Work At Home: 10 Tips To Create Your Business and Save Your Sanity!

How To Set Up Your Business From Home

So you're thinking of leaving the security and comfort of your day job and voyaging into the world of the self-employed OR you recently started working at home and aren’t sure what steps to take first.

Congratulations! Nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment you get from growing your own business from scratch, from taking on the world with nothing but wits and a lot of hard work. I've been working at home since 1983 and haven't regretted it for a moment.

Here are ten tips I've learned along the way to help make your journey a little easier.

Tip Number One: Set a schedule.

Time management can be problematic when you're self-employed.

It's easy to get sidetracked when you're working from home and before you know it, the morning is gone. You probably had to be at your old job at a certain time so do the same thing with your business. Resolve to be at the computer, on the jobsite, or with a client by 7:30 AM (or earlier) and stick to it.

For me, no matter what time I go to sleep the night before, I’m “at it” by 7:30 the next day. Some days I’m walking with my voice recorder creating WalkAbout Marketing podcasts and some days I’m at my desk. But it’s important to get started as soon as you can.

And turn off your email: don’t let it beep every time you get a new message. I literally average 837 emails every day. Most should never see the light of day, though some are important. But nothing is so important that I have to be interrupted twelve times an hour to reply to it. In fact, I only download emails to my computer ever half hour and only look at them a few times each day (when I can reply to several emails in one short stretch of time, and then back to finishing my goals for the day).

Tip Number Two: Tailor your workspace to your personality.

How do you work best? Do you like to work with music in the background or do you like it perfectly quiet? Do you like pictures of family to remind you of your goals (and the reasons you work so hard), or do you prefer motivational posters and superhero action figures to spur you on to greatness? Find out how you work best and set up your space around your preferences.

And speaking of space, I use a spare bedroom for my home office. When we bought this house in 1998, I picked out this space for my office. I can see the driveway when FedEx and UPS show up and it’s at the other end of the hallway from our bedroom. OK, so a 20-foot walk to work isn’t bad, I admit it!

However, when the door is closed, the office is closed and I don't think about work (well, usually – I admit that I work at the kitchen table when Pam and I “watch” TV together. I can always look up for the replay or when a news report catches my ear).

If you aren't able to have a separate space for an office, a room divider or curtains could do the trick. Just find some way to separate your space from the rest of the house and family and to hide your workspace from view so you don't have to look at it all the time (and be reminded of all the work you should be doing).

And let your phone go to messages rather than letting every caller interrupt your work when they have the whim to call you. Batch the messages together, find time twice a day to return calls and make all of them then. AND, better yet, if someone wants to chat with you by phone, SET AN APPOINTMENT – I don’t take phone calls that aren’t prearranged – believe me, your clients will get used to it when you help them see the importance.

Tip Number Three: Market yourself.

Now I don't mean paying for advertising, creating glossy brochures, or doing weekly direct-mail piece.

This website is FILLED with ideas for you so read my blog!

Also, do you have a Facebook account? Keep it up to date and post often. (You can friend me at http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr – be sure to send a note when you friend me: you should ALWAYS send a note, and this way I’ll know why you are asking to friend me.)

Start a blog and use it like a diary. Think of all the things you are doing that clients and customers might be interested in. I post lots of videos to my blog (and to my Facebook profile, which acts like a mini blog for me).

Keep friends and family informed of what you're doing. Word of mouth can be the best advertising and it's free (but you have to give them something to talk about!).

Tip Number Four: Show that professionalism counts.

Present yourself with a businesslike demeanor. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun and enjoy life when you are with other people, but what people think about you is built on MANY little interactions – what’s the saying, it takes A THOUSAND “atta-boys” or “atta-girls” to equal ONE “uh oh, I screwed up.”

Show your clients that you take your work seriously and they will do the same. You don’t have to take YOURSELF too seriously (laugh, enjoy life, laugh at your mistakes – you’ll make LOTS of them, so enjoy them as they race by every day).

If you have a website or Facebook page for your business, make sure it is professional. It’s great to share your personality and family activities when they help to round-you-out as a whole person but as you look at other people’s websites and Facebook pages, see what feels right to you and what stands out as inappropriate – learn from what others are doing.

Tip Number Five: Talk to your clients.

Communication is a two-way adventure. Keep your clients updated on your progress, any changes or snags, and let them know that things are going smoothly and right on schedule.

For example, consider that you're building a house for someone: you'll want to update them frequently. They will need to know when the foundation is poured, when the electrical panel is installed, or when the roof is on. You can do this by email, a phone call, or a face-to-face. The most important thing is keeping your client in the loop and aware of the job's status.

AND, be sure to ask your customers and clients what they WANT from you. There’s a great story about a Printer creating a company’s business cards. For years he did a great job. One day the office manager walked in to pick up the latest batch of cards and told the Printer that they just had some great stationery printed at another shop. The Printer was dismayed to learn that he had never asked his client about other needs: the client didn’t know that the Printer printed letterhead – the Printer was only thought of as the “card printer.”

I communicate a lot through email. I don’t trust my memory for all the details when a job is ongoing. And it’s always best to be sure I CLEARLY understand what my client wants. And I keep all correspondence in separate folders in my email server so I can quickly access all email from each of my clients.

If the client wants to make a change, get it in writing. It's important to get the original Agreement in writing, but it's equally important to get any changes documented and approved. This way, any project overruns or questions about the final project can be verified and justified.

Some people like Project Management software such as Basecamp, activeCollab, and Projecturf to keep their jobs organized. Most of mine aren’t that complicated, so emails work fine.

Tip Number Six: Keep your financial accounts separate.

Don't mix business and personal accounts. Get a separate bank account for your business.

Get a credit card for your business (preferably the cash-back type) and use it for all business expenses. We get a few hundred dollars back each year because we charge everything possible and pay it off each month.

And since I have a proprietorship for my Photography business and an LLC for my Online business, I have TWO business accounts and TWO credit cards, in addition to my personal account.

Once you get used to them, it’s easy to work with this way.

Tip Number Seven: Work hard after setting your goals.

Sometimes you'll take a job because you need the money. You won't always be able to pick and choose your clients because you believe in what they're doing, or the job intrigues you on some level. Some months you'll just need to make the rent, or payroll, or quarterly taxes and you'll take whatever work presents itself.

This isn't selling out. It's just a fact of life. You can still take on those projects close to your heart when the money isn't so tight and your business is running smoothly.

Look for ways to augment your income. When you're self-employed, there may be times when there's no money coming in. Investigate passive income sources, such as ebooks and affiliate marketing, to see if one is right for you.

But don’t fall into the trap of taking just anything that comes along: people will get really confused WHO you are and WHAT you are doing. Set your goals and stay as close to them as you can.

Tip Number Eight: File everything.

Keep a job's agreements, invoices, and notes in one place, preferably a folder in a filing cabinet (electronically and physically). When in doubt, file it. You can always toss it later, but you can't get something back after it's gone. (And electronic storage is cheap – I recently purchased one terabyte for under $200.)

For each project, I have file folders in my cabinet with all signed papers and agreements and on my computer I keep a folder for all email. Be sure to back up your computer to protect what you have there. And while I’m very supportive of “green” living, make physical copies when the information is crucial – even if you used recycled paper OR the back of something you printed before.

Tip Number Nine: Talk with a CPA about your business finances.

Some businesses can run on a “cash basis” right from one or more checkbooks. Some need one of the popular computer-accounting packages. And some need the services of a bookkeeper plus an accountant to handle the monthly P&L and to reconcile the checkbook, file sales tax and employee taxes, and complete the quarterlies.

Be sure to think ahead to see what YOU will need. And at least find a CPA you trust and go talk about how your business will be set up so you know you’re doing it correctly. And at tax time, s/he will be worth her/his weight in gold.

Tip Number Ten: Take the weekend off.

I’m not very good at this one, I’ll admit right up front. Sundays are for church and family (and my well-deserved nap and a chance to watch some sports on TV). But I often work a full schedule on Saturday – but that doesn’t mean YOU should do that!

When you're self-employed, you can't get away from the office very easily. It's both a blessing and a curse to work from home. Yes, it's convenient and the commute is probably under thirty seconds, but it's awfully hard to get away from the job.

You'll be tempted to work after dinner or on Saturday or miss your daughter’s hockey game or your son’s theater performance but DON’T.

One thing we learn very quickly: work is NEVER finish, so sometimes you just need to STOP – it will be there for you when you come back.

You need down time to keep fresh and you need to spend time with family and friends. What is that old story: that on someone’s deathbed, seldom does the person say, “I just wish I had worked longer every day.”

If you need to understand why your family is important, perhaps you need to see one of my other blogs: http://RaisingGreatFamilies.com. Trust me on this one: set your schedule and CROSS OUT Sundays and leave Saturdays blank for whatever you really need to work on. (Or do the reverse – Cross out Saturdays from work and leave Sundays blank to help with the left-over work).

You and your family deserve to spend time together.

Wrap-Up

The Work at Home lifestyle can be the MOST ENJOYABLE you’ve ever known, if you follow these ten tips. Keep it all in perspective, keep your goals in front of you, and know WHY you work so hard.

Hey, life’s to be enjoyed – and let it start at home!

And – Please leave me a comment: what ELSE do you feel this article should cover? Was it helpful to you? What do you disagree with?

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

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Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

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Work At Home: 10 Tips To Create Your Business and Save Your Sanity!

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