• Section: Money Guide - Category: Home Business
• Written by Jivinder Singh S

In the past, everyone could take pride in working for large, multinational companies. The current trend of downsizing and outsourcing, however, has brought major changes in the employment landscape. One thing for sure, as job security becomes a thing of the past, many are turning towards starting their own home based businesses.

Job security has its merits, and a home business is, arguably, not for everyone. But for those who are interested in making this shift, a change in mentality is absolutely important. There are many bad habits that lie dormant in all of us. You need to change these bad habits and develop new good habits to survive as an entrepreneur. And in many cases these can be 'borrowed' from your existing or former corporate work environment.

Here are some new disciplines that you can borrow from your working life, to develop and to practice:

1) Ownership and Decision Making

In corporate culture, you are responsible only fo

r what your job requires you to do. In most jobs however, you are hardly responsible for the survival of the company. Your contribution, as compared to the whole, is only marginal. You can make mistakes and get away with it. Your job is easily replaceable.

As an entrepreneur, however, you may find the world to be less forgiving. A mistake can cost you your entire business. It is vital for anyone who wants to start their own home based business to think about this fact. You have to realize that success in a home based venture is directly tied up to your actions, and you need to take responsibility for everything that happens.

In your own business, you need to go beyond your capacity at times, stretching yourself more than you would as an employee. Taking responsibility also means being able to make the correct decisions as and when needed. When you work from home, YOUR decision is final. Although it may a little scary for an entrepreneur at first, these habits practiced over time become second nature.

It sure beats having to put up with corporate red-tape!

2) Developing a Creative Mindset & Taking Risks

Companies hardly, if ever, reward you for being creative. They do, however, reward you for showing up on time and completing your daily routines. You are rewarded not for being outstanding, but for being average.

As an entrepreneur, you need to shake off the bad habit of doing things the usual way, the "way it's always been done" There is nothing wrong with using standard procedures and methods. In fact, sticking to the 'rules' can help you make a decent living. But if you want the big money, like I do, you need to start thinking "Outside the Box". A little bit of ingenuity in your business can save you a lot of money and time.

Ingenuity involves finding solutions to a problem. You may, at any stage of your home business, realize that you just don't have an abundance of resources. Resources in this context can be money, time, and expertise or just about everything else that you need, but just don't have...

As you might have figured, creativity comes with risk. Doing something new is more risky than doing it the old way, but the payoff is incredible. Thinking outside the box might result in failure, just as well as it might lead to amazing success. But risk is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it is studied, anticipated and even welcomed.

So what do you do?

Most home business challenges can be solved, even if you are not a genius or have thousands of dollars to spend. If you can just use your ingenuity, you can find a solution to these challenges.

Figure out how to make the best of your advertising dollars. Figure out how to save time and automate your business. Figure out how to complement your skills using the skills of others. Small steps like these can go a long way in determining just how successful you will be.

3) Making Your Own Rules & Organizing Time

Imagine you arrive at work one day and find that the punch-card machine has been removed. The company also fired your boss, and the

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