Starting a business from the comfort of your home, or maybe your dorm room is a great way to start out as an entrepreneur on a tight budget. However, it is far from the easy option that many people believe it to be, not least because you must motivate yourself to succeed, be able to separate your home life from business life and contend with a whole host of distractions you may not have to deal with in a more traditional business setting.
Up for the challenge? Here are a few things that should help you make a success of your home-based business:
Put a Schedule in Place
When you work from home, it’s easy to get sucked in by Netflix or the puppy or your dorm-mates when you should be working hard to build up your company. One thing you can do to counteract this is to put a work-play schedule in place. If you know exactly when you should be working, and you build in time for yourself to “play” you’ll be far more likely to actually get things done. Of course, it’s still not easy to do what you’re supposed to be doing, but it will give you a bit more motivation to do so.
Create a Dedicated Office Space
Okay, so this might not be easy if you live in a small home, and it definitely won’t be easy if all you have to work with is a dorm room, but it’s so important that you should do all you can to create your own dedicated office space anyway. Fill it with a desk, comfy office chairs, a filing cabinet, maybe a few plants, and anything else that will be essential to your success. Even just putting up a partition to separate your desk from your bed will do.
Why is this so important? Because it helps you to separate your business life from your home life, which, in turn, helps you to stay motivated when you’re working and switched off and stress-free when you’re not. It should also help to minimize any distractions you may face.
Take it Seriously
Many people who decide to set up a home-based business are extremely lax in their efforts. Because they are working from home, they don’t take it as seriously as they would if they’d paid out to rent a big fancy office space and all that goes with that. They inevitably fail. If you want to succeed, you need to take it just as seriously as you would any other job or business venture. You need to get up and get dressed instead of working in your pajamas; you need to answer the phone in a professional manner; you need to put in the hours and work hard even when there are more fun things to do or there is seemingly little reward. This is the only way to build something good.
Market Your Business
Yes, you may be working from home and you may have little money, but without marketing, no one will know you exist. So, do what you can top advertise locally, online, anywhere you can think of.
Good luck!
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