How to Avoid the Pitfalls of a Home Business
You hear a lot these days about the advantages of operating a home business. What you don't hear so much about are the disadvantages. That's what we'll be addressing.
But don't get the wrong idea! The purpose of this writing is NOT to discourage you from starting a home business. On the contrary! Whatever the drawbacks of operating a business from home, they are far outweighed by the advantages.
Our purpose here is to alert you to some of the potential problems you'll encounter when running a home-based business, so that you'll be prepared to address them and nullify (or at least minimize) their effects.
DEMANDS ON YOUR TIME
Unless you're a hermit living alone on a secluded island, chances are there will be others in your life who depend on you for help and support.
You may find yourself in a situation where your spouse has a daytime job while your children are away at school. In fact, members of your extended family (parents, aunts and uncles, etc.) are likely to by away from home during the daytime as well.
The problem? It may be difficult for those who have "regular jobs" to understand that working from home is also a "job" in the sense that you have commitments to keep, tasks to perform, and deadlines to meet just like anyone else!
And because the obligatory hours required by a "regular" job sometimes make it difficult to perform certain necessary tasks that can only be done during business hours (such as banking, shopping, taking the car to a mechanic, picking up the dry cleaning, and other necessary errands) it will often be expected of you to perform them.
SETTING REGULAR HOURS
While there's no perfect solution to this problem, it helps to establish regular "business hours" of your own. But unlike the rest of your family, you will probably have more flexibility as to just what those hours will be.
To begin with, choose your "working hours" carefully so that you'll be free at some time during the day when other businesses are open. In other words, leave yourself the flexibility to run errands during the day if those errands are absolutely necessary.
Let's take a hypothetical example.
You might choose to begin working at 8:00 AM every day and take an extended "lunch break" from Noon to 1:30 PM, when you can run errands. Try and consolidate your errands and any appointments so that you can take care of several during this time. Then you can return home and continue working from 1:30 until 5:30 PM (or whatever time frame works for you.)
Once you've decided on your hours, let everyone know what they are. Then insist that any errands you're asked to attend to not be done during you "business hours" except in case of a legitimate emergency. You will also have to insist that others take care of their personal errands whenever it's possible for them to do so.
You may have to exercise some firmness in this regard. It's unfortunate but often true that others won't see your home business as a "real" job. You'll have to explain to them that the responsibilities of running your business are not unlike those of fulfilling their employment duties.
There will be situations when you REALLY ARE the only family member who can take care of certain errands .. or at least when the hardship for others would be much greater than for you. But other times, people will try to take advantage of you, assuming "it's easier for you to do it because you're home all day!" You simply can't run a business if you let this happen.
But there are other reasons for establishing regular hours as well. A very important reason is discipline!
Self-discipline is essential if you hope to be successful in a home business. If you're working for an employer, putting off your work is just not an option. For better or for worse, the external discipline imposed by a "boss" will ensure that your job gets done ... at least it will if you expect to keep your job.
But when you work for yourself, that discipline must come from YOU. Unless you're disciplined enough to begin your workday at a regular, predetermined time, it's just way too easy to put off necessary tasks. The result is that you'll get very little, if anything, done.
So set regular business hours for yourself and have the self-discipline to adhere to them. This is an essential step if you hope to succeed.
YOUNG CHILDREN
If you have pre-school children in your home, you have to take some measures to make sure they don't create such a distraction that you're unable to work.
Older children might not pose too much of a problem in this regard, but younger children can require so much of your attention that you'll have no time for your business.
In this case it's essential to hire a babysitter. A good solution might be to hire a local stay-at-home Mom to watch your children while you're working. You will have to pay for her services, but you might offer to give her a break by watching her children on weekends in return for a reduced fee.
TELEPHONE
The biggest time waster of all is often the telephone! You have to find some way of dealing with telemarketers and with people who call all hours of the day just to "chat."
First of all, it's important that you separate your "business" calls from your "personal" calls. Whatever you do, DO NOT use your home phone as your business phone. The last thing you want is for strangers to be calling you all hours of the day and night, interrupting your private life.
Ideally, you should have a separate phone line and an 800 number for business calls. But if that's a bit costly for your budget, a good alternative is to use your cell phone as your "business phone."
Your cell phone will allow you to record a message for callers to hear when your phone is turned off. When recording your message, state the name of your business, the hours you're "open" (don't forget to state which time zone you're in) and that callers can leave a message and expect a timely response. Make sure you DO return all your calls.
Next, make sure your cell phone is turned "on" during your business hours. The rest of the time, you can leave it off if you like. If you're out of the house and want to make an outgoing call, you can turn it on temporarily. Of course, you'll have to leave it on if you're expecting a personal call.
Now let's discuss your home phone and how to deal with calls during your working hours.
First of all, don't let telemarketers take up your time. Tell them politely but firmly that you're not interested in their offer, that you're running a home business, and that you "have to get back to work now." If they persist, just hang up!
However much you may harbor an aversion to being "rude" never forget that it's the telemarketer who is intruding on YOUR time. Remember ... time is money, and your time is just as valuable as his!
A stickier problem is friends and family who call during the day and want to chat. Make sure everyone understands that you're running a business. tell them that you're "working at the moment" and offer to call back later in the day. Give them a time that you'll call, and then remember to do so. Most people will be much more understanding and inclined to cooperate if they don't feel like they're being "put off."
However, there may be a few people who will just ignore your request and continue to interrupt your work anyway. If this happens to you, your only solution may be to stop answering your phone altogether during your working hours.
If you find it necessary to go to this extreme, get an answering machine and record a message to the effect of "I'm working now and can't take personal calls. Please call back today after (give a time). If this is an emergency, please leave a message."
OTHER INTERRUPTIONS
Occasionally solicitors will show up at your door. Deal with them the same as with telemarketers. Explain that you're working and politely decline. Then just close the door and go back to your work.
PLANNING
Each day after you've finished working, take stock of what you've accomplished that day and draw up a "to do" list for tomorrow.
The important thing is to prioritize. There will be days when you don't get nearly the work done you had planned on. While this can be discouraging, it's all the more reason to make sure you put the most pressing tasks at the top of your list.
Keep a list of all those tasks you want to accomplish, and add to the list whenever the situation demands. Next, go through the list and number each task in order of importance. Then rearrange your list in the order of your numbering.
Now starting at the top of your list, pick as many tasks as you think you can reasonably accomplish the next day. Then tomorrow, start at the top of your list and do them in order.
IN SUMMARY
Generally speaking, it all boils down to developing a few essential attitudes.
Self-discipline ...
Treat your business like a job. You no doubt always wanted to "be your own boss." Now your ARE! So make sure you're a GOOD boss! Be demanding of your own efforts while at the same time setting reasonable expectations.
Self-respect ...
Respect yourself enough to not allow other people to "jerk you around" and waste your valuable time with unfair demands and endless intrusions. If you were employed, you wouldn't allow others to intrude on your time while at work. So remember, you ARE "at work" even thought you're home. Act accordingly, and you'll stand a far better chance of success!
================
About the Author
But don't get the wrong idea! The purpose of this writing is NOT to discourage you from starting a home business. On the contrary! Whatever the drawbacks of operating a business from home, they are far outweighed by the advantages.
Our purpose here is to alert you to some of the potential problems you'll encounter when running a home-based business, so that you'll be prepared to address them and nullify (or at least minimize) their effects.
DEMANDS ON YOUR TIME
Unless you're a hermit living alone on a secluded island, chances are there will be others in your life who depend on you for help and support.
You may find yourself in a situation where your spouse has a daytime job while your children are away at school. In fact, members of your extended family (parents, aunts and uncles, etc.) are likely to by away from home during the daytime as well.
The problem? It may be difficult for those who have "regular jobs" to understand that working from home is also a "job" in the sense that you have commitments to keep, tasks to perform, and deadlines to meet just like anyone else!
And because the obligatory hours required by a "regular" job sometimes make it difficult to perform certain necessary tasks that can only be done during business hours (such as banking, shopping, taking the car to a mechanic, picking up the dry cleaning, and other necessary errands) it will often be expected of you to perform them.
SETTING REGULAR HOURS
While there's no perfect solution to this problem, it helps to establish regular "business hours" of your own. But unlike the rest of your family, you will probably have more flexibility as to just what those hours will be.
To begin with, choose your "working hours" carefully so that you'll be free at some time during the day when other businesses are open. In other words, leave yourself the flexibility to run errands during the day if those errands are absolutely necessary.
Let's take a hypothetical example.
You might choose to begin working at 8:00 AM every day and take an extended "lunch break" from Noon to 1:30 PM, when you can run errands. Try and consolidate your errands and any appointments so that you can take care of several during this time. Then you can return home and continue working from 1:30 until 5:30 PM (or whatever time frame works for you.)
Once you've decided on your hours, let everyone know what they are. Then insist that any errands you're asked to attend to not be done during you "business hours" except in case of a legitimate emergency. You will also have to insist that others take care of their personal errands whenever it's possible for them to do so.
You may have to exercise some firmness in this regard. It's unfortunate but often true that others won't see your home business as a "real" job. You'll have to explain to them that the responsibilities of running your business are not unlike those of fulfilling their employment duties.
There will be situations when you REALLY ARE the only family member who can take care of certain errands .. or at least when the hardship for others would be much greater than for you. But other times, people will try to take advantage of you, assuming "it's easier for you to do it because you're home all day!" You simply can't run a business if you let this happen.
But there are other reasons for establishing regular hours as well. A very important reason is discipline!
Self-discipline is essential if you hope to be successful in a home business. If you're working for an employer, putting off your work is just not an option. For better or for worse, the external discipline imposed by a "boss" will ensure that your job gets done ... at least it will if you expect to keep your job.
But when you work for yourself, that discipline must come from YOU. Unless you're disciplined enough to begin your workday at a regular, predetermined time, it's just way too easy to put off necessary tasks. The result is that you'll get very little, if anything, done.
So set regular business hours for yourself and have the self-discipline to adhere to them. This is an essential step if you hope to succeed.
YOUNG CHILDREN
If you have pre-school children in your home, you have to take some measures to make sure they don't create such a distraction that you're unable to work.
Older children might not pose too much of a problem in this regard, but younger children can require so much of your attention that you'll have no time for your business.
In this case it's essential to hire a babysitter. A good solution might be to hire a local stay-at-home Mom to watch your children while you're working. You will have to pay for her services, but you might offer to give her a break by watching her children on weekends in return for a reduced fee.
TELEPHONE
The biggest time waster of all is often the telephone! You have to find some way of dealing with telemarketers and with people who call all hours of the day just to "chat."
First of all, it's important that you separate your "business" calls from your "personal" calls. Whatever you do, DO NOT use your home phone as your business phone. The last thing you want is for strangers to be calling you all hours of the day and night, interrupting your private life.
Ideally, you should have a separate phone line and an 800 number for business calls. But if that's a bit costly for your budget, a good alternative is to use your cell phone as your "business phone."
Your cell phone will allow you to record a message for callers to hear when your phone is turned off. When recording your message, state the name of your business, the hours you're "open" (don't forget to state which time zone you're in) and that callers can leave a message and expect a timely response. Make sure you DO return all your calls.
Next, make sure your cell phone is turned "on" during your business hours. The rest of the time, you can leave it off if you like. If you're out of the house and want to make an outgoing call, you can turn it on temporarily. Of course, you'll have to leave it on if you're expecting a personal call.
Now let's discuss your home phone and how to deal with calls during your working hours.
First of all, don't let telemarketers take up your time. Tell them politely but firmly that you're not interested in their offer, that you're running a home business, and that you "have to get back to work now." If they persist, just hang up!
However much you may harbor an aversion to being "rude" never forget that it's the telemarketer who is intruding on YOUR time. Remember ... time is money, and your time is just as valuable as his!
A stickier problem is friends and family who call during the day and want to chat. Make sure everyone understands that you're running a business. tell them that you're "working at the moment" and offer to call back later in the day. Give them a time that you'll call, and then remember to do so. Most people will be much more understanding and inclined to cooperate if they don't feel like they're being "put off."
However, there may be a few people who will just ignore your request and continue to interrupt your work anyway. If this happens to you, your only solution may be to stop answering your phone altogether during your working hours.
If you find it necessary to go to this extreme, get an answering machine and record a message to the effect of "I'm working now and can't take personal calls. Please call back today after (give a time). If this is an emergency, please leave a message."
OTHER INTERRUPTIONS
Occasionally solicitors will show up at your door. Deal with them the same as with telemarketers. Explain that you're working and politely decline. Then just close the door and go back to your work.
PLANNING
Each day after you've finished working, take stock of what you've accomplished that day and draw up a "to do" list for tomorrow.
The important thing is to prioritize. There will be days when you don't get nearly the work done you had planned on. While this can be discouraging, it's all the more reason to make sure you put the most pressing tasks at the top of your list.
Keep a list of all those tasks you want to accomplish, and add to the list whenever the situation demands. Next, go through the list and number each task in order of importance. Then rearrange your list in the order of your numbering.
Now starting at the top of your list, pick as many tasks as you think you can reasonably accomplish the next day. Then tomorrow, start at the top of your list and do them in order.
IN SUMMARY
Generally speaking, it all boils down to developing a few essential attitudes.
Self-discipline ...
Treat your business like a job. You no doubt always wanted to "be your own boss." Now your ARE! So make sure you're a GOOD boss! Be demanding of your own efforts while at the same time setting reasonable expectations.
Self-respect ...
Respect yourself enough to not allow other people to "jerk you around" and waste your valuable time with unfair demands and endless intrusions. If you were employed, you wouldn't allow others to intrude on your time while at work. So remember, you ARE "at work" even thought you're home. Act accordingly, and you'll stand a far better chance of success!
================
About the Author
Jim Eastman is support contact for CreditRepairBiz.com. Easy-to-learn and inexpensive to start, credit repair is one of the more realistic home Home Business Opportunities. Visit www.CreditRepairBiz.com for a free eBook and mini-course.
posted by Money Meister at 6:58 AM
1 Comments:
Great blog!
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