The thing that I find both funny and sad, is that so many of use who decided to start up a home based business did so to create more family time. Unfortunately, many of us are learning that we have less time now than we did working a nine to five job. The good news is that I think we can come up with a solution. Allow me to explain.From the outset, you need to keep in mind that your home based business is similar to a new job, and that every new job has a learning curve. This is even true if your prior job was in the same industry as your current home based business. Often times different jobs within the same industry utilize different operating systems, which can take some time to get a handle on. You will find that as you engage in the day to day of your home based business, you will discover faster ways to do things, and even learn how to multi-task. This will end up shortening your work day.One thing that you will always need to remind yourself in the early stages of your home based business is that you are doing what others are not doing today, to have what others can only wish for tomorrow. In other words, you often have to make sacrifices in the early stages of your business while it is not generating substantial revenue. Thus, you will often have to play the role of the secretary, the marketer, and the accountant until you are profitable enough to delegate these tasks to others.There is no getting around the fact that the infancy of your home based business leaves you with a limited number of hours each day for anything else. With that being said, I have some suggestions which I think may help.If you have children at home, make sure that you set a solid work schedule. Moreover, make sure that your children are aware that during those hours, you are “at work”, and unavailable.For those of you who have children who attend school, draft breaks in your schedule around times when your children will be home. For instance, plan to eat lunch at the same time that your children come home to eat lunch. Then plan your next break for when your children come home after school. When it is time for the kids to do their homework, you can go back to work. Thereafter, you can eat dinner together.Where I personally have an advantage over a good amount of people, is in the fact that I do not need all that much sleep. I use this gift to my advantage. When everyone else is sleeping at 5 a.m., I am working. This gives me at least two hours of steady work time before the next member of my family awakens.While these solutions work great for me, they may not necessarily work for you. Your home based business may be one which does not lend itself to taking breaks in the middle of the day, or conducting business after hours. Therefore, you will have to come up with your own strategies for maximizing your time value. Just make sure that you do discuss your work schedule with your family, and make them aware of the times which you are designating for business.The keys to balancing your family life with your home based business life, are planning and communication. If you do these two things, you will be successful.