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!

I have to tell you this story. This just shows you how accustomed our children are to different lifestyles and customs. It’s amazing to see how many phrases that you and I may always hear but when it comes to our children, they are clueless. All they really know is what their parents experience from a day to day basis.

To get straight to it, last night we had invited some guests over for dinner. Well, they called canceled on us. Well, they happen to have a 5 year old girl, as do we, and being a little bummed out, my daughter asked why they couldn’t come over. Amy, of course told her that her friends Dad got stuck at work. After telling her, there was a period of silence and you could tell that she was mulling over something in her mind. She then looked at Amy, and with a puzzled look on her face asked, “Mom, What’s stuck at work?” We both looked at her in shock that she had no idea what that meant. She had never heard that phrase before. The last time I had a job was when she was a year old. I have been a home based business entrepreneur for most of her life. To her, being stuck at work might have sounded a little scary, kind of like being stuck in a tree or stuck in the mud or in prison. Who knows?!

I am proud to say that my kids will never have to become familiar with that phrase. I am never and will never be “Stuck at work!” I am a work from home Dad. I owe it all to the business opportunity I have been involved with over the past four years. It’s given me my life back, and given my children their Dad back!

Are you feeling pretty secure and confident about where you are in your financial life? I’m speaking to those of you who are still in Corporate America. Are you living the life of your dreams. Do you love your job and does it allow you the time freedom to spend with your family? Can you go to bed each night with a feeling of fulfillment?

I found a definition of what Corporate America should be:

“Corporate America is an informal phrase describing the world of corporations within the United States not under government ownership.

Its negative connotations imply financial or ideological self-interest, greed, resistance to entitlements and the irresponsible promotion of counter-socialist self-interest at the expense of government and competitors.

Its positive connotations imply a liberal and productive capitalist free-market society that creates wealth, directly and indirectly lifts the people’s standard of living, rewards individual ability, and provides a ladder to financial success.”

Now you know what Corporate America is. America definitely needs these corporations. They do create financial success for themselves and their shareholders most of the time, but do they need you, as an employee? Do you need them for your, as wikipedia states, “wealth….(and) financial success?” I guess the question would be: Have you experienced that wealth and financial success as of yet? If you have, what things in your life have you had to sacrifice for that wealth and financial success?

Judging from the people I know that have left the rat race for this home based business, their great income, corporate car, and all the perks came at a great expense. Most hardly ever saw their kids and had a pathetic family life. They lived for their job while their loved ones sat on the sidelines waiting for some quality time.

I know it’s hard to see the bigger picture sometimes when all you know is where you’re at. It’s hard to realize you are in the middle of a miserable life when you haven’t tasted anything other than that. But I’m here to tell you….Wake Up! Open your eyes to what else is out there. You, right now, are only making a portion of your true income potential and are sacrificing too much of your valuable time for it.

Quit being the puppet that’s making someone else rich while having to sacrifice your life to do it. If you are in a job right now, it’s not all about you, it’s about them. Start thinking about you! Your family deserves it!