Are you a home based business owner? Or, are you looking for a home based business that would allow you to spend more time with your family and children? The current economic problems being experienced world-wide are also presenting an opportunity for many who would like to quit the corporate rat-race and design an alternative lifestyle that allows them to spend more time with the people that are important to them.A Daunting ProspectStarting any business let alone a home based business can be daunting. But there are many home based business opportunities that allow almost anyone to achieve success and earn an income. The problem for many people isn’t so much whether they can earn an income, but rather it is how quickly will they be able to generate an income that will support themselves and their family?This question is often better answered by the prospective business owners themselves rather than looking at the opportunity per se. There are many business models that can return very healthy profits, but which don’t due to actions, or, as is more often the case, inactions of the person running the business.Whilst a legitimate home based business model is an obvious requirement, this is not the end of the story. There are many opportunities where success has been achieved both by the respective distributors and the companies involved also, but this is no guarantee that the next person to come along will also be successful.Your Actions CountThe success or failure of any business really comes down to the individual running the business. There are many businesses operating within the same industry as competitors, but not all businesses succeed. Whilst there may be many reasons why one particular business succeeds while another competitor falls by the wayside, ultimately it comes down to the person or persons in charge and the actions that they take. If a business fails, does that make that business model a failure, or is it the failure of those running the business?In the home business market, the proportion of people starting businesses without any business acumen or understanding of what is required in terms of effort, is disproportionately high. The net result of which is that any failures are blamed on the opportunity or business model rather than perhaps the business owner’s lack of action.Planning Is CrucialWhat is required is for the business owner to take the necessary action in order to succeed. The sort of action that is needed starts even before becoming involved in the business, at the assessment stage. With any business, the appropriate due diligence and research should be undertaken. Do you understand your target market? Have you put together a business plan that can be executed? The trouble is that because a home based business often doesn’t require the same level of investment that some of the more traditional business models might, it is seen as an easy option for starting up a business. This perception also leads to a lack of due diligence and research being undertaken, and an absolute lack of planning.If it is accepted practice to put a business plan together for the so-called ‘traditional’ business models, then why has it become acceptable to start a home based business without so much as sniff of a plan in sight?It is an unfortunate fact, that until prospective home based business owners start to plan their businesses to the same degree that would be expected of any other business model, then the continuing high failure rates are likely to continue.