In today’s Home Based Business environment we hear all too often that “the key to success is persistence.” We hear, “Just keep at it”, “do it, do it, just do it.” Over and over again the mantra is to be persistent.There are a million plus stories of people who have failed in their home based business because even though they were indeed persistent, they were primarily persistent at doing the wrong things and not nearly as persistent at doing the right things.There are many things one must do correctly to have a successful home based business or any business for that matter. In this article we will discuss three of those things; Marketing, Training and Retaining.The first thing the successful home based business owner must be involved in and become an expert at is marketing. We must not only market our business and our products but we must become masters at marketing ourselves. We are usually conscious of the need to market our business and product but we often fall woefully short at marketing ourselves. The home based business owner should constantly work towards establishing themselves as an expert in their chosen field. People always want to work with an expert. In the minds of our customer/client we should strive to establish ourselves as experts. One important note is that a person’s view of us is subjective. Meaning that, to them, we are what they think of us. If they view us as an expert, then that is who we become to them. So our marketing must go beyond product and extend to our person.Second the home based business owner must always be training. No matter what level of success we reach we should continually strive to be better. Just because everyone thinks and says I have the greatest widget is not reason enough for me to not try to build a better widget. Imagine if those who trail-blazed the path while building what we now know as the internet were content with their original product. Imagine if Henry Ford was content with the Model T. Think where Sara Lee would be if she only wanted to bake an apple pie. We must always be learning and expanding our knowledge. Not just for ourselves but also for those who work for us and with us.And lastly, for this discussion is the area of retention. This step can add just as much value to a business as the others but is perhaps the most misunderstood and hardest to achieve. In today’s society of “give it to me now” we focus far too much attention on pleasing our customer today and not nearly enough attention making sure that our customer returns. Not only should the home based business owner work hard to please today’s customer but just as hard to make sure they return. What is required to retain the customer/client will vary. The focus should be to get them to return.So in answer to the question, “is persistence all it takes to achieve success.” The answer is a resounding NO. Persistence is a necessary ingredient but we must be persistent in doing the right things the right way. Marketing, training and retaining will help push us towards our desired goal.To learn more strategies to help keep your home based business out of hot water, see my link below.