One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

Today’s society wants us to believe that we need to be doing something 24/7 365 or we will fail. Can you say burnout! This is probably the number 1 reason a lot of people are turning to home based businesses. Without having an online business myself, I would not be able to get my kids to their sports events on time (and they are only in 1 sport at a time), get my grass cut or anything else around the house done for that matter, workout to try to stay healthy and oh yeah…sleep! Having a full time job away from home would be impossible at this point.Having a home based business or online business allows me to get everything done that I need to without having that “burned out” feeling. However, even working from home requires some sort of schedule. You still need to plan your day, week and even your month. Without a plan or schedule, you will be running around like a chicken without its head! There are just to many things to get done and without structure, you will fail.My advice and the advice of many others is to plan out your day first. Set a time that you will work on your home based business and stick to that, but do not make that time more than 8 hours. If you try to work 15 hours a day you will burnout quickly and your home based business will fail. Remember, you are working from home to have more free time…not less. Also, make time for your family and for yourself. This will help you get rid of the stress that comes with starting a home based business.Next, plan your week. Allow yourself a day or two off. Personally, I do not work much on weekends. I like to have that day away from the computer screen. I also like to work out so I set time aside to do that. Again, keeps the stress level down. You should allow 1 hour a day, 3 days a week to exercise. You will be amazed at how much better you will feel!You can even plan farther ahead, say the month or even the year. Set your goals of what you would like to accomplish with your home based business in 3 months, 6 months and by the end of your first year. A very important point…make your goals achievable! This will help keep you motivated to succeed.Most importantly, don’t forget to plan that vacation! We all need to get away. Taking some time off from “life” to relax and rejuvenate yourself can work wonders. Burnout is one of the top reasons people fail with anything including home based businesses. Try to do everything in moderation. If you can achieve this, you will find yourself as a wealthy person.

This day in age, the computer is a very powerful tool it can also be very scary to some. Starting a home based business for a internet guru might be easy but for someone with little to no experience quit overwhelming.How do you determine a legitimate business from a scam? Research is the key but how, and where do you look?You need to look for a one with a proven marketing system that has personal training as well as video, and audio training.You need to look for one that is dedicated to your success a company that will take you buy the hands and guide you not just send you a bunch of information with out teaching you how to use that informationA business that is dedicated to your success, one that will help you in your endeavor to financial freedom!With the economy not looking good people are unsure of the future with starting a home based business you can control you own future control your own destiny.You decide when and how much you want to earn how much you want to work and best of all you don’t have to answer to Boss because you are the Boss of your own company and you make all the decisions!There is also a lot of benefits to owning your home based business like tax write offs being able to stay at home not having to hire a baby sitter or day care to watch your children, You are able to be there to raise them never missing a single moment!So you see that starting a home based business is the way to go and the timing could not be more perfect