Working at home for myself comes with responsibility, and in order to be successful with it you'll need to follow a few rules that you didn't have previously. For one sure thing there will no one to stand watch over your shoulder, emailing you with deadlines, and keeping you on track by telling you when to go for lunch, when to go home, and even when to go on holidays.
However, there will also be no one standing there ready to give you a monthly paycheck at the end of two weeks unless you've created the revenue income stream yourself, and worked it successfully. It's of utmost important to focus your time on areas of your business that will ensure both the growth of your online business as well as the return on your time. Plan and have a set of goals that you follow daily, monthly and even yearly. Make sure you are checking in to make sure your on track, and heading in the right direction.
Despite the actual fact that I can now sleep till noon, I'm up and always working away on my blog first thing in the morning, and I measure the success of my day by how much I'm able to accomplish from my impressive "to do" list, as well as the projects that adorn my monthly goal board on my wall. Make sure you have set aside real personal work hours, and do your best to adhere to them. Remember, having personal family time is important too, so don't overwork, just because you can.
Eliminate those distractions that surround you at home, designate a certain area within your home that can become your office, and make sure the other members of your household respect that area. Turn off your home televisions, cell phones, and anything else that might interrupt your work. Just because you're inside your own home doesn't mean it's the weekend.
Do organize your workspace, both physical in the form of your desk, and surrounding office, as well as your virtual space. Make sure you have plan out a solid filing system in place, all user names and passwords you need to do your job are available to you. It is easy to save everything into a "catch all" folder, but it slows down production, and we both know there are better ways to file your important data.
Visiting websites like Facebook and Twitter may very well be a part of your new online business, but they can easily eat into your most valuable resource. Schedule a time slot for social media, and even email and phone. If clients know that you are unavailable between certain time of the hours because you're working, they can easily condense those phone calls into emails and send them your way to be read at the appropriate time.
If you have turned on your computer, and had a notification program like Facebook come up, you most likely know what it's likely that you are going to be bombarded with messages from friends, or old colleagues who you may have shared an office with, and who now have nothing better to do than try and strike up a conversation with you while they are at work. Be polite with them but also be firm as you are trying to build up a business which you can run from home.
