Many people make working at home more difficult than it is. That doesn’t mean working at home is easy or not without effort (as the scammers would have you believe). But some people get so bogged down in the details, they never actually get anywhere.

The Recipe for Success

Working at home is much like baking a cake. You can search for the best cake recipes. Research each item. Purchase items to make your cake. But until you actually mix up the ingredients and stick them in the oven, you won’t have a cake.

But that’s how many people approach working at home. They are always searching for the best work-at-home opportunity. They research each option. Many even buy stuff for their home office or new work-at-home venture. But they don’t actually put it all together to make money.

The secret to Work-At-Home Success is to take action. Yes, the search, research and planning are important, but at some point you need to put what you’ve learned to action and make money. Do you want a work at home job? Search for a job and submit a resume. Want to start a home business? Get the license and distribute business cards or work your network to find that first customer.

Rule of 10,000

For many people this first action step (beyond the research) is scary. Worries about what others will think or fear of failure paralyze them. But no one is 100% out the gate. When I was an exchange student in France, my host mother told me that when making crepes, the first one always gets thrown out because it doesn’t turn out right. The ones thereafter get better and therefore are used.The same will be true about working at home. The first steps may not turn out very well, but you keep working on it and you get better.

In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, one indication of success is practice…10,000 hours of practice. Nearly everyone studied who was at the very top of their profession had about 10,000 or practice. Fortunately you don’t need 10,000 of practice to make your first buck from home. You may not even need it to make a million. But it is true that the more you do the better you get.

One Day at a Time

We live in a world with instant gratification. A hundred years ago it took days even weeks to hear from loved ones across the country though mail. Today an email or an instant message connects people in real time. Work-at-home scammers and even gurus will have you believe that in a matter of hours or days you can be raking in money hand over fist. But the reality is, things take time. There is a learning curve to working at home. If you want to make money online you have learn about web sites, internet marketing, keywords, and how to write persuasively. Each takes time to learn much less master.

The problem is that many people give up because the money doesn’t come fast enough. In fact, some people never implement anything because it takes too long. But if you want success, you have to start today. If not, in two years you’ll still be looking for the fast fix, where as if you do something today, you could be successfully working at home in that time.

What many people fail to recognize that is that little can add up quickly. If you were to get one penny today, two pennies the second day, four pennies the third day and continued to double it each day, on the 31^st day you’d get $5,368,709.12 and the sum total for the month would be $10,737,418.24! All that from doubling one piddly little penny.

Your work –at-home effort will be the same. At first it will seem like you’re not getting results.

Day 1: $.01
Day 2: $.02
Day 3: $.04
Day 4: $.08
Day 5: $.16
Day 6: $.32
Day 7: $.64
Day 8: $1.28
Day 9: $2.56
Day 10: $5.12
Day 11: $10.24
Day 12: $20.48
Day 13: $40.96
Day 14: $81.92

But if you continue to add to your previous effort, day after day, the results will explode.

Day 15: $163.84
Day 16: $327.68
Day 17: $655.36
Day 18: $1,310.72
Day 19: $2,621.44
Day 20: $5,242.88
Day 21: $10,485.76
Day 22: $20,971.52
Day 23: $41,943.04
Day 24: $83,386.08
Day 25: $167,772.16
Day 26: $335,544.32
Day 27: $671,088.64
Day 28: $1,342,177.28
Day 29: $2,684,354.56
Day 30: $5,368,709.12

So what’s the secret to work-at-home success?

Do something every day.

That’s it. Do at least one thing (beyond the research) that moves you towards your goal. Write your resume, today. Start submitting to jobs tomorrow and every day after until hired. Write a business plan today, get your permit tomorrow, and implement your marketing plan the next day and each day after until you’ve got customers. Do something every day and pretty soon you’ll be a success at it.

So…what are you going to do today, that will make you a success tomorrow?