For Home Based Workers Time Management is the Top Priority
The idea of working from home can seem like a dream come true: no commuting, totally flexible working hours, no dress code, no demanding boss, and only one person calling the shots. Trouble is, you are that one person, totally responsible for facing and overcoming the challenges and temptations that go hand-in-hand with being able to work in your pajamas.
The five most common work-from-home challenges are time management, distractions, space availability, professionalism and job security.
1. Time management
Home-based workers usually agree that flexible working hours are their job’s number one attraction. This flexibility is also the major challenge. First of all you may need to salvage the necessary time from a busy schedule that could include caring for children or elderly family members, housework, gardening and community volunteering. Having found the time, you need to make a work schedule and stick to it whenever possible. This may involve sacrificing some of that treasured flexibility in favor of discipline, but discipline is never as painful when self-inflicted and willingly accepted. Set aside a regular number of hours per day, or days per week, instead of just working when time permits. It never will.
Proper time management also involves stopping work at an appropriate time. Just because your work is always at hand should not be an excuse to overwork. Schedule regular breaks, for your health’s sake, and try to stick to a set finishing time for the day.
2. Distractions and procrastination
There will always be an excuse to do something else instead of starting work. The house needs cleaning, the lawn needs mowing, your favorite TV show is about to start and there are lots of tempting and addictive little games built in to your computer operating system. Now the precious time that you carved out of your busy schedule is in danger of slipping away. Don’t let it happen. When grandma said ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’ she was speaking from bitter experience. Imagine how you will feel at the end of this day if you have achieved nothing. So, slot all your distractions into an allocated spot in your timetable. Buy an inexpensive sixty minute ticking timer with a loud bell. When the allocated time is up for each distraction or excuse - when the bell rings - get down to your real work.
3. Finding the space
Most homes are designed as living spaces, not working spaces. The kitchen table will not effectively double as a desk. Even the tiny desk fitted into an alcove in the spare bedroom is not an adequate workspace, especially if it is far from a telephone and you don’t have wireless internet. If you are serious about working from home you need a dedicated workspace, whether it is a properly equipped small office or a large worktable for crafts or assembly. Sacrifice a bedroom or hobby room, convert the loft or the garage, or buy an old trailer or caravan and park it in the yard.
4. Projecting a professional image
You may enjoy working in your pajamas, but your clients might not be too impressed if they knew. Face-to-face client contact is unusual for home-based workers, except in the health and beauty spheres which have a special set of standards and expectations. For everyone else, a professional image depends on the persona you project in a website or blog, in the letterhead you use for correspondence and in your business card. It is worthwhile investing in a specialist to design these items, unless that is your own area of expertise. You may wish to use a post office box address and your cell phone number rather than your street address and land line.
5. Job security
Being your own boss is wonderful, unless the day comes when you have to lay yourself off because business has slumped. Job security is an condition entirely in your own hands when you are self-employed. This mantra applies to your business as much as it does to any other: ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’. Make an effort to expand both your client base and the range of products or services you are offering. If you lose one or two customers, or if one of your best-selling items suddenly loses popularity, it won’t make such a big dent as it would if it were the only customer or product you have. The same applies to your suppliers: too high a dependency on a single provider can be risky.
Working from home presents a different set of challenges from those you faced when you had fixed hours, a spacious workplace far removed from domestic distractions, a corporate employer automatically providing you with a professional image, and someone else to shoulder the burden of keeping you in work. However, if you make a serious effort to face and overcome these challenges, you will lay the foundation for a career that many will envy.
