Have you been thinking about starting a home business but you don't know where to begin? This can especially be challenging for moms that work outside of the home and may have children to care for. How do you balance your day time job, your family, your home and your new home business? I would like to share some tips.

? Have a family meeting. If you and your husband are committed to having a home business together, your biggest hurdle has been jumped. If you have children, have them also be included in the family meeting. It is amazing at how even small children can understand the concept of working at home so that you can be at home with them more in the future. Pre-teen and teenagers may be eager to help if they have been included from the inception of the home business.

? Do your homework. Make sure you research the home business you are considering. Is it a stable company? Has it been around for at least 25 years? How much debt is the company carrying? Is there a market for the products? Has the company been growing? Will you have support from others in the business?

? Delegate. Once you have decided on the home business, see how you can include the other family members in the business. When my daughter was 3 and 4, she liked to put stamps on the envelopes for me. Pre-teen and teenagers can help manage the phone. They can take messages when people call; they can listen to the voice mail messages, take notes and write down the phone numbers for you. They can also address and stuff envelopes. This is good experience for the children and will help them accept responsibilities and it will increase their self-esteem.

? Share the household duties. If the children are involved in the home business, they will be more understanding when it comes to sharing the household duties. Take turns cooking or cleaning up the kitchen. Schedule the children to do the household duties on the nights you put in the most time for the home business. Have your husband help also. My husband decided he would help me with the housework rather than take a more active role with the home business. If your husband is willing to help more with the business, then share more of the housework.

? Cook once a week. There are cookbooks available with entire menus, recipes and grocery lists for once a week cooking and even once a month cooking. This can really be a time saver to allow you to find the time to work your home business. It can also help you save money on groceries which you can invest in your home business.

? Schedule appointments. If you need to meet with potential customers, always make an appointment so you don't waste your time. You also need to schedule specific time in your day to work on your business. Set a goal of how many hours a week you will spend on your business. Look at your calendar at least at the beginning of the week and make sure you schedule a block of time at least five days a week for your business. Even if you know the kids have a soccer game and will have homework that needs to be done, pencil in at least 15 minutes or however much you can give to your business. Remember, your investment of time will pay off.

? Organize. Set up your home office as soon as you start your business. Don't put it off. If you start immediately, you will never need to take blocks of time from working the home business for catching up on the paperwork. Keep it simple so it becomes a daily habit and doesn't feel like it is another job. Drop business receipts and cancelled checks in folders. You will really be happy you did this when tax time comes! Have one day planner where you write down all your appointments. Have one notebook by the main phone so family members can write the phone messages in one place. Have a big dry marker calendar in a central location and write down the children's after school activities, whose night it is to cook supper and clean up the kitchen and other related schedule dates to help keep the family in synch.

? Develop you. One of the most important things you can do is invest in self improvement. Learn from the experts in how to close a sale, attract customers, make a cold call, and have zero no shows. The more you invest in yourself, the more successful you will be. There are tele-conferences, books CDs, DVDs and seminars available. Work a little on self-improvement everyday. Think ahead and plan self-improvement into your day. Have a CD ready to listen to for the drive to work and back home. If you like to read, pick out a self-improvement book and read a little before you go to bed each night. Schedule a family vacation around that seminar you want to go to. You get to spend time with the family, attend that special seminar and the entire family gets to enjoy a vacation.

? Advertise. Mom, make it fun and involve the family. Make t-shirts for the whole family with your business opportunity web-site on them. Let your whole family come up with ways to advertise. The more creative the idea, the more people will pay attention to the advertisement. Do you sell weight loss products? Make a shirt for your Chihuahua that says 'Before (name your weight loss product), I was a German Shepard.' Have a family contest to come up with the logo for your home business.

Starting a home business can seem overwhelming. Break the process down into steps and do one step at a time. The best advice I can give you is to be patient and make it fun. Remember to keep your family first. By including your family into the home business as much as possible, the family bonds together, works together, has quality time together and will have extra money in the future to spend together!