At first blush one might suppose home based business would be stress free. After all, look at the advantages: be your own boss, make your own schedule, work when you feel like working and there are no traffic jams to and from the office!
Let's look closely at these four factors, all of which I consider to be myths.
Be your own boss
Being the boss means now you, not somebody else, must take responsibility for all the tasks related to managing a business. These include checking for regulatory compliance, tax reporting, maintaining business checking accounts, planning and managing inventory, taking orders, accounting (keep the books) advertising, marketing, delivery, billing and reading the mail, to name but some of the tasks. It's not that any one of these and dozens more tasks are necessarily complicated. Some of them, in fact, might be boring, as in sifting through the junk mail to make sure you don't miss an important letter or bill.
What can be stressful is the multiplicity of tasks. Put another way, being your own boss means keeping track of unending and unrelenting details. There needs to be a quick, efficient system for getting all these details out of the way in order to do the actual business. That's where the stress develops: no brooding over bills, no piling up of mail to be opened at some later date, no delay in filing or storing data, no idle moments to debate what to save and what to throw away. The filing system, whether by computer or in file cabinets, needs to be well organized so that what goes into that system can be easily retrieved.
And then, of course, there are the uneding phone calls to be received and to be initiated. "The boss," as one of my key contacts in another state told me bluntly at our very first introduction, "does everything." In a home based business that's the job description: the boss does everything. No matter whether the task be secretarial or executive in nature, the boss does it and the pressure is to do it right now. Get behind with a home based business and there will be instant stress because getting behind means that tomorrow there will be twice as much to do.
The art to be developed here is MULTI TASKING.
Make your own schedule
Working at home is only possible when you are working at home! The problem about being at home is that there are always things to be done at home. "Things" include preparing and eating meals, keeping the house orderly and clean, answering the doorbell, getting out the trash, taking care of any dependents, feeding the pets, bringing in the paper and the mail, visiting with the neighbors. Unless one is living absolutely alone in a totally managed apartment or condo it is nearly impossible to be without having "things" to do. Once you have made a work schedule the real stress begins: keeping to the schedule instead of doing things that need doing for home maintenance and daily living.
Sticking to the schedule means no TV interruptions, no extended phone conversations, no time outs to run up to the store or take a quick nap! Working alone is boring, tiring and often non-stimulating. There is no companionship, no joking around and not other workers to pick up the slack or form a team approach. You do it or it does not get done. You work no matter what mood you are in and no matter how you are feeling physically. Any time you break with the schedule the business tops and work piles up.
The art to be developed here is FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION. Some might describe it as discipline or self-discipline but in actuality staying focused is different than self discipline. Focusing is a mental skill. It is helpful to make a work schedule that takes account of your ability to focus and reflects the limits you have regarding how long you can effectively stay focused.
Work when you feel like working
This myth is the downfall of many a business at home! Working only when you feel like working is what describes a hobby, not a successful business. For those who only work when they feel like working, hobbies are by far the better choice.l
The art to be developed her is DETERMINATION AND MOTIVATION. Work when the work needs to be done and learn to enjoy work. Any other approach will be a stress producer and you will not last.
No traffic jams
Despite all the complaining, traffic jams are not all bad. They give drivers a good separation time between work and home, something essential for reducing stress at both work and home. The window might consist of listening to the news or music while stalled in traffic. It might be conversation with others. It might be concentration on the traffic situation.l Traffic jams are like feeding pigeons: they get our minds off what we are leaving before we engage with what is happening at our destination. That separation is what allows people to segregate work from home life.
Those who work at home do not have built in spearations between home and work. The work is inside their home and there is not traveling to and from the workplace. Stress from home is part of work and stress from work is part of home. A conscious effor, therefore, is needed to close down work, get out of the office at home, take some sort of break such as a short walk or yes, feeding pigeons, before engaging in home life. Lacking such breaks and segregating of work from home is an invitation to stress that never stops until the stress reaches burnout proportions and you, as the boss worker are disgusted. The temptation then grows to the point of wanting to kill the business or run away from home or both.
These pitfalls are easily avoided with a little business coaching. One of the prime reasons for business coaching (in this case, business stress managment coaching) is to avoid lea rning things the hard way. The coach can oint out creative ways to manage the stress that you might have thought wouldn't be there. In the middle of the business there is no time to go away and learn. But the coach can helpo you make up for that with a short phone conference and a few guiding suggestions or questions that enable you to turn things around before the stress gets out of hand.
Advice is alwasy better before getting started. But the next best thing to looking before you leap is looking after you leap!
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