Successful Home Based Businesses - What Do Do All Successful Home Based Businesses Have in Common?

Copyright © Laura Shapiro, Your Home Business Guide

Successful Home Based Businesses – What do they have in common?

What makes successful home based businesses what they are? How do they become successful? What are their “secrets”? There are many variables that contribute to the success of home based businesses. But today I’m going to take a look at one of the most important aspects that you’ve probably never even considered up until now.
First, ask yourself a question. . .

What if you found out what was proven to make you successful?

In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book titled The Unheavenly City. This book goes into detail about one of the most (if not “the most”) important discoveries about what determines how successful one is (or is not).
Banfield's goal in his study was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes.

It’s important to note that he started the study with a firm belief that the “answer” would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor.

What he ended up discovering was a surprise to everyone, including himself . . . the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.

Banfield actually named this attitude - "long-time perspective" - and defined it by explaining that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future in consideration with every decision they made in the present.

He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration, the more likely it was that he or she would be successful in his or her career.

Before I go on to reveal more of what Banfield discovered, let’s bring this back to the context of successful home based businesses. Did you start your business with the promise of quick profits and rewards? Or did you get into it with the mindset that you would do whatever it takes, no matter how long? (What does it actually take is another topic for another article). Keep your answer in mind and read on. . .

Banfield used “the family doctor” as an example. One reason for a family doctor being one of the most highly regarded in the US is because he or she invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she earns a decent living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in the United States. Why? They had long-time perspectives, an essential key to success.

Back to the context of our “successful home based businesses”. . .

Banfield explains that you can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life and then making the right sacrifices.

So, if you come home from work and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you probably have a long-time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time.

If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable, you're acting with a long-time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your personal growth and career.

Setting priorities almost always equals sacrificing present enjoyment for future enjoyment. It requires giving up a short-term rewards in the present in order to benefit from much greater and more substantial pleasure in the future.

Economists say that the ”inability to delay gratification” is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life while disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important in the long term (although usually more difficult in the short term) is the high road to success in all realms of life.

Food for thought. . .

In this day and age, it’s easy to get pulled into quick short term solutions for your personal and business activities. My next article will go into detail about how to tune into the “long-term perspective attitude”.

Until then, just try to keep in mind that long term perspective has been proven to be the most accurate single predictor of success. Make better decisions about your time. While doing your short-term activities, think about how they fit (or don’t) into your long-term goals and for your personal lives and successful home based businesses.

Laura Shapiro is a Home-Based Business Owner and Consultant in addition to being a full time Mom. Is a Home Business your Dream? It doesn't have to be - let me help you make it a reality. . .