Know thyself. It's the first rule of success in every human endeavor from self-realization to online work at home business opportunities.

If you're planning to go into e-commerce in a serious way, you owe it to yourself to take a look at this crucial question: Is the Internet really for you?

How do you know, for sure, that you're cut out to make a success of your new online home business? Okay, you've got the product, idea or service. Yes, you either have your website up, or you know what you want on it. And absolutely, you have developed marketing and financial plans you believe will work.

But have you thought about the difficult aspects of running a home business alone? Have you looked into your own psyche to see if you have what it takes, and if an online home business will be good for you in the long run?

Let's examine some of the aspects of working at home that the vast majority of small online business owners never even consider:

To create, build and grow your online business requires a great deal of dedication in order to succeed. That means time, focus and self-motivation. If you have a hard time just getting out of bed unless there's a job outside the house, with a time clock, you might want to reconsider even at this early juncture. The willingness to put in time when you'd rather not, and the self-motivation to keep cranking are character traits shared by all successful online home business owners. And the lack of these traits spells almost certain doom.

Perhaps you're already accustomed to working more or less alone, and feel you truly are a self-starter. Then check out the next paragraph.

How flexible is your mind? You won't have a secretary, or a manager, to go to figure out filing methods, computer repairs, taxes, business legalities, or any number of a host of problems that will, without a shadow of a doubt, rear their ugly heads. They will all have to be solved by...li'l ole you. Can you do it? Can you do it without losing your focus and dedication? Yes? Then move on.

Are you a talented organizer? Among the things you will have to organize, and organize well, to succeed in your online home business, are your own working hours versus your hours outside of work, as well as your ideas and goals for your business itself. If you are abysmally lacking in this quality, an online work at home business is probably not really for you.

Better to find out before the fact than after. And if you're happy with your answers, you'll go into your online business with more confidence.