Unless you live alone, running a business out of your home will affect other household members. It's important to have their cooperation in order to make the business — and the family — run as successfully as possible. Your most important tool here is communication: As you research your home-based business plans, sit down with your spouse and your children and discuss those plans.

Communication

Obviously, your spouse is going to play a major role in your business success, whether he's involved in the day-to-day running of the business. You're going to need your spouse's support, whether it's providing a regular paycheck while you're getting started, or cheering you on when you hit a rough patch. Ideally, he'll welcome your initiative and your enthusiasm — in fact, your spouse might see that it's exactly the right solution for you.

Some spouses will be less than enthusiastic, however, and some might be downright negative. Take the time to sit down, preferably in a neutral and pleasant space such as a restaurant, and talk honestly about why she feels this way. You need to listen to her concerns and also assess what she might not be saying out loud. Is she worried about finances or health insurance, for example? Does she wish she could leave her own job and start a home-based business? Is she concerned about the effects this might have on your family life?

Whether or not you agree with her concerns, at least agree that she has the right to voice them. Work together to come up with solutions that will keep the family unit operating smoothly. Be prepared to change your goals or your time frame for achieving them if you need to.

For your part, you need to be honest about the disruptions that a business in the home will create. You may need help answering phones or preparing customer orders, for example. Employees or customers coming to the house may mean more house cleaning and tidying. You may need peace and quiet during certain hours, especially if you'll be speaking on the phone to customers. Confidentiality might also be an issue: Family members need to know that they can't discuss your business outside the family unit.

Whatever the issues, be honest and up-front with your family. Discuss the home-based business with your kids in an age-appropriate manner. If you think it will help, involve your spouse and children in planning and running the business (make sure their roles and yours are very clear). Overall, make sure that they know what's happening and why.

Children

Some people start home-based businesses to take advantage of the down-time while children are napping or at school during the day. This can be a great way to ease into the business world and to balance the need to earn extra income with being available for your children. If you expect to replace your current regular paycheck with profits from a business, however, you'll need to give the business your full attention. Just as you would with a regular job, you need to find a childcare solution, whether it's a good daycare nearby or someone who comes into your home.

If your children are going to be at home when you're working, let them know what's expected of them and make sure that those expectations are reasonable for their age. They may need to find quiet activities, perhaps, or stay out of certain areas of the house while you're meeting with customers or use the home phone instead of your business phone. To be fair to them, children need to know all of this up-front.

Don't overlook the lessons that a home-based business can teach your children, however. People have been mixing trade and family life for centuries: Think about the traditional family farm. Kids can learn a lot about life from having a business right there in front of them — everything from trust and responsibility to work ethics and dealing with people. By getting your kids involved, they'll have a better appreciation for the time and effort you're spending on the business.

You might even find that your children are a source of great ideas and labor (and officially paying them to help can provide lessons on money management while giving you a tax deduction). And if they decide to launch their own businesses, from lemonade stands to landscape care, your children will have a great source of inspiration and advice: you!

Friends and Neighbors

Don't be surprised if you suddenly have more people dropping by the house or phoning to invite you out once they know that you're at home. Many of these people only hear the “home” part of what you're doing; they tend to ignore the “business.” While you might appreciate the company every once in a while, you'll need to set some boundaries. Setting boundaries is especially important if you find people asking you to do things like watch their house, dog, or children. Sure, it's nice to be neighborly, but it's easy for one errand or favor to become many, and before long, you'll discover that you've accomplished very little that's work-related, despite being busy all day.

First, make sure that you answer your business phone in a professional, work-like way — that sends the message that you're at work. Let the home phone go to voice mail: You can always check the message to see if it's urgent; if it's not, you can deal with it at day's end. Tactfully but firmly, turn down invitations or requests that aren't work-related. If you're pressed for time, let the people know that you're working on a big project (you don't need to provide details), and simply can't get away from your desk right now. But remember: “No” is a full sentence, if it needs to be. Don't waste time by feeling that you need to justify your response.

If you find it challenging to turn people down, keep a list of your day's tasks in front of you when you answer the phone, and focus on them while you're talking. If it's more important to run your elderly neighbor to the doctor (and it may well be), then by all means, do so. But if you need to focus on your marketing strategy instead of the pooch next door, don't feel bad about saying no.