Here are just a few tips I have picked up along the way that may just help you overcome some of the more common obstacles in home based business.
Time management
Daily planners are a life saver! I cannot express enough on how important it is to schedule your time. Schedule everything that is sitting as high priority to be tackled first and then schedule the rest in accordance to their priority level. Having them written down suits two purposes – it keeps you on track – and it is encouraging when you are able to cross something off the “Too do” list.
Daily Goals
Falls in with the whole daily planner thing in a sense, but I look at it as a weekly thing. I ask myself on Sunday evening “What goals to I want to achieve this week?” If I respond with “ I want to solidify 10 new leads” then that will be my weekly goal.
Family Management
Although my wife totally “gets” what I do for a living of course, my children are not always as forgiving and can cause disturbances along the way. After all, they are still young and still at the age they actually still like mom and dad. In the beginning, I have to admit, the amount of time I spent working my home based business left me feeling guilty at times. My wife was left to deal with a lot and my children missed out on a lot of dad time. However, now that my home based business has taken off like wildfire I have more time to spend with my family and the interferences, although far less then the beginning, are not as big of a deal.
Be prepared to WORK
I am not even sure I even thought I would have to put as many hours into my home based business when I first started as I did. I guess I just thought, I am sure like many, that it would be like what you read on the internet. Seal a deal and be an overnight success! That could not be further from the truth. We did not get rich overnight and I work more long days to where I was making it to the bed if I was lucky by 3 AM then I did days where I would actually see the bed by midnight. In the beginning, you had best be prepared to work and by work I mean plan on working overtime and a lot of it! No business, regardless if it is home based or not requires work and dedication to get it up and running and then, although both requirements stand, the work load will drop some once you have a solid working foundation.
I look forward to sharing more tips in how I made my home based business a success, but now I would like to hear your gems of home based business wisdom!
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Getting my wife on board is easier said then done. Not everyone is as lucky as you are! My wife seems to think her honey to do list is far more important then working my home based business. Ever since I started working out of th ehome I don't think she sees it as me actually working except she doesn't mind the pay! Go figure!
ReplyDeleteI am a single mom of two active boys. In the beginning it was a bit difficult to get them to understand that mommie was working when I was on the computer, but they get it now.. but it was a bit of a struggle at first. However, I wouldn't trade my home based business for anything! Day cares are a thing of the past for my kids!
ReplyDeleteMy problem was me. I kept finding other things to do and was always late getting started with work. I finally tricked myself. I got up, got dressed, got in my car, went down to the corner and got my coffee, went back home, parked the car, went in and sat down and started working. I just needed that break between home and work, even though work was at home.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about planning the day and setting goals. It's hard for me sometimes to remember that I am at work, even though I'm in my home. I do enjoy very much and I want it to last so I am committed to making it work.
ReplyDeleteI was a little late coming to the same conclusion. I now plan my days work a week at a time. If I have any appointments I can plan my work schedule around them. I no longer feel so stressed because I know exactly how my week will unfold. Not that there aren't surprise attacks along the way, but they don't rattle me anymore because they don't happen all that often.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it this way before. I just usually stumble through the day hoping everything gets done. Maybe if I tried it your way it would be smoother sailing.
ReplyDeleteHaving daily goals written down and hanging on the wall in front of me has really helped my business. I started out with weekly goals but it was not specific enough to do a good jobl
ReplyDeleteMy family can see that I'm working but if something needs to be done they think I should stop what I'm doing and see their needs. It really cuts into my work day. And of course, they expect me to be done by 5 without a thought to the fact that they wasted 2 or 3 hours of my day.
ReplyDeleteTime management was hardest for me. Now I have a chart for every day and I really do my best to stick to it. Occasionally, I have to change it at the last minute but I really try hard not to.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I was ALWAYS late to work. Working at home, at can start work whenever I want to. I can work as long as I want to and as late as I want to. This just really works for me. I'm more productive too.
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