Don't Let Distractions Doom Your Home Business

Many people dream of being self-employed and working from their home ... and for good reason! The advantages of working at home far outweigh any disadvantages.

Nevertheless, if you're fortunate enough to be able to work from home you'll encounter some difficulties you wouldn't otherwise have to deal with if you were employed and working in an office.

Specifically, there are likely to be a lot more distractions at home than in an office. And if you hope to be successful in your home business, you've got to find ways to eliminate or at least minimize them. Otherwise they're likely to derail your efforts and could even spell failure for your business.

 SOLICITORS

Occasionally solicitors will show up at your door. The best way to deal with them is to politely decline their offer, explain that you're running a business from your home, and that you "have to get back to work now." Then just close the door and go back to your work.

Don't be shy about interrupting their sales pitch early on. Keep in mind that not only are they wasting your time, but that by continuing their "speach" to an uninterested party, their wasting their own time as well.

 FRIENDS

A harder situation to handle is friends who drop by unexpectedly.

First off, as soon as you start your home business, it's important to let everyone know that you're running a business from home and will be keeping regular "business hours." This knowledge alone should discourage most people from stopping in unannounced.

It also makes it easier for you to remind them that you're in the middle of your work and don't have time to "visit" at the moment. Tell them you're currently involved in an important task and must complete it now rather than later, because breaking off your task will interrupt your train of thought and result in mistakes and/or poor quality work.

Invite them to return later in the day after your working hours, or offer to visit them instead.

You'll begin very soon to see why it's so important to exercise the self discipline of keeping to a regular schedule. Not only does it help your productivity, it also gives you the ammunition you need to minimize interruptions.

Finally, you might encounter a situation in which a friend drops in who was not yet aware you were running a home business.

This situation has no easy solution. You may feel it necessary (and justified) to take some time out from your work to entertain your friend. But make sure you mention during your conversation that you're "running a home business these days."

Let your friend know that you're keeping regular working hours, and at the end of the visit, invite him or her to "come and see me again anytime after (end of your work day.)"

 YOUNG CHILDREN

If you have pre-school children in your home, you have to take some measures to make sure they don't create such a distraction that you're unable to work.

Older children might not pose too much of a problem in this regard, but younger children can require so much of your attention that you'll have no time for your business.

In this case it's essential to hire a babysitter. A good solution might be to hire a local stay-at-home Mom to watch your children while you're working. You'll have to pay for her services, but you might offer to give her a break by watching her children on weekends in return for a reduced fee.

Another possibility is to ask grandparents to babysit. You could offer to run some errands for them (after your working hours, of course) in exchange for watching your children.

 TELEPHONE

Keep separate phones for personal and business calls. For business calls, an 800 number is best, but a cell phone can be a less expensive and perfectly acceptable alternative.

Tell personal callers you'll call them back at the end of your work day. Or if necessary, get an answering machine to handle your personal calls during the day.

 IN CONCLUSION

It's critical that you treat your home business like a job. You no doubt always wanted to "be your own boss." Now your ARE! And just as a boss wouldn't tolerate distractions in the workplace, you can't tolerate distraction while running your home business.

Set regular working hours, and adhere to them. And insist that others respect your working hours as well. Don't let other people waste your valuable time with unfair demands and endless intrusions.

If you were employed, your boss wouldn't allow others to intrude on your time while at work. So remember, you ARE "at work" even thought you're home. Act accordingly, and you'll stand a far better chance of success!