Do you know what the number one killer is of all home based businesses? The "silent ? attacker who tries to stab your business in the back and bleed it to death until it dies off?

Believe it or not...it's not being the least skilled, having the least resources or even over-zealous government regulators.

No, the number one home business killer in the world (no matter where you live, what you sell or who you are) is to simply stop marketing yourself.

It's true.

In fact, as someone who's been training people how to start and run home businesses as marketing consultants for over 10 years I've seen this time and time again. I've seen even the most talented people in the business go under almost overnight simply because they stopped marketing. Stopped growing. And stopped showing the market why they should hire them.

Why does stopping marketing yourself kill your home business so fast?

The answer is simple:

It's because the minute you stop marketing, you start to get lethargic. You start to get lazy. You get clients and you think you're busy enough. And you simply stop doing the things -- no matter how small and easy -- that bring in the money over the long run.

And you know what?

I've been at this for over 20 years, running my own home business. And to this day I'm still devoting 25% of my time to marketing myself, my home business and my services.

I'm still running ads, making calls (actually I have a telemarketer do the calls), setting appointments and going in to meet with potential clients.

If I stop doing this consistently, even with my reputation and network of clients and referrals, I will go down in flames. That's just the way it is. And it's the same with you if you own, or want to own, a home business.

If you stop doing what I call the "high pay out activity" -- the things that bring you fresh, new clients and leads on a regular basis -- you will eventually go under.

Now, that doesn't mean you have to spend every day doing it. Just 25% or so of your week, month and year.

If you devote just that small amount of time consistently to your own marketing -- you almost can't fail. Because when times go bad and one or two or three (or however many) of your clients leave or sell their businesses or stop using you for whatever reason -- you'll have plenty more clients to fill the "void ? they leave.

Trust me, if there's one thing you need to know about running and starting a home business -- no matter what it is -- this is it. You must keep marketing yourself.

If you don't, you'll be finished almost as fast you began.

If you do keep marketing yourself, on the other hand, you'll thrive and dominate and leave your competition in the dust.