I am proud to have learned such a great deal from my failures, and the fact that I get to share them—and, more important, the hard-knocks lessons learned—with a worldwide audience is a real thrill. After all, what’s the point of ending up in frivolous litigation, nearly losing your shirt, pitching VCs for tens of millions of dollars with no revenue model, or being forced to move back in with your parents if you can’t have a few laughs as a result, right?

And with that, here are my top 10 lessons learned from my past failures that were well worth the price of admission (well, after I survived them, that is). Feel free to check out even more in Never Get a “Real” Job.

10. No revenue, no business. Period. Build a sustainable business for yourself, and not one based on hypothetical acquisitions or imaginary investment capital. If your business can cut it, you may be able to buy other companies down the road or raise VC. But treating either path as a guaranteed strategy is simply stupid. Bottom line: Stop thinking about many tomorrows from now, and focus on today. Cash flow, or die.

9. You are not special, a winner, or guaranteed squat (and neither is your business). If you are human, guess what? You are still bound by the rules of Darwin’s theory of evolution or, at the very least, Murphy’s Law.  The worst thing you can do is fall for your own b.s., so stay focused, stop thinking you are a winner because you’re excited and think your idea is brilliant, and go kick some real ass.

8. How many things can you do perfectly? If your answer is anything other than one, and you are a small start-up on a shoe-string, guess what? You are an idiot. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was Google. Both were built brick by brick, scaled and then, and only then, did they diversify. Keep your business plan simple, because if it’s not simple, you’re dead.

7. Traditional business plans will bankrupt you. Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis! Business planning is not a revenue generating exercise. Execution is where the money is at. Write something short, sweet and to the point and get on with it. I always preach about my One Paragraph Start Up Plan as the best way to get started.

6. The worst case scenario is the only scenario. If you project 100 customers, you might get 10. If you predict a deal to close within 2 months, it might close in 12. The point is, you always need to be thinking about back up plans—and sometimes—back-up plans to your back-up plans. Don’t rely on one way to do something, think about multiple paths. Cover yourself by thinking about alternatives at every turn and you’ll become a much stronger decision maker.

5. Divide your “lowest” financial assumptions or expectations by 4. Anything you think you will earn before you execute, well, probably won’t happen. Financial forecasts are like little gremlins that sit on your shoulders whispering sweet nothings in your ear about upward climbing bell curves. Don’t get stuck on a grandiose financial milestone. Focus on growing organically and covering your basic life expenses before you worry about a six-figure salary or ten-digit company revenues.

I found a very interesting article on the Top Ten Homepreneur Trends for 2010 from smallbiztrends.com. Check it out.

More than half of all U.S. businesses are home-based. These firms are often dismissed as hobbies or part-time ventures with limited economic impact.

But our research shows otherwise.  We estimate that about 6.6 million home-based enterprises provide at least half of their owners’ household income and together employ more than one in 10 private-sector workers.

The rise of the homepreneur is a long-term trend that will continue to accelerate over the next decade.  Fueled by technology and enabled by low costs, businesses of all kinds are finding there is no place like home.

With a troubled but recovering economy as the back drop, here is our list of the Top 10 Homepreneur Trends for 2010.

Economic Trends

1.  The Job-Challenged Economy:  Despite clear signs of economic recovery, job growth and traditional employment options will be limited in 2010.  Employers will continue to be concerned about the economy, focused on costs and timid about hiring.  Because of high unemployment and the lack of jobs, many will turn to self-employment and home-based businesses in 2010.

2.  Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping was one of the most popular business terms in 2009, and 2010 will see continued small business focus on cost containment and cash flow.  The obvious cost advantages of being home-based is leading to more small businesses – including employer businesses and high-tech start-ups – choosing to be home-based.

3.  The Home-Based Artisan: Most think of home businesses as knowledge, commercial or office businesses.  But a new do-it-yourself movement of crafters, digital tinkerers, green advocates and other “Makers” are using their garages, basements and backyards as their factories. These new artisans are combining digital technology and tools with traditional methods to create innovative products, processes and business models.

Read the full post HERE.

Entrepreneurs wear many hats so they often write and edit everything of their own, from proposals to press releases. Below are the top ten questions I ask myself when I edit and proofread my own work.

Editing Checklist

Approximately how many errors do I expect to find per page? (Knowing the density of errors common to the writer, even when you are the writer makes you a more successful editor.)

Have I checked numbers, capitalization, names of people and organizations, hyphens, punctuation, often-confused-words, and difficult-to-spell words?

Have I reworked the sentences in the text during which I hesitated or stumbled when I read the piece aloud?

Is there any block of text that I can cut without sacrificing meaning? On the sentence level, are there words I can cut that do not add meaning?

Are there blocks of text or sentences that would benefit from further explanation or clarification? If so, consider writing one additional sentence.

Are there words I want to reconsider because they lack precision, or because they are either too formal or too informal?

What sentence most clearly and succinctly captures the core of my message? Knowing where the heart of your meaning appears allows you to consider its placement.

Which sentence in this piece would make the best beginning? The best closing?

Are there any long sentences that would read better as two?

Are there any ideas expressed in several sentences that could be delivered in just one?