Have you ever cut down a tree? Did you use an axe or a chainsaw? Was the blade dull or sharp?

If the blade was dull, you undoubtedly found the project to be a lot of HARD WORK! In contrast, if the blade was sharp, you accomplished your goal a lot faster and with much less effort.

No matter what the project, we use tools to help us get the job done faster and easier. A well designed and maintained tool will be much more efficient and will save us a great deal of effort and frustration. The tool will actually do most of the work for us. In other words, working smart is better than working too hard.

So it is with running a home business. Our work at home business is a tool to help us make money. How well it does that will depend on whether we are diligent at keeping it "sharp" and efficient.

Take a look at each component of your home business. Typically you have: Product or Service--this is what you are promoting, possibly an affiliate program Webhost--don't underestimate the value of a quality host for your site Website--what everyone looks at, it represents your business Advertising/promotional plan--may include email, autoresponders, classified ads, ezine advertising, traffic exchanges etc. System for monitoring/tracking your website and promotional efforts--don't neglect this All these components together constitute your home business. Why examine each part? Well, they say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

You can have a great product or service to sell, but if your advertising is "dull", not doing the job, your great product probably won't make you any money.

Now look at it from the other side. If you have a "dull" product, something that nobody wants or needs, you had better have a fantastic promotional campaign. Even then, you're going to work much harder to make money than you would if you had both a "sharp" product and a "sharp" promotional campaign.

How can you make sure your business is "sharp"? Fortunately, there's a lot of information available on all these subjects. I have a number of articles and ebooks by a variety of skilled marketers available on my website. Take time to learn from these sources.

One thing I strongly suggest as Step One in starting a work at home business is to carefully choose an affiliate program that not only gives you a great product or service to promote, but also provides an excellent program of training, support and marketing, thus helping you keep your business "sharp" and profitable.

Let me illustrate what I'm talking about with one of the 2 programs I feature on my home website--the Plug-In Profit Site™. Look carefully at everything you get with this program and you'll see what I mean.

This is a "sharp" home business program and well demonstrates the point that some affiliate programs will do much more for your business than others will. The quality of a program like this one will make it the strongest link in your business. Indeed, the Plug-in Profit system examines every aspect of operating a work at home business and will help to keep your entire business "sharp", making you money.

Working hard is truly essential to any business, but don't frustrate and exhaust yourself by working with a "dull" tool. Your home business will be more profitable and enjoyable if you put forth a little effort to learn how to "sharpen" it.

So if you want your work at home business to succeed, continue to work hard while striving real hard to WORK SMART!