I believe that anyone going into business should strive to maintain a professional image. I don't care if you work at home in your boxers or if you are leasing office space; if you want people to do business with you, you must show your customers or clients that you care about your business.

I commonly hear that work at home moms shouldn't have to worry about professionalism because they have a family to manage and they are only doing this part time. The argument goes something like this:

"Some work at home moms may not want to be professional. They have more important things to do. A woman who works too hard at being professional just to please others can risk putting her family second."

My problem with this argument is that it doesn't matter where you work or what you do, you should always be professional. Try running a business without an ounce of professionalism and you will quickly see that you won't last long.

This is because people hold businesses to a certain standard. No one wants to invest money in someone that will not even invest time and money into themselves. Professionalism doesn't have to be expensive; in fact it's the least expensive thing you can add to your business.

Ways to be unprofessional:

DJ Nelson

Donyell (DJ) Nelson is a writer, entrepreneur, and talk radio show host. In 2003 she founded J. Nelson Arts LLC, which is an Internet media company that develops, manages, and maintains highly specialized web properties. The company currently has a network of 10 sites that cover topics such as business, home life, health, finance, and pets.