Balancing
Home & Work:
The Challenge of the Home-Based Business
By Vishal P. Rao
With the holidays around the corner, you may
find yourself struggling to keep your home-based business
and your home life separate and running smoothly. And you're
not alone.
Operating a home-based business has many benefits
as you already know, but its main drawback is that it often
causes the line between your work and your personal life
to become permanently blurred. Unlike those individuals
who work outside the home and who know their day at the
office ends when they get in their car and start the commute
home, home business operators do not usually have a definite
end to their day.
The reverse situation is also possible: they
may not have a definite start to their day either. If you
have a hard time breaking free of your work responsibilities
or if you sometimes have trouble settling in to tackle them,
these tips will help you bring both aspects of your life
into equilibrium.
Separate Your Office From Your Home
If your work computer is in the living room
where everyone in the family congregates, chances are you
are being bombarded by distractions. Plus, when it is time
for you to relax, you may find it difficult with the computer
right there as a constant reminder of all the work you still
need to finish and all of the communications you still need
to respond to.
The answer is to set aside an area of your
home just for work. If you have an office or an extra bedroom
where you can set up your space, then you can block out
the distractions simply by shutting the door. Also avoid
putting anything in your home office that might prevent
you from getting your work done, such as a television.
If you don't have an entire room to dedicate
to your office, move your computer and materials into a
room that is rarely used or that is normally unoccupied
when you need to be working, such as a bedroom. Once you
have separated your home from your office, you will find
it easier to stay focused on your work but also to leave
your work in its space so you can relax and enjoy the remainder
of your home.
Create Specific Working Hours
One of the best things about running a home-based
business is undoubtedly the flexible schedule, but it can
also have negative consequences. On the one hand, your schedule
may be so flexible that you only work 30 minutes a day or
so hectic that you find yourself working at all hours of
the day without taking a break.
The answer is to set your own office hours.
Creating your own schedule still has benefits. For one,
you can decide what time of the day you start, so if you're
not a morning person, you don't have to get up at the break
of dawn. Also, if you prefer to stop working when your children
come home from school, you can consider that when you decide
when to stop for the day.
Another benefit is that you provide clients
and customers with a specific times when you are available
to work with them. The most important thing to remember,
however, is to set hours for yourself that you can live
with. Once you decide on a schedule, you need to stick with
it long-term, so be realistic about how long you can work
without taking a break and how much time you'll need to
accomplish everything that needs to get done.
And, no matter how much you may be tempted
to keep working, you need to stop when you say you are going
to stop. Taking a break allows you to come back refreshed
and more alert, so you can be more productive. An overworked,
overly stressed person simply is not an effective worker
at home or in an office.
Draw the Line Between Home and Work Communications
Has this ever happened to you? You and your
family have just sat down for a dinner around the table
when a client calls to talk about your current project or
a customer phones with questions about a recent purchase.
The easiest way to prevent work from interfering
with your family is to keep communications separate. Start
by having a second phone line dedicated to your work and
attaching an answering machine or voice mail to the line.
When your work day ends, you can turn on the
machine and let it handle any after-hour calls. An extra
phone line also allows you to maintain professionalism.
Imagine the embarrassment of having your young child answer
the phone when an important customer calls.
You may also want to set up a post office
box for all of your business-related mail. Not only will
this prevent your important mail from accidentally getting
thrown away with the junk, but it will also offer you and
your family a level of privacy.
After all, you do not want to make your home
address available to everyone; it's just not safe. If you
use email or instant messaging as part of your business
communications, you'll also want to establish separate accounts
for those as well.
The key to running a home-based business is
balance. While it may be difficult to stop working on that
important project or to concentrate on work while your preparing
for the holidays, striking that balance is essential for
your well-being, your family's security, and your business's
success.
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Vishal P. Rao is the editor of Home Based Business Opportunities - A website dedicated to opportunities,
ideas and resources for starting a home based business.
He also runs the Work
at Home Forum - an online community of folks who work
at home.
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