Downsides Of A Home Business Everybody can figure out the advantages of working from home. From the time saved with commuting, to the money saved because of not needing business outfits anymore, we can all see why working from home is good. However, we tend to forget the negative side of the matter, which is the topic of today’s article.
Many times, working from home brings solitude. If your business is something you do on your own, with no team involved, you may end up longing for a community. It’s always fun to share ideas and brainstorm solutions in a group rather than doing it solo. You can involve your family and friends, but since they don’t know the specific details of your issues, they won’t be able to help you much. Besides, they might just want to do other things with you, not talking about your business.
When you run a home based business, you tend to neglect the way you look. Why dress up if there’s nobody else to see you? Why shower, when there’s nobody else but you to notice that? This danger is bigger than you’d think, but with a bit of attention to such details you can overcome it. Just don’t let yourself go with the flow of laziness, have strong principles and stick to them, even when nobody else is watching.
When you work from home, all your friends and family will think that you are always available for them, since you don’t have to go to a regular office every day. They will tend to ask you to do heaps of little chores and they might get upset if you refuse. This is something you need to make clear from the very beginning. You loved ones need to understand that working from home means that your home and office just happen to be in the same place. Ask them to respect your work schedule and not bother you with all sorts of requests during your work hours. Be assertive and you’ll have the things your way without having to break up with anybody.
Procrastination is another big danger of working from home. It is so easy to get distracted when you have a pile of dishes in the sink waiting to be cleaned, or when you suddenly notice your flowers look a bit sad and might need watering. You may say a few ten minute breaks can’t slow you down too much. You are wrong. You’ll tend to take way more breaks than you should, so you’ll end up by midnight wondering why you had to work that much. If you have the curiosity to write down your actual work time, you’ll notice how much time is wasted because you lose focus so often. Try to have working time chunks of at least 30 minutes, followed by 10 minute breaks. If you can, make the work intervals one hour long. You’ll notice a boost of productivity from the very first day.
Can you think of other downsides of a home business?
