A home based business has tremendous potential for a more flexible lifestyle and an excellent income with lots of vacations, but it may take from 3 to 5 years to achieve this goal. It depends on the type of business, marketing strategies and amount of time and money invested. Getting good help will give you a big boost towards your goals. Here are 5 tips for a successful home based business.Think about the long term benefits of your product.You must research your market, know who your potential customers are and how much they would be ready to pay for your product or service. This may mean attending networking events, contacting businesses that supplement yours, asking for referrals and offering discounts in exchange. You need to create a network of 50 to 100 contacts that are actively interested in your home based business.Create a good business plan.It may not be very elaborate, but it will give organization to your thoughts, help you manage your time and help understand the basics of a home based business. Is should at least include a mission statement that will help you focus on your aim, market and promotion analysis as mentioned in tip 1, investment analysis including expense forecast and projections of where you would like your home based business to be in five years.Time management.You need to know how much time you will spend running your home based business and stick to it. If you have a job, you may only give a few hours a day to your own business. If you are focusing full time on your home based business you will need to organize your tasks, set goals for a day, week, month and quarter. Make sure your goals are realistic to avoid frustration and disappointment.Your website is very important.It needs to be attractive, clear, easy to navigate and able to persuade visitors to purchase your product or service, make an appointment, fill in a form, send an email or simply call you. When you set up advertising online, it is better to use it to drive traffic to your website rather than to sell your product.A successful home based business takes commitment from you.You are the boss now and the responsible one. You need to be dedicated to achieve success no matter what the obstacles.It takes time to build a home based business to the level where you can quit your job and spend half the year at the beach. Persistent effort and consistency are essential for success. As the customers start flowing in, it is always good to ask for feedback about your customer service as well as your product and learn ways to improve. This will engender customer trust which you need for client retention for your home based business.