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If you were to compose a "Top 5" list of things to do, and not to do, in order to build a successful work from home business and income, it might look something like this:

1. Make sure that you have (or acquire) an attitude for success.

2. Take an inventory of where you've been, where you are, what you have, where you are going, and, more importantly, where you want to go.

3. Do your homework. Become educated (about the topics and/or industries you are considering getting involved in). Do your research and due diligence.

4. Avoid wasting or losing your money or your time on unwise "investments." Item #3 should help you in this regard. However, two easy guidelines are to make sure that any investment you make is proportionate to the industry, products and/or services, and type of business you want to get involved with. ??For instance, if you are looking at McDonald's restaurant franchises, then an investment of $1 million or more might be justified and reasonable. However, if you are looking at the more typical smaller scale type of home business, especially MLM, then rarely should you have to spend more than a few hundred to a few thousand (at most) dollars to successfully launch your new home based business. ??And, unless you have "deep pockets" and really know what you're doing, always grow your business out of profit. In other words, invest a reasonable amount necessary for a successful start, make some money, and then invest back into your business to make more money. That way you won't !

get hurt financially [ at least not to any significant degree ], mortgage your home, or lose your life savings or 401(k), etc.

5. Engage in a "Systems" approach to starting and building your business that makes it a step-by-step, "cookie cutter" process that offers a reasonable chance of success if you follow the system. Make sure that the system is predictable, and, ideally, that you have a reasonable chance of earning back your initial investment and becoming profitable within no more than 30 to 90 days, with 30 to 60 days being even better.

Look around and you will find that some of the most successful people and concepts in history are those who implemented systems that can be duplicated.

I'm not referring here to the famous word, "duplication," that is often tossed around among people involved in network marketing. When used in that context it is erroneous because you cannot "duplicate" people! Even if you are a wonderful example of leadership and are constantly growing your business that doesn't mean that you can expect the next person to duplicate your performance, because he or she is not you!

So, the kind of duplication that you want to be able to bring to your business and your organization is the duplication and dissemination of systems, methods, and processes.

Think about it, when Henry Ford successfully mass produced the automobile he didn't duplicate himself, but rather he developed an assembly line method that allowed workers (properly trained in that system) to duplicate the same results in building new automobiles in massive numbers.

When Ray Kroc made McDonald's into the most successful franchise in history he didn't do it by duplicating himself, but by developing a system recognized the World over as model of efficiency, duplication, and consistency, that allows you to walk into any McDonald's restaurant anywhere and receive the same level of food and service, and clean bathrooms, as will be found in any other. Every single employee is a uniquely different person, so McDonald's is certainly no expert at duplicating people, but they are among the very best at duplicating systems.

When Bill Gates conquered the World of the desktop computer he didn't do it by duplicating himself, which would be a pretty tough act to follow since as the richest man in the World there is only one of him anyway. Here again, Bill Gates developed a series of successful systems that could in turn be duplicated by Microsoft's thousands of employees.

Are you starting to get the idea, and the difference, between trying to duplicate people (which is impossible, unless you manage to pull off an amazing human cloning experiment), and duplicating systems, which is very doable?

It is a well known fact that well established, brand name franchises have a much higher success rate than someone trying to start a business on their own. When, for instance, is the last time you saw a McDonald's restaurant go out of business?

Most network marketing (MLM) companies also claim to have systems that will help assure your success, yet it is well known that over 90 percent of the people who enter the industry fail. That's because most MLM programs try to duplicate people, and, as explained above, that simply doesn't work.

So, if you want to be among the 10 percent or fewer of network marketers who succeed you need to seek out and obtain the very best education and training that you can find that will show you how to utilize systems that will truly lead to successful results, consistently, the majority of the time.

If you are still looking for the "perfect" opportunity then you will want to look for one that is systems based, meaning that you, or anyone entering that business, can reasonably predict what kinds of results you might expect to achieve.

Ask yourself before getting involved, how much of your success depends upon you, and how much depends upon the system? The more systems there are in place that are designed to help people achieve consistent results, income, and profits, the more likely you are to succeed instead of becoming another victim among the 90 percent or more who fail.

You can find examples of the above kinds of programs on this Website. If you were to compose a "Top 5" list of things to do, and not to do, in order to build a successful work from home business and income, it might look something like this:

www.abcincome.com