As long as I can remember, I have wanted to be my own boss. I have never been able to truly get excited about working for someone else. And, with my vast array of interests and talents, I have also never been able to find a position that is that perfect match for me.

The idea of owning my own business and working from home has come to the forefront of my thoughts since the birth of my son on April Fool's Day, 1999. My drive to be home — and still contribute financially to the family household — is as fierce right now as it has ever been.

I'm sure I'm not alone. I've gone through every formula out there on how much it costs for both parents to work when you have kids versus how much you actually save by one staying home. Those formulas don't fit my life. I don't dress up for work, so I have no dry cleaning expenses. My husband works nights and I work mornings part time, so we don't need day care. I don't stick around work long enough to have to buy my lunches, and I make my own coffee in the mornings. True, it is costing me $4 per day to get to and from work (gas prices in California are $2 per gallon and I live a gallon of gas away from work), but we can never survive with one car. We've tried it. We failed miserably.

So, although we are extremely lucky than the average parents in that we were able to cut down on enough expenses for me to work only part time to keep our son out of day care, we still desperately need my income to pay the mortgage and utilities. We no longer have credit card debt, and are four payments away from our last car payment. In short, my husband's passion as a newspaper sports editor isn't paying our bills (if you've worked for a newspaper, you know why). But we have both said several times, we'd rather be happy with what we do for a living and be poor than hate our jobs and be financially set.

Still, working part-time for someone else is not enough for me. I need to be working for myself. And I am getting there. When you want to make such a move, you need to be realistic about finances. It could take months or even years to get your business turning enough profit to allow you to work from home and quit your job.

Don't quit your day job.
Keep working for someone else while you develop your business idea and plan. Start your business, and work in your spare time as much as you can.

Learn from your day job.
Chances are, your employer is a wealth of information on starting and growing a business. If you feel you can approach her about starting your own business, you should pick her brain as much as you can. Who knows, you may even get some support from her!

Use the contacts you already have.
Market your idea to your family and friends, coworkers and business associates — even your neighbors! Be truly excited about it and explain to them why they need your service. In essence, you will be created a great test group for future ideas and products. Chances are, if they are excited about your service and want to use it, you will find others out there that feel the same.

The squeaky wheel...
Write press releases and promote your services to the media — over and over again. Sooner or later, they will either tell you to go away, or they will give up and give you some free publicity. Treat your local reporter as a friend — you don't want to pick fights with a person who buys their ink by the barrel!

Always be your No 1 fan
You're it. You're the marketer, the inventor, the sales rep, the CEO, and CFO. Always be excited about your services — and always look for another opportunity to plug it.

I am confident I will reach that goal of working from home, and I know you can do it, too. Making the switch to work from home takes incredible perseverance and guts.

But then again, so does becoming a mother.