Lifestyle Tips for a Home-Business Owner
How does the ‘Home Business‘ fit with your home? Many changes and challenges will present themselves when you launch your home business opportunity or home franchise opportunity. Here are some thoughts to help make the transition healthy, happy, and successful for both your home business opportunity and your family.
Managing time and space
Here, we have gathered thoughts and tips on time management strategies as well as general home office set-up tips:
* Time management skills are essential to help you succeed with two essential elements of your home business opportunity:
- A home business can take a lot of your time and energy. Make sure that as your business grows and prospers, you also give enough time to family.
- When working at home, your family/home life can create a lot of interruptions and distractions and take focus away from the health and success of the business. Make sure to set clear boundaries that allow your home-business opportunity the undivided time and energy it needs to be a success
In the end, the simplest solution for success and happiness all around is ‘balance’. Make sure that you manage your time so that the needs of your business and your family are all being met.
* For both your daily schedule and your home office environment — organize, organize, organize. Make a schedule and stick to it. Work time is work time. Talk with your family about your schedule and create something that meets everyone’s needs. Also, create a clear, organized work space and stock it with everything you need for work within easy reach. Know where things are and when things are supposed to happen, and you will save hours of time (which can go back to your family or help your home business opportunity grow more).
* Prioritize. If you try to do everything at once, chances are things won’t get done as well (or as quickly) as you would like. While there are many things you want to do, choose the ones that will make the biggest impact for your business and do those first. By narrowing your focus, you will not feel overwhelmed. And new projects/tasks are going to keep popping up, so you will need to continually evaluate which are the top priorities for your success. If you find that a lot of lower priority tasks are not getting completed, consider hiring someone part-time to help take care of those.
* Get to know your daily rhythm and plan accordingly. What time of day are you most energetic? When are you drowsy? Schedule your hardest tasks for the time of day when you have the most energy and mental stamina. Be regular with breaks or exercise, as needed.
* Know what environment supports you best in general and for specific tasks. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Are you more creative while laying on the couch?
- Do you only feel professional taking phone calls at your desk?
- Will plants in your office help create a more pleasant office environment?
- Do you have the right lighting to help you work your best?
- Are there any noise distractions from either inside or outside that house that are distracting?
- Do you work better with music playing?
You and your children
Many people choose a home business opportunity in order to have more time with their children. Yet it often takes some time and some careful balancing acts for work at home professionals to feel successful both as parents and business people. Here are some tried and true suggestions from other home business parents:
- Involve your children (if possible). Children love to be a part of what you are doing. Is there a box to unpack or papers to staple? If not, have extra ‘business’ supplies for them to play with — post-it notes, an old phone, junk mail to shred, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils or crayons for drawing.
- Have a plan for giving children attention. Can your spouse have designated “child time” while you work, even for a portion of the day? Child care may be necessary if you are unable to get work done with the children home, but you can take breaks to be with them and still get quality time in the middle of your work day.
- Another suggestion is to work 45 minutes of every hour, then spend 15 minutes with your children to get them started on another project (have many craft books with supplies handy).
- Create a special space (a playhouse or a tent) that is only to be played in while you are working.
Schedule non-work time to give attention only to your family. Set aside time for your family everyday. Dinnertime is a great time of day to gather together and feel relaxed. Exercising together is great for everyone, as are playing games together.
Take a whole day off from work each week. Working from home sometimes makes it harder to stop working. Dedicating at least one full day to family (with no work) will help you to stay involved and strengthen relationships with your children and spouse. Make sure to dedicate a portion of your non-work time to talking with family about how your home-business is affecting everyone. If you work at home, it has an impact on the entire household. It will serve you and your family well to keep communication open and make sure that everyone is comfortable and happy.
You and your spouse
Whether or not you are starting your home business franchise with your spouse, to bring a business home with you will undoubtedly create some ripples in your home life, and therefore, in your relationship with your spouse. Many couples who have experienced struggles as a result of one or both of them beginning to work from home stressed communication as the key to a healthy outcome. Things will change when one family member begins to work from home. A great place to start communicating is to look at business and family expectations. Here are some questions to ask yourself or your spouse:
- How many hours do you anticipate working per week?
- When do you expect to make a profit?
- What hours of the day will you work?
- How supportive is the spouse?
- What are any reservations/concerns regarding the new home business?
- Will the home business either enrich or deteriorate your family relationships?
- How will the home business affect your children?
When concerns arise, take them seriously and devise clear agreements that might alleviate them. Chances are, once the business has begun, things will be different than were expected. Take the time regularly to check in, air any grievances, and create new agreements.
When starting a business partnership with your spouse, it is important to look at a few extra issues:
* Clearly outline and divide roles and responsibilities. Know who’s responsible for what to avoid assumptions that something will get done or wasted energy in something getting over done.
* Have a conflict resolution plan in place and use it when needed. Have a regular weekly meeting as a way of checking in and airing any misunderstandings or confusions.
* Be clear on goals and objectives. How far do each of you want to go with the home-business? How much is each of you willing to risk or sacrifice? What do each of you see as an annual budget? What goals will you set for profitability and lifestyle improvements as the years go by?
* And don’t forget to include regular non-business time with your spouse in your daily lives. Have at least one part of each day be a business free time.
You are not alone
One more tip we’ve heard over and over again from home business owners is “know you are not alone”. Home business owners work from home and can sometimes feel isolated. If you are feeling discouraged, overwhelmed or anxious, reach out. Find one or two business owners like yourself and check in regularly. Through the connections with the home-business opportunity or home-franchise opportunity you have started, there will be a lot of other home business owners you can contact. Be honest about your feelings, and open to advice. You will find that there is a broader family of home business owners, many of whom can become good friends. Surround yourself with those who understand and support you, and both your business and family will benefit.