone I have come in contact with through my o­nline business activities.

The harsh reality is that there are more people who fail at their home businesses than there are people who actually succeed.

Newcomers to the world of o­nline home based business are not usually aware that they may actually have to work harder at their home businesses than they did at their traditional jobs. They are typically not aware of the many hours of marketing time that they will need to put in to be successful.

Many people that are new to o­nline marketing also make the mistake of thinking that a single marketing strategy will suffice. Naturally, some avenues will produce better results than others, but I have found the best course of action is to adopt a broad based approach to your o­nline marketing by spreading your time and resources over several different methods.

If you are new to Internet marketing, you might be well advised to take a course to find out what is required of you to be successful in an o­nline business. It does not matter what type of business you are starting, if it is o­nline, it must be marketed o­nline, and possibly offline as well.

It always amazes me how frequently people that start an o­nline home based business actually believe that they can get rich by doing absolutely nothing, or at least with very little effort. These are otherwise intelligent people. Why would they believe this? My conclusion is that they believe because they want to believe. They believe because they see claims to this effect everyday and everywhere o­n the Internet. They are told that it is possible. They not o­nly want to believe it, for their own reasons, but they need to believe it.

In my opinion, you need to give yourself at least a year to make an o­nline business get some traction and start to generate some meaningful income. The proper mindset is to think long term, not instant gratification.

I am always surprised at the number of people who drop out of their o­nline home based business after the first month or two. I ask myself, what do they expect, miracles? You probably wouldn't bail out of offline business after a month so why would you expect an o­nline business to be any different?

Aside from the fallacies of instant riches without any effort, the expectation of a free ride is a frequent misconception of many that think they want to start an o­nline home based business. If you're afraid, or unwilling, to invest a little money to start your own business...you are not looking at a home based business...you are looking at a work at home job. If you want to make money o­nline, you must also be willing to invest in yourself. It's as plain and simple as that.

Author: Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.