As many of you know I am a home based business entrepreneur and have been working from home for the last 5 years. Every once in a while I have people who want to know why I chose to get involved in a home business instead of doing some kind of brick and mortar business. The answer is simple, it’s all about lifestyle for me. I wanted so much more than just the bi-weekly pay check with two weeks of paid vacation. That’s a life of misery. I wanted financial freedom and the time freedom to enjoy it. I wanted to be at home, to be my own boss and set my own schedule. That’s why I choose to stay right where I am. It’s lucrative, it has given me lifestyle and I am my own boss. What more could you ask for?

So as you all know, a business requires marketing. I do several things for my marketing but my major source of lead generation is through my self-hosted WordPress blog. I share tips on mindset, personal development and business opportunity and by doing so, people naturally become interested in what I do. For me, it generates some of the highest quality leads one can get. If they like my content, chances are, they will enjoy my business as well. The perfect lead! Qualified with a common interest.

With my WordPress blog, I have certain plugins I use to promote my content and extend its capabilities. If you have any good ideas for new plugins, I’d sure like to try them out. They are as follow:

• Platinum SEO Pack – Prepares your blog for Search Engine Optimization
• All in one Adsense – Enables the all popular ad serving network of Google to place relevant ads on your site. I also use it to place a contact form directly following each of my blog posts.
• Twitter Tools – Connects your blog with your Twitter account and updates your Twitter account every time you publish a post.
• WPing.fm – This plugin makes ‘Twitter Tools’ and ‘Wordbook’ nearly worthless. It uses a service called Ping.fm to automatically send a status update every time a blog post is published with a link back to your post.
• WordPress Automatic Upgrade – This doesn’t necessarily assist in extending my blog but is a very convenient plugin. The name should be pretty self explanatory.
• Vipers Video Quicktags – This makes posting videos to your blog posts easy!
• Google XML Sitemaps – This will aid you in a few things. It helps you track the health of your blog by seeing how Google, Bing and Yahoo search bots view your site. It also gets your site indexed with the major search engines quickly.
• Add to Any -This is a social bookmarking plugin that allows your readers to quickly share your content on various social sites around the web.
• Stray Random Quotes – I love quotes and love to share them. This is a plugin that will easily allow you to add quotes to your blog in various locations. Have the quotes rotate, stay the same or change with each visit.
• Wordbook – Updates your facebook account with every published, edited or revised post and/or page.
• Yet Another Related Post Plugin – Enables your readers to get deeper into your archived posts. It shows posts with similar tags and topics below the post they are currently reading.

Feel free to look them up in the “plugins” section of your WordPress back office to see what they do. Each of them play a significant role in my marketing campaign.

I’ve compiled a few pictures here for a real quick survey. Look at the pictures below and tell me which view you would prefer while working.

Which workspace suits you best?

Workspace #1

Workspace View #2 – Supervisor of Workspace #1

Workspace View #3

Workspace #4 – Getting Better!

Workspace #5 – Very Nice!

Workspace #6 – Priceless! Working from Home!

So which of these work spaces looks the most appealing to you and which of these spaces are you somewhat currently in? Man, if everyone could just get this one concept: You have just as much of a choice to not work where you want as you do in working exactly where you want! So I chose work spaces #5 and #6 nearly 5 years ago. I used to work in something similar to work space #3. I think I definitely upgraded!

So you might ask the question: Is a home based business all it’s chalked up to be? The answer for me: YES! The answer for you: (Fill in the blank)!

So here we are, living the lifestyle of a home based business Entrepreneur. Well, I shouldn’t generalize like that. I am living the life of someone who is part of MY home based business. We are here on the Big Island of Hawaii. We arrived at the Kona airport yesterday the 16th of July, had a driver pick us up (very helpful when you bring your entire family) and are staying until the 27th of July. Nearly two weeks of paradise.

Ok, so you think the Big Island of Hawaii is the cool thing right? Well, you’re right. It is pretty cool. Most people will never be able to do this. I am so blessed. The other cool thing is the fact that I am here with thousands of other like-minded, home business entrepreneurs. Many of them are self-made millionaires. I am surrounded with people like me. These are people that have goals, take action and live a life that less than 3% of people will ever live. That is who I choose to be.

Tomorrow we are planning a trip around the north end of the Island for some site seeing. We’ll hit a few waterfalls and have some awesome photos to show you.

Today I was able to teach my 7 year old daughter how to snorkel. She had a blast and is a complete natural at it. It’s one thing being able to do these things yourself. It’s a completely different thing being able to show your kids how to do it while they are young. I am able, through my business, to give them opportunities that I never had! Awesome.

Aloha!

Yes, if you are currently in a home based business, you are a business owner. You own and operate your own successful or unsuccessful business right out of your home office. For some, that home office can be where ever their feet take them, just as long as they have their phone. For others, it’s right at home in their office.

So what do business owners do? Well, they do business, and doing business means that they make money! Now, in a home business, it is just as easy to make money as it is to “not” make money. It takes the same amount of effort to succeed as it does to fail. The difference between success and failure is smaller than you think. Very small actions taken during the day, every single day, will move you closer to or farther from success.

Here are ten mistakes home business owners make that will obviously move them closer to failure:

1. They give themselves a back door, a quit date, an ultimatum or an excuse.
2. They treat it like a hobby instead of a business. When I think of a successful business owner, I think of someone who is his business. He is always thinking and looking for ways to increase his business. When I think of someone with a hobby, they tend to get to it when they have a little extra time. I can tell you this much, unless your home business is a priority, it will fail and produce “hobby” income.
3. They play small. They place a little tiny ad, they market a little bit, they call a few people, they don’t think big enough. Their decisions are most likely being driven by fear, instead of ambition.
4. Half invest themselves. In most network marketing opportunities, there are income levels. If you are not playing at the highest level you can, you are playing small. You can’t catch the BIG fish by fishing in the two foot wide aquarium.
5. Don’t use the products. This is huge! I know in my business, I suggest to everyone I choose to mentor, to purchase the products. Purchase whatever products you would like to be paid for. Know your product! A Nike shoe salesman better have owned and used a pair of the shoes he is selling. Otherwise, he is going to look a little foolish when someone asks about the product.
6. Inconsistency. It takes more than a few drops in a storm to soak a driveway. Instead of working their business, doing income producing activities every single day, they choose to skip it here or there. Skip your business, skip your goals!
7. Play the blame game. It’s their mentors fault, the companies fault, the compensation plans fault or their teams fault that they haven’t had the success they came here for. Personal responsibility is a myth.
8. Don’t follow the system. This is called “re-inventing the wheel.” In other words, thinking that their way is better. The system is in place because it works. Why re-invent something that isn’t broken.
9. They are dishonest. You have all heard of the term, “fake it til you make it.” In my eyes, that’s a lie. Standing in front of that Mercedes and that huge home, all of which belongs to someone else, is dishonest. If it’s not yours, don’t claim that it is.
10. Failure to mastermind. There is no other industry in the world that operates like Network Marketing. You don’t see McDonalds willing to share their marketing techniques with Burger King. Home business owners, yes that’s you, are willing to share with others the things they are doing to create success. Believe it or not, this part of the system.

Do you see? It takes just as much effort to not do things as it does to do things. Yes, you may miss a few of your favorite TV shows on your trip to success, but what would you rather have….an evening with House or an American Idol or a successful home business? One provides you with time freedom, financial freedom and a lifestyle of your design. The other is just a pastime.

Don’t fall short of the goal by making these simple, yet devastating mistakes. You are a business owner. Act like one!

For those of you who have children, how many of their events at school have you missed out on this year due to your job or your timely business? Now it doesn’t matter how big or how small these school events are. So whether you go just to see them sing a few songs, eat a popsicle or walk across the stage for a graduation, all are equally important to your child. If your child brings home a paper with something happening at school, most likely, parents are invited and you should go!

What I have noticed, if my daughter tells me about something coming up at her school, or asks me to go, she really wants me to go. She not just inviting me or telling me because her teacher told her to. If I can’t go, they feel left out when the actual event happens. Even if just one other parent shows up with their child and nobody else does, your child will still feel left out wondering why her Mom and Dad couldn’t be there. It means a lot to them, and it means a ton to me as a parent as well. I know it does to you also!

Tell me, is an hour of pay worth more to you than an hour with your child at school?

Today my daughter is having her end of school field day. I will be there. Earlier this week my daughter had a presentation at school. I was there. They sang four songs and then we ate cookies and punch with them for the rest of the time. It was something so simple, yet, I could see her beaming the entire time we were there. I loved every bit of it. Every event she has had at school this year, I was there.

If your job or your business is keeping you from “being there” for your kids, it isn’t worth your time! Let me say that again, if your job or business is taking precedence over your children, drop it like a rock. It isn’t worth your time.

Now, I realize that you must have an income to feed and clothe your children. There are better ways to create an income than what most people are doing right now. You can work from your own home in a home based business and have the time freedom to always “Be there!” You just have to do it. It is a choice!

And regardless of whether this offends you or not, by having a job that requires you to miss your kids events, you have directly chosen to miss those events. You can’t blame it on your job, your business or whatever. You have directly chosen not to “Be there!” You always have a choice and I want you all to realize that. Don’t spend the rest of your childrens childhood absent. Be present. Don’t ever miss out on your kids.

Everyone starts a home based business for their own reasons. For some it’s for the nice home, the fancy cars, the gadgets and the nice clothes. For others it’s for the time freedom. Some people may just want to start a home business to do something different than what they are currently doing or just to get away from their job. Every single individual has their own reason. This reason, is unique, and powerful and is the fuel behind their success. It is the reason they will either fail or succeed. If their desire to obtain this “reason” is strong enough, they will succeed.

The purpose of this post is not to educate you all on the will to succeed. It’s to discuss the importance of having a reason, and knowing when you have obtained your reason.

To give you a quick example, our reason for starting a home based business initially was to make money. At least we thought that was the main reason. We had a mortgage staring at us in the face, bills that were piling up and a shortage of income to make all our ends meet. But once the money started coming in, we found out our true reason. We could have gotten a second job to make ends meet, but we were looking for so much more. We were looking for the lifestyle, the lifestyle that would allow us to spend more time together.

So many parents rarely see their children due to their work. They are not the primary influence in the lives of their children. After missing eight months out of the first year of my oldest daughters life, we made a decision to change. We weren’t about to see our children grow up without us.

Now that I look at my life, I have everything I set out to get by starting my home business. Amy and I were sitting on the back porch, reflecting on some of our goals and thinking of the life we have created for ourselves. The youngest was down for a nap, and Amy brought up our main reason for getting started with this business opportunity. It was to bring Daddy home, to make the income to support our lifestyle and to use that income to travel the world and enjoy each other. We have obtained all that we came here for. Anything we do beyond that is extra and adds to our main reason.

Four years ago when we made the decision to get started, to leave the job and to create our new future, we really had no idea how sweet it would really be. Now that we are living it, it really is that sweet.

Living your reason, your ideal life, is not a difficult thing to do. It just involves making a big choice….and then following through with passionate consistent action. And trust me, it’s a lot closer than you think…..and has always been within your grasp!