| Home Plus Business Equals Chaos! |
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by Colleen Langenfeld
Copyright 2002
Does this sound like you?
You made the commitment to start a home business. You
researched your market and decided on the product or
service that was right for you to promote. You established
your home office (no small feat). Now the time is here
to make things happen. However, nothing IS happening.
Because....
Home is refusing to let you have a business.
You know what I mean.
There's laundry to do. A dirty kitchen beckons. A shopping
list that must be taken care of...TODAY.
Moreover, that's not the half of it, is it?
You probably have a family, too. Human beings who genuinely
like being with you. Little (and big) creatures who want to
talk with you...NOW. Maybe you even have...preschoolers!
(I understand. I also have a family!)
Frankly, this is why you came home to work. To be there.
Only work is not working. Because you're not working!
Enough!
You've read all the articles on being self-disciplined and
know the importance of using initiative and time management
in order to be successful in your home business. However,
from a practical standpoint, what do those characteristics
mean when you're not in a structured office environment?
Let's look at some real world options from the perspective
of a parent with preschoolers at home with her or him all
day. This is one of the toughest scenarios in working from
home. Just remember that it's all about using the tools at
your disposal to benefit your own situation.
*Self-discipline.
In order to make yourself do what you need to do when you
need to do it, you have to know what motivates you. Find
your own personal carrot and dangle it continuously in
front of yourself. Once your business starts making money
that can be a helpful motivator, but until then get
creative. Set goals and when you complete them, reward
yourself. A facial, a lunch out with friends, a movie with
the kids, a day off to golf. After a while, you will
instill new habits in yourself and getting down to work
will get easier and require less outside motivation.
*Initiative.
Initiative is closely tied with self-discipline. Think of
it as the starter switch on your activity. You may have
to push that starter switch a LOT at first. Keep excited
about your goals. Have lots of support material to turn to
in an instant. Use positive quotes screen savers. Daily
emails from your favorite motivational/business speaker.
A book of devotionals to calm your spirit and put you back
on track. Audio tapes to listen to while driving. Pictures
of your goals taped to your computer. Immerse your
environment in a can-do attitude and you will naturally
want to come along for the ride.
*Time management.
You've decided you need to work on your business eight
hours a day. So, you start with naptime or quiet time.
There's two hours. You arrange a work area next to your
desk for the kids to do their 'work' on, too. That is
successful for a total of one hour a day (although not
always in one block. Working at home means being flexible).
You allow one hour of TV or video a day. You can put in two
hours after the kids go to bed at night.
Now get creative.
Arrange a co-op with other work-at-home parents. One
morning a week you take turns holding a play-date or a
'preschool' at each of your homes. Say you have seven
families. You would host the preschool once every seven
weeks. The rest of the time the kids would be thoroughly
enjoying themselves with other friends. This arrangement
can net you three hours each week (except the week you
host, of course).
Put together a bag of business-related items that you can
work on when you're waiting in the doctor's office.
Sitting at the park. Waiting for your toddler to finish
his snack. You get the idea. Portable tasks like stuffing
envelopes. Stamping brochures. Proofreading copy. Sticking
business cards on magnets. Etc., etc. You'll probably pick
up two to five hours a week doing this.
Do you have older kids or neighbor kids who could babysit
for one hour after school? Or make a deal with your spouse;
one evening a week he or she is in charge of the kids so
you can work on the business. In return, you give him or
her another evening TOTALLY off. Alternatively, get up one
hour earlier each morning. Or, schedule a 15-minute
'helping' time 4 times a day. Compile a list of small jobs
even the littlest one can work on by themselves. Picking
up toys, folding towels, rearranging the plastics drawer,
gathering all the trash in the house. Something the kids
can do while you grab 15 minutes of work.
There it is. An 8-hour workday. It may not be 9-5, but if
we wanted that, we could work outside the home!
A lot of us may have decided that working from home is
BETTER for us, but that doesn't mean it's EASIER for us.
In some ways, mixing business with a home life is the most
complex of choices. It's up to us to make it work. For
everyone in the family.
Colleen Langenfeld delivers useful tips and creative
resources to working moms who want the best for their
families and careers at http://www.paintedgold.com .
Sign up for her free newsletter and receive an online
Creativity Toolkit as her gift to you!
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Posted on Tuesday, April 05, 2005 @ 15:15:21 CDT by go_blue
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