As a practitioner and student of Small Business Marketing, I was recently contemplating ways to enhance my business. I found it fascinating to realize that over 95% of my customers and hot prospects were Baby Boomers who own a small business.

With this group identified as my target demographic, it was important to understand them better. Who are these people? What attracted them to me? How can I work with them most effectively? I found the following five characteristics common among this growing group of women and men.

1.) These individuals often held high positions in the corporate or business world. Many were downsized or laid-off after a sale or merger. Some lost their position after a business failure. Others could no longer tolerate the dissatisfaction in their life and career. Their experiences have created the need to establish comfort and trust before doing business.

2.) During the mid 80s, the Baby Boomers began to desire a deeper awareness of lifes meaning. They found information that felt right and embedded a spiritual understanding in the fabric of their life. This understanding drives them today. As a result, the people and businesses they deal with must feel right before a commitment will be made to explore new ideas.

3.) Their prevailing goal and dream is to experience ultimate comfort and success without sacrificing personal freedom. Many are discovering security in the multiple streams of income concept and are open to fusion marketing. They want the time and money to enjoy leisure, travel and a high quality of life with family and friends. If these goals have not been achieved, Baby Boomer Business Owners will continuously seek new ideas and avenues to reach them.

4.) They are too vital to ever retire and are dedicated to their dreams.

Their options are: a). Sell an existing business for a huge profit. That profit is reinvested in a unique enterprise based on a personal dream or talent they can enjoy throughout life.

b). Feeling unemployable, they realize they have no choice but to develop a business based on past experiences and/or a passion or talent they already possess. Many are first time entrepreneurs with limited small business knowledge or resources.

5.) This enthusiastic group has a heartfelt desire to help others and make a positive contribution to the world. A sense of purpose, authenticity and integrity are significant driving factors to this group as a whole.

Baby Boomer Business Owners require easily understood systems for success. They are seeking Universal principals that guide both business and personal growth. Helping this dynamic, rapidly growing demographic achieve the lifestyle they desire, through entrepreneurial efforts, will create a business future bright with possibilities.

When you stop seeing life as an adventure and journey, your vision becomes clouded with limitations instead of cleared by unlimited possibilities. Bill Gluth