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Business
Valuation Made Quick, Easy and Inexpensive!
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.
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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