* Going Half Way With The Office Management Starting a home office on the dining room table is not a good idea, nor is committing only half-heartedly to making a guest room into a real office.
If you don't treat the office seriously, there's better than even chance you won't take your work seriously either.
Carve out a separate space and dedicate it as the office.
You'll feel better and your work will benefit from that decision.
* Succumbing To Workaholic Syndrome If, while working in an office setting, you've had a tendency to stay there until the work is done, operating from home is a workaholic's dream come true.
With the office only a few rooms away, there's a temptation to "get one last thing done" after dinner or on a weekend.
It's important to be professional about your business, but it's also important that you don't let the office become your new home.
Set hours, try to manage your work-flow into those hours, than shut the door and put up the "closed" sign.
* Family Issues Lots of women see working at home as the answer to two issues- making a living and raising a family.
If it were easy to mix kids and work, parents would have been doing it at their business offices long ago.
That said, it isn't entirely impossible either.
The trick is balance.
You can't afford to be at the beck and call of your children, but you certainly don't want them to feel totally ignored.
Racing from the office to untangle toys and do laundry every hour will soon turn your work world upside-down.
Closing the door and ignoring the family will have an equally unfortunate effect.
Obviously, day care is an option.
Consider it for the days that you might schedule your most critical task.
On days you set aside for errands, such as paying bills, bookkeeping, research on the internet, and so forth, you might more easily accommodate the family being around.
* Lacking Certain Office Skills When working for other companies, you relied on others with jobs that complemented your own.
As your own businessperson, at your own business office, you have a lot more duties besides the specific ones that "bring home the bacon.
" You'll be responsible for executive and marketing decisions, financial and administrative details and deadlines, as well as clerical and reception work.
Until your business becomes profitable enough to employ other people, it's all down to you.
This is where a business plan makes sense.
You need to work out the detail of how you'll charge for your products or services.
Be careful to figure in the "cost of doing business," which includes the clerical and administrative things, too.
Add in a "fudge factor" and some profit.
Assuming that you'll work a 40-hour a week, set your sight on making a living in 30 hours, then use the other 10 hours to take care of other parts of the business- marketing, promotion, billing, bookkeeping, and business errands.
If you feel you lack the skills to juggle all those things, or don't have the interest in becoming your own secretary, perhaps you're not cut out for a home business.
But if you want to give it a try, you can certainly learn what you need to start and maintain a home based business.
If you don't treat the office seriously, there's better than even chance you won't take your work seriously either.
Carve out a separate space and dedicate it as the office.
You'll feel better and your work will benefit from that decision.
* Succumbing To Workaholic Syndrome If, while working in an office setting, you've had a tendency to stay there until the work is done, operating from home is a workaholic's dream come true.
With the office only a few rooms away, there's a temptation to "get one last thing done" after dinner or on a weekend.
It's important to be professional about your business, but it's also important that you don't let the office become your new home.
Set hours, try to manage your work-flow into those hours, than shut the door and put up the "closed" sign.
* Family Issues Lots of women see working at home as the answer to two issues- making a living and raising a family.
If it were easy to mix kids and work, parents would have been doing it at their business offices long ago.
That said, it isn't entirely impossible either.
The trick is balance.
You can't afford to be at the beck and call of your children, but you certainly don't want them to feel totally ignored.
Racing from the office to untangle toys and do laundry every hour will soon turn your work world upside-down.
Closing the door and ignoring the family will have an equally unfortunate effect.
Obviously, day care is an option.
Consider it for the days that you might schedule your most critical task.
On days you set aside for errands, such as paying bills, bookkeeping, research on the internet, and so forth, you might more easily accommodate the family being around.
* Lacking Certain Office Skills When working for other companies, you relied on others with jobs that complemented your own.
As your own businessperson, at your own business office, you have a lot more duties besides the specific ones that "bring home the bacon.
" You'll be responsible for executive and marketing decisions, financial and administrative details and deadlines, as well as clerical and reception work.
Until your business becomes profitable enough to employ other people, it's all down to you.
This is where a business plan makes sense.
You need to work out the detail of how you'll charge for your products or services.
Be careful to figure in the "cost of doing business," which includes the clerical and administrative things, too.
Add in a "fudge factor" and some profit.
Assuming that you'll work a 40-hour a week, set your sight on making a living in 30 hours, then use the other 10 hours to take care of other parts of the business- marketing, promotion, billing, bookkeeping, and business errands.
If you feel you lack the skills to juggle all those things, or don't have the interest in becoming your own secretary, perhaps you're not cut out for a home business.
But if you want to give it a try, you can certainly learn what you need to start and maintain a home based business.
SHARE
