Career Coach:
Top 5 Tips for Making a Home Based
Business Work
by Nicole Aliev
(February 12, 2004) A year ago, I decided
that 14-hour days and sacrificing family time in favor
of corporate wages was no longer an
option. I wanted shorter hours, greater flexibility, and
a work environment that would support my family needs and
personal values. After researching and planning my options,
exploring my passions and clarifying my goals, I began to
understand the kind of support I would need to pursue my
plans, and to identify the barriers I had to overcome. My
solution - a home based career and life coaching practice.
Having worked with many home-based clients, and having experienced
the rewards and challenges of working from home, I’ve
compiled a list of helpful hints. Here are my top five tips
for maintaining focus:
1. Manage your approach to administrative work:
After the luxury and support of a large office, you are
suddenly responsible for completing the more menial tasks
of running
a business, like sorting and replying to mail, tracking
invoices, doing the photocopying etc. This not only takes
up time, but to some is mindless and annoying work.
There are two solutions for this:
a. Hire a virtual or actual assistant to help out a few days
a week. This could include employing your spouse or older
children, for which there are certain tax benefits, such
as health insurance write-offs, and tax-free pay.
b. Do it yourself, but set aside a specific time to do it
each day or week, so that it does not infiltrate the more
strategic tasks of running the business.
2. Join a business community
group, or establish a weekly teleconference with individuals
in a similar business or
position to yourself:
Loneliness and lack of input or feedback, often means there
is no one to balance ideas or actions when you work on
your own. This can make you feel more vulnerable in a world
of
competition as well as lead to a lack of intellectual stimulation. I joined a weekly call hosted by Rob Schwartz, owner of
Today Coach, which provides a community of small business
owners from all backgrounds with the opportunity to share
ideas, marketing solutions and to discuss problems facing
their business.
3. Ignore household demands:
Linda Stephen, president and designer of Sol Cards, Inc.,
a Mamaroneck company specializing in handmade origami cards
and art, told me, “My constant challenge is to ignore
home messes and errands during work hours. She said. "The
best thing to do is to have a rule to ignore all non-work
messes and tasks during work hours. Lower your expectations
for a perfectly organized life.” 4. Keep an easily viewable Brag List of your achievements,
and a reminder of your Business Goals close to hand:
When business is slow, it is easy to find your sense
of self worth affected and your motivation levels
low. There is no
one to share the load with, or to give the positive and
motivational feedback we all need. My solution is to create a Brag List of the things I am
proud of both personally and professionally, that I can refer
to when I begin to question my competence. I also have a
picture of a desired holiday destination close to hand as
a motivation for me to reach my business targets.
5. Ensure friends and family are aware of your business
hours:
As nice as it is to work from home with the convenience
of all that is familiar, it is also a hindrance to getting
things
done, when friends and family know you are easily accessible.
Jeff Morgan, a Larchmont entrepreneur who works from home
three days a week, recommends putting up a note with
Business Hours on the door of his office as a reminder to
family
members that he is not there for play or household chores.
He also
refuses to answer the family phone line during these
hours, to avoid distraction. For me, working from home has been a lot of fun; it has
also been a lonely endeavor and learning experience. The
key to making it work has been to plan and adjust for the
challenges that have allowed me the luxury of setting my
schedule to spend more time with my family, and to maintain
the contact and intellectual stimulation I need with the
outside world.
Nicole Aliev runs
Rat Race Be Gone, Coaching and Consulting.
She conducts half-day career workshops
to assist individuals looking to make a change in their
career
to understand their
strengths, career passions, and the environment they wish
to work in. The workshop price includes two free follow-up
coaching sessions, to ensure individuals maintain focus.
Nicole also provides personal coaching to individuals
seeking
to achieve career and life goals, by helping them to understand
and market the value of their skills, while maintaining
life balance. You can reach Nicole Aliev at::
Phone: (914) 381 2010 email: Nicole@ratracebegone.com
Web address: www.ratracebegone.com
Next Career Workshop:
February 17 (6 pm-9.30 pm) and February 19, (9 am-1pm)
Redmen Hall, 17 E Elm St, Greenwich, CT 06830
Forthcoming Managing Stress Workshop:
March 7, (9.30 am-12.30 pm) New York City.
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