You Need To Be Organized While Working At Home

One of the biggest surprises from starting an online business at home is the confusion it can cause in your daily life. Suddenly, you are thrust into a whole new world of business, planning and implementing business procedures, plans and dreams, while at the same time trying to maintain a healthy home life and lifestyle.

This is especially true if you are coming out of a structured professional life. Being your own boss and working from home is a far cry from going to a place of business, punching the clock, doing duties that are planned out for you, and then returning home at the end of the day. Suddenly, the structure of the job-place is gone, and you find yourself “free as the wind”.

The temptation is that after an hour or two of working at your computer or desk you decide it is time for a break. That’s fine, providing the break is structured. At your job, you were allowed a 15 or 20 minute break, so why should it be different now. You have a job to do. There will be no paycheck at the end of the week if you don’t do what needs to be done.

One of the problems I had the first time I started a business of my own, was lunchtime. I had worked hard all morning, had accomplished a great deal. Now at lunchtime, my wife and I would go to a local restaurant, then to the mall, then on a little drive, and finally arrive home in time for dinner. And of course, the evening hours were busy with activities.

Suddenly, my business was taking a backseat to other activities, and it showed in the final analysis of my business. The profit and loss statement at the end of the month should have been called the “would-be profit and definite loss” statement. How could it have happened? I worked hard at the business, planning and implementing. Four hours a day were enough, right?

Not really. As I analyzed my situation, I was reminded of my childhood life. My parents started a business, a flower shop in the 1950’s. I was a grade school child then (shows how old I am, huh?) They literally started the business on a shoe-string. Very little capital, but a whole lot of desire.

Starting with the end of the story, the business became very successful, and lasted until their retirement. Getting there, we had no vacations, no weekends away, sometimes not a lot of food in the house. The standing joke in our family was that we ate, slept and lived the flower shop business. Every waking moment for Mom and Dad were taken up by building the business. Dad worked all day at the new shop, and all night at the Post Office driving a truck. That went on for 2-3 years before he was finally able to leave his regular job.

Sure, they paid a price. Vacations and fun stuff came later. Much later. Ten years later they took a short vacation, only a few days, just to get away. I stayed at the shop, and they called home every few hours to make sure everything was OK.

You see, the point I am making here is that starting a business takes time, effort, money, sacrifice, desire, stamina, willingness, commitment, and the list goes on. In my analysis, I discovered I had all of them, I just forgot to put them into gear.

Once I made the change, putting business first for at least 8 hours a day, things began a turn around. I saw results, and the P & L statement is starting to look better.

To accomplish this, I needed the desire to succeed. I needed the plan for success. I needed the ability to be a self starter. And, most importantly, I needed the support of my family and friends. I was lucky. I got all of those. But it only came by my having a commitment to make it happen.

So, what about you. Do you have a place, an office, set aside and private in your home where you can go to work, close the door, lock out all of the distractions? If not, why not? How can you get anything done with constant interruptions while you work at the kitchen table? Maybe a space in the bedroom is the only thing you have, but that is better than in the public part of the house.

Where you do your work, is there a television set? Get rid of it, now. TV, while certainly entertaining, is the biggest cause of failure in home based business. At the very least, you need to unplug it. And leave it unplugged.

Quiet music in the background is good. But make it “elevator music”, not popular rock or country that you will find yourself singing along with. It’s a distraction.

Do you have children? Great, isn’t it? And now you are home and near them all the time. But they need to understand that your office hours are from 8 to noon, and 1 to 5, just like when you went away to work. No interruptions, period. After a short time, the children learn this, and you get more done.

(Having said that, be sure to schedule times with your children for trips to the park, or a walk to the ice cream store. And be sure to attend their baseball or soccer games. Just don’t let it take away from your 8 hours a day, 5 days a week working your business.)

I hope you are getting the idea here. Being in business is hard work. The day may come when you don’t have to work as hard, but if you want to get to that point, then sacrifice is primary, and commitment is at the top of the list.

Gerald Zimmerman is owner of HappyMakingMoney.net and writes on a variety of subjects. For more information on this topic, Gerald recommends you visit: HappyMakingMoney.net