10 Tips for Being Successful at Home
- Plan your day and stick to it – if this means working while the kids nap from 1-3 then the second you shut the door you work. Don’t check your email, the latest posts on your favorite board or read the news, just work on the task/goal you have set for the day/week.
- Get Organized – Find a system and stick to it. Whether it is a binder with all your pertinant information, a notebook you scribble ideas down in, or a basket to collect the paper keep it in one place and go through it monthly, it will keep your ideas fresh in your head and your desk clear of clutter.
- Be a Good Bookkeeper – this means keeping all your receipts in one place and logging them on a timely basis. Balancing your accounts, tracking your spending and earning. Having a business at home means you are responsible for your own financial reports so take a week or few days each month to sit down and record what when on that month or the month before – if you hire an accountant they will thank you for it.
- Treat it like Work – this means getting dressed in the morning, taking lunch breaks and having weekends off. And even having an office. Keeping work separate from your life is important even when you are working in the home. So set a limit and when you are done work, you are DONE, leave it until tomorrow.
- Set Goals and Celebrate them – Completing a task on your own can sometimes get lost in the shuffle but when it is something big you really should crack open a bottle of bubbly or at least have a bowl of ice cream to give yourself a little pat on the back. Tell your friends so that they can be proud of you too.
- Choose your Tasks – if you are having a down day, don’t choose that one to go over the budget or invoices. The wonderful thing about being a business owner is that you can choose the tasks you do and when you do them. I am a writer and on those days I love to write, read and research new ideas.
- Build a Network – there are lots of people who work at home, get out a socialize with them, they can become great resources of friendship and professional advice.
- Be a Professional – Treat your business like a business. Get a separate phone line, bank account, even computer. Answer the phone as you would in an office and be professional in your conduct with customers & service providers.
- Keep it Legal – Register your business with your state or province, you will qualify for all sorts of tax breaks by having a business in your home. This also means that you need to have insurance for all that extra office equipment and new found liability. In some areas & depending on what you do you may even need a business license.
- Swap Care with Someone – What? I thought the whole idea was to stay at home with my kids? Well it is, but really how can you be productive with children running around the house. Then you are not devoting your full attention to them and may as well be at work. So find another mom and swap care with her a couple days a week. It will be beneficial to both of you and fun for the kids!
