When you mention the term entrepreneur most people get an image of a 20 something working from home on a web business or out in the garage developing a new technology product. According to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation in the United States people between the ages of 55 and 64 have had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those age 20 to 34 in every year between 1996 and 2007. And according to the Small Business Association Baby Boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- start small businesses at a higher rate than any other age group! This group really is approaching the home-based business industry with an All-IN attitude!

As a coach in the Direct Sales and Marketing Industry we work every day with people in building a Home Business that serves their lives. We see the front end of a coming huge shift right now in the Home Business - Internet Marketing market segment. The baby boomer generation and the huge numbers of people in that age group are coming to the home-based business industry in enormous numbers right now. They bring a different mindset, set of skills and approach to the table. It is very clearly a natural business process following the product life cycle and adoption curve.

Baby Boomers are the rat-in-the-python, we are the hump in the bell shaped curve, at our age we do display the behaviors of the Early Majority: Careful consumers who avoid risk, purchase after it has been proven by early adopters. We do seek out and rely on recommendations from early adopters who have proven the product. We are motivated by joining a "community" of satisfied users. This economic recession has brought baby boomer and mid-life entrepreneurs out in huge numbers motivated by the chunks taken out of their wealth in real estate, 401Ks and job security risks. A home business is a viable additional income stream and millions of US baby boomers see the opportunity and are stepping into the business.

Dane Stangler, a senior analyst and author of the Kauffman Foundation study, says baby boomer entrepreneurship is likely to continue and grow throughout the current recession, both out of necessity after a layoff and because some baby boomers have always wanted to work for themselves.

Baby Boomers bring a long resource list with us to the industry: established networks, business skills developed over decades, access to more financial resources and a longer view of business and economic cycles. Baby Boomers are a formidable group and will bring huge change and opportunity to the industry.