Is Working From Home The Right Thing For You?
Is Working From Home The Right Thing For You?
One of the big mistakes that people make when they startup a home based business is they fail to consider what it actually takes to be successful working from home.
At first it would surprise me when people would tell me they could never do what I do simply because they wouldn’t be able to make themselves get up in the morning. They would sleep in and do nothing all day.
While a few online business owners are rather infamous for sleeping until noon, they’re also the ones you’re likely to find in their office working on a project at 3 am.
So today I want to help you understand what it really takes to start a home based business and make it successful.
Are you a self starter?
When you have your own business trying to make money online, it’s very different than working for someone else. If you show up late, nobody actually cares. Entrepreneurship means It’s on you to be accountable to yourself.
Can you get things done if there is nobody watching over you to make sure you get it done? If you’re not able to motivate yourself and to set your own deadlines for yourself then you may want to rethink this whole “starting a home based business” thing in the first place.
4 Hour work week working from home?
When Timothy Ferris released 4 Hour Work Week, he started a phenomenon. The idea of only working four hours a week really appealed to a lot of people. And yes, it is possible.
However, it’s not the normal case. First of all, most people that I know who have successful home based businesses actually like what they do. You know the old saying, “do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” For many home based business owners they really do like what they do and want to work more than that.
The reality is that for most people, four hours a week isn’t enough. I know that in the past, I’ve had days where 14 hours a day isn’t enough. I don’t want to discourage you, but I do want you to get an idea of what it’s really like sometimes. Are you willing to do what it takes to succeed?
Dealing with distraction
You’re going to need an area where you can focus and get work done. I remember when I I was working in the corporate world, where we had the open office system, my productivity was terrible. I was permanently interrupted by colleagues, either saying hallo or asking a question. And even if they respected my desire not to be interrupted I was distracted by office noise.
Eventually, I found that for me, the best plan was to have a home office, where I could do the productive work. So, I did split my time in three parts. Customer facing time, office time for meetings and interactions and home office time for productive work. And that worked perfectly for me for a long time, that it wasn’t difficult for me to continue the same concept as I started my won business.
You need to be very consistent in the time you are working at home. Make sure that your kids and spouse know that when you’re working they can’t bother you unless it’s an emergency. If you fail to do that, you’re setting yourself up for a very frustrating experience of working from home.
Are you willing to learn?
The last thing I want to mention is the need to be willing to learn. I’ve seen people who have spent $60,000 on a college education become unwilling to spend a few hundred dollars on a course that will teach them what they need to know to be successful in their business.
One way or another, you are going to pay for your education. It’s either going to be through experience and the school of hard knocks or you can take the easier route and pay others for their specialized knowledge.
Keep in mind eventually there is nothing for free. Either you spend your time or you spend your money to acquire the knowledge you need to succeed. That’s why there is the saying “time is money”.
It’s cheaper and less stressful to take the paid route, but the choice is ultimately up to you, but just remember this, a lot you don’t know and you need to be willing to learn to be successful.
And even when you are successful, you still need to learn everyday something new and do something new to remain successful! I like a quote from Andy Grove that reminds me about this fact:” “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive”.
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