In the early 1970s I was working for the Los Angeles School District, traveling to schools to teach parents and teachers how to work with children in the new open-education program that was being launched. I enjoyed my work, but my salary barely covered expenses, and my schedule made it impossible for me to be available to my young children in the event of an emergency.

The only job I could find close to home with the promise of enough money to support my family was a recruiting position in a headhunting firm. This was a mixed experience. While the position leveraged my research, communication, and natural business skills, I hated working in what I perceived to be a highly competitive and unethical environment.

After three months, a client/mentor convinced me that I could do this on my own, with honesty, and be successful at it. I opened an office in my home with no capital backing, three months' experience, and one résumé from an engineer who wanted me to help him find a job. From this I learned three important lessons.

No. 1: Self-discipline. My biggest challenge in working at home was developing self-discipline. It took about three months of reading books on motivation and visualization - while using every mental trick I could think of - before I stopped getting sidetracked by a million distractions and settled down to regular business hours and the task of developing a business.

No. 2: Goal setting. I learned quickly that nothing was going to happen unless I established hourly, daily, and weekly goals. I taught myself to stay at my desk until I had accomplished a goal and to work until I had accomplished my daily goal, which sometimes meant I was on the phone from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. It's amazing how quickly you become motivated when you don't know how you're going to put food on the table and pay the rent.

No. 3: Business principles. Growing up in a New England family business, I learned at a young age that honesty is good for your business and good for your health. I adopted the following business principles:

No matter how much you need it, turn away business if you believe you cannot meet your client's expectations.

Turn away business if you feel your client's requirements or personality will prevent you from performing your work properly.

When in doubt, never compromise your integrity.

Although there were approximately 20,000 recruiting firms in my city when I started, I believed these four policies would help me build strong business relationships. I knew from my short stint at the headhunting firm that being honest at all times and working for my clients as I would wish them to work for me would separate me from 80 percent of my competition. Those policies paid off. In less than six months I was earning three times my teaching salary, I was gaining control over my life, and I was available to handle any issue surrounding my children.

Carolyn Leighton-Tal is founder, chair, and president of Women in Technology International.