Almost everyone who attempts to run a small home based business ultimately fails in the long run. In fact, only three percent of the people who make this attempt actually succeed. The reasons for this vary but a majority of failures result strictly because of the lack of work they put in. To run a successful home business you must learn, apply, and adapt to changes.The first thing that you must do is get rid of the notion that the Internet is your winning lottery ticket and all you have to do is cash it in. Once you understand that making money on the Internet running a small home based business is a real job like any other, than you can start applying yourself and making progress towards quitting that day job and working strictly from home. If that is your goal, focus intensely on what you need to learn to get to that position.The Internet is a vast information highway. You can literally find out just about anything you want to know simply by using the search bar of your favorite search engine. There are also thousands of people who are willing to help with any questions you may have. You need to use all the Internet has to offer when first starting up a business.Once you are convinced you have learned enough to get your business going, you should start applying the procedures and processes needed. The application process of a home based business is tedious and you will be writing a lot. Set up a daily plan of things that you need to do and stick to that plan NO MATTER WHAT. Your desire to succeed with your small home based business and your focus on the end goal should be all the motivation you need to keep to your daily activities.The Internet and the way it operates is constantly changing. It is important for you and your business to adapt to these changes and make the appropriate adjustments. This will require you to keep active in home based business forums and it will also require you to track all of your marketing expenditures to see precisely what is working and what is not.Running a small home based business is much like running a brick and mortar business. The effort and care you put into your business will show in the income you receive from it. Regardless of the low percentage of people making money from the Internet, there are people that are making it happen and so can you.