I run two small businesses, one selling composite doors and another offering stuttering advice. I have previously had a stuttering problem but have now been fluent for fourteen years. For the businesses to succeed, I need to work very hard and I need to keep coming up with new ideas to keep myself motivated and to keep the business alive.

I have been given some top advice from a good friend who works for a DVD replication company and here are some of the things that I have learned from him:

The first tip that I have is that you need to have self-discipline to make your home based business work. Each week set yourself business goals of what you want to achieve. Even though we are working from home we need to ensure that our home comforts do not take away our concentration and ability to succeed.

Part two of the advice concentrates on our eating habits. I fell into a trap of eating a lot of snack type foods, and did not ever feel that I had the time to cook myself a meal for lunch. I soon started to put on weight and this caused me to lose some of my self-confidence.

Thirdly you are likely to experience good months and bad months, financially. It is important therefore that you start saving so that when you are having a bad period, you have the cashflow to keep the business going. It is of course of utmost importance to also have a fund to pay our annual tax bill. When I first became self-employed I loved the fact that I did not need to pay tax each month. When I received my yearly tax bill it was quite a shock however and I have since started to put an amount aside each month to cover it.