How Do I Work From Home

So what happens when you hit the wall of reality one day and wake up deciding that it is time to make a choice.

If you run a business then the chances are that one day you will need to take stock and hold a reality check meeting with yourself and decide if you are going to be another business failure statistic or the success that you set out to be.

Unfortunately for many the final fantasy turns into a reality nightmare faster than the speed of night.

I chose to use ‘faster than the speed of night’ partly because I am a Bonnie Tyler fan and secondly because that is exactly how it can seem when you are working from home and wake up one morning wondering where the dream has gone.

Sometimes it might help to look at your bank balance or email account and see the sales flooding in but the percentage of people who are actually doing that – and the group that are just talking about it and dreaming….well that is definately two different things.

There are some things that you can’t discount in life – death and taxes are the two most commonly referenced however if you are in business then there are some things that you just can’t avoid (other than more taxes…obviously!)

The elements of a successful business are pretty much the same no matter what market you are in

Just about everyone in business today has seen the ‘rags to riches and back again’ type of stories that seem to define some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.

They build themselves up, make a lot of money, lose it and then re-build bigger and stronger than before. It’s crazy, but that seems to be the path that many successful entrepreneurs take.

It is certainly not something that you would do if you could avoid it.

Unfortunately, when some people go into business there are certain things that they don’t know – only experience is going to teach them.

Even worse for some they never learn these lessons and end up bankrupt with their dreams in tatters.

One of the ways people try to overcome these obstacles is by working with mentors or business coaches in an attempt to get off that financial rollercoaster….it is actually one of the most effective ways to learn because you have the chance to work with someone who can see your business from the outside looking in and from their experiences they can recommend an appropriate course of action for you to take.

Strangely enough, while you might consider it a bit strange to have a mentor that has gone bankrupt before, that is exactly what I do.  I know that he has made the mistakes that have sent him to the wall and he had the courage to fight back and was willing to take me under his wing and provided valuable advice in a unique way but it got the job done.

My mentor is currently offering his Business Essentials guide for free – and I have to admit, it is some pretty good advice.

Click Here to get his business essentials guide for free and be sure to leave a comment below and let us know how you handled your reality check while working from home.

The work from home entrepreneur is often presented with a number of different ‘challenges’ when compared to our office bound counterparts.

Motivation and planning are two that I personally try to keep in check as much as possible and the start of each new year often brings those to the front of my mind.

I have often heard it said that the Christmas and New Year period is the ‘consultants curse’ as you effectively have anywhere from two to four weeks while the rest of the world takes their holidays, sits back and relaxes thus creating a level of stress for those who fly close to the line financially and thus fail to generate both income and new prospects over this period which results in a number of people choosing to close their doors and return to full-time paid employment.

Since every business and every market is different it is almost impossible to provide a ‘one size fits all’ solution to this that will work for everyone however I wanted to share with you today a few of the strategies that I use over this time to ensure that I remain motivated (and stay in business).

Strategic Planning – From my corporate business days I often recall sacrificing valuable time for management strategic planning meetings and sales conferences both of which could take away anywhere from a day to a week of my time to plan and attend. Unfortunately for the businesses I worked for these often took place at the expense of the day-to-day tasks. As an employee you were very happy about getting this ‘time off’ from actually having to do your real job however as a business owner, this is valuable lost time (and potentially lost business).

Therefore, each year since deciding to work from home I have tried to allocate at least a full day if not longer specifically to strategic planning. During this time I try to take a good hard look at the year just passed and assess my achievements (or lack of) honestly and to also look forward at the coming year to determine what I want to achieve.

This exercise doesn’t need to be ‘all about the numbers’ but I try to include both financial and non-financial aspects as a part of this exercise.

In addition, I also try to document some of this thinking so that I can use this as a part of my review process the following year.

Sales Planning – I specifically separate my strategic planning from my sales planning so again, I have another information set to review the following year. Unfortunately the sales planning does include a bit more analysis of the actual statistics from my business however I try to avoid making this just a day playing with a budget or spreadsheet and also look at the strategies I am going to put in place to make these numbers a reality.

One of the most effective things I do during this time is to put down some groundwork for my planned sales activities throughout the year. In some cases I just re-use some previous material but each year I try to add something new or innovative into the mix so if I am planning a new mail out I might get started on the framework for the offer or a draft design of what I want to use so that when the time comes I can pull this out of the draw and I don’t have to start from scratch and this has made it much easier and faster to get these things to market.

Training and Development – Work from home entrepreneurs will often tell you that they spend a lot of time during the year on personal training and development either attending seminars or through self-taught education from home. This presents its own challenges through the year as you sacrifice time to do these things and still often have other things going on so the phone will ring and emails will land in your inbox thus distracting you from the task at hand.

Therefore, in order to overcome this I allocate some specific training time during this period each year and pick a specific course I want to take or skill I want to improve and literally shut myself off from the outside world for a period of time to give my full attention to this. In most cases, the training I choose to undertake here is something that will improve my skill set or help me achieve one or more of the goals I have identified in my strategic planning sessions.

Motivation – Keeping yourself motivated when working from home is a challenge for many especially if you aren’t seeing the money roll in like you had hoped. In order to keep myself motivated not only through this period but also through the rest of the year I devise a number of milestones that I can use to measure my performance on an ongoing basis.

These milestones are sometimes financial however I try to get creative here and set myself some measurement mechanisms that I know will lift me up when I am feeling un-motivated. The goal here is find things to lift your spirits and help you get back to work taking action during the year when a variety of things can get you down and while I don’t recommend just setting easily achievable goals here it needs to be a mix of short term and long term goals and targets or things you can do that will help you get back that feeling and remember why you started working from home in the first place.

I hope that some of these thoughts will help you out this year and feel free to leave a comment or question below if you need a hand.

Finally being able to work from home in your own business may have been your life-long dream however operating a home business takes time and you need to understand how to manage your time effectively since your home is now also your office.

You need to consider the time that it will take to effectively build your business and while having your own home business can deliver the lifestyle and financial opportunities you desire, there are a few other things that you should also consider.

Since you will be the one running the business (and responsible for its success or failure), you need to know what type of home business you are going to start and if you have the skills and experience required to make that type of business successful.

While some people may be very successful in business working for others, it doesn’t mean that they can successfully run a similar business from home. You need to ensure that your home is an adequate place for your business and won’t be a disruption. For example if you are just running a graphic design business then you probably only need 1 room and a computer however if you are running a home business shipping physical products then you need to factor in deliveries and shipments and be sure that all of this will work smoothly while your family is around as well.

In many countries there are some tax advantages to be gained by having a separate space for your business and this will also be advantageous if you need to get a separate business telephone line installed if using your home phone isn’t an option.

Another benefit from having a dedicated telehone number for your home business is that it will allow you to advise your business telephone number without the worry of people calling your home at all hours.

One other important issue that you need to consider is how you will sell your product or service and where you will find the eager and hungry market ready to pay for what you have to offer. Without a potential market you are just asking for trouble and you are bound to find it in a lack of sales and profit. So be sure to do a little research into the product or service that you are selling and ensure that there is a strong market to support your home business.

Ensuring that you have the skills and market necessary to make your business a success can potentially save you a lot of money and troubles down the track so be sure to consider these factors and make your work from home experience a success.