Today's concept of the small office / home office is not very revolutionary. It's actually the tools that are available to us that make a home business much easier to run, especially considering that the Internet allows us to reach an audience that numbers in the millions.

But the small office, home office concept is one that developed over the decades and is only picking up now. More young people are finding that home businesses are much more profitable than if they started a business that involved investing in certain fixtures and rentals. However, if you want to have a shot at the whole SOHO craze that seems to be picking up these days, you can't just rush into it and think that everything will turn out fine. You will have to ask yourself a few questions before initiating anything. Here are some of the most important questions that you should ask yourself.

• What are my interests? This is a pretty basic question but it is important that you need to be able to answer it all the time, and in all honesty. You might be a little confused. But, remember that when you start a business, you don't start it simply because it's for the money. You can't just sell anything out there. You need to be able to be passionate about the things you sell or the services that you offer. Thus, you should know your interests that will help you to define what product or service you will sell to others. Take down notes of all the things that interest you the most.

• Do I have the time? The next most important thing to answer is whether or not you have the time to actually run a business. It's a lot harder if your business will be away from home, obviously. But running a business at home doesn't make it all the easier. In fact, you need to be quite driven to get up in the morning everyday and essentially be in your office. After all, you are trying to make a living and a good business is one that has a lot of time invested in it. Think about this seriously before getting into the SOHO type of business.

• Do I have the resources? Resources can mean a lot of different things. Although you might not have a lot of money to start with, you might already have all the essential items needed to start up an office. For example, you might already have a computer and an Internet connection which is all you really need if you are starting a web-based home business. You also can turn some of the furniture that you don't use so much into office furniture, such as a few chairs, some tables, and maybe a closet or two that you can use as a makeshift filing cabinet.

• Do I have people? Now this may not be the first thing that you will have to think about but a SOHO essentially is a home office and this means that you will need a few people to help you work. You can't do everything by yourself especially if you are planning to handle operations more than you are planning to do paperwork. A typical SOHO will have as many as 10 people and as few as two. Think about some of the people that you may want to hire to work out of your house and if you can trust them as well.