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Creating a Home Business Work Space
To be successful as an entrepreneur, a person must have a combination of various traits, including discipline, self-confidence, ambition, and flexibility. But being the right kind of person isn’t the only thing that contributes to an entrepreneur’s success. In fact, environment is an important factor. If you are considering starting a business from home, this is even more important. Let’s take a look at some of the practical aspects of being an entrepreneur that you need to consider before opening up shop.
Space
Most experts recommend that you have an area of your home that you can dedicate exclusively to your business if you’re going to work at home.
- From a psychological standpoint, having a separate work space helps create a boundary between your work life and your personal life.
- From a financial standpoint, having a space that you use exclusively for your business allows you to take the home-office deduction on your taxes.
If you don’t even have a spare corner where you can set up a desk and you plan to work from your couch, bed, or dining room table, it may be difficult to get out of the relaxation mindset and work effectively or to get the distance from other family members that you need in order to focus.
Peace and Quiet
If your current job schedule means that you’re always away from home at the same days and times, it’s difficult to know whether those days and times will provide the peace and quiet that you need to work once you substitute home-based employment for outside employment.
- If you live in an apartment, for example, you may have neighbors home during the day who will distract you with their noise or their social visits.
- Or perhaps there’s a construction site near your home that’s perfectly quiet in the evenings and on weekends, but unbearably noisy during regular work hours.
- Maybe you live on a busy street where the daytime traffic is noisy.
Of course, if you’re the type of person who can block out noise or distract yourself from it with some music, a white noise machine, or the drone of the TV in the background, you won’t need to worry about these things. Other people, however, need near-complete silence to work effectively.
Also, if you expect to spend a lot of time on the phone with clients, background noise can detract from your professional image. If you have kids or pets, you’ll also want to make sure they can’t be heard while you’re on the phone. This includes noise and distraction from family/roommates as well.
Family/Roommate Distractions
If you live with others, will they be around during the hours you plan to spend working? If so, their activities or even their presence can be a major distraction. If you have a spouse who works at home already, do both of you have the self-control to spend the day working efficiently on your respective assignments, or will you be too distracted by having someone around to talk to all the time?
Kids
Kids are such a significant distraction that they deserve their own category. By working at home, you can inadvertently become a stay-at-home parent. During the school year, you’ll have about an eight-hour window to work without interruptions, and less if you have to drive the kids to school and pick them up yourself. It may be worth it to hire someone to provide transportation to and from school as well as after-school snacks and homework supervision to give yourself plenty of uninterrupted time to work each day. Or perhaps you can barter your way into a carpool in exchange for the product or service your business offers.
As far as vacation goes, you’ll need to plan to largely take those months off from work or arrange some activity to keep your kids entertained during the day. The latter can be expensive, and may create conflict with kids who want to enjoy their vacation by staying home. You may be able to solve both problems with a compromise — the kids only leave the house for half a day, for example, or they spend half of vacation at camp and half at home. If your kids have a friend with a stay-at-home parent, perhaps you can pay that parent to “babysit” your child several times a week. If children can play with their friends, they will be less likely to feel neglected.
Dependents
Are other people depending on your self-employment income? It’s one thing to go broke when you’re single, but if you have kids and/or a spouse, putting your finances at risk may mean putting their finances at risk. You don’t want to lose your retirements savings, money that was earmarked for your child’s college education and the house in an attempt to start your own business.
Conclusion
Personal characteristics and your life situation will have a major influence on your potential to succeed as an entrepreneur. Before taking a financial and career risk, make sure to assess whether your personality and home setup will contribute to or hinder your prosperity.
Bored, Trapped in Your Job?
When you landed that new job, the world looked great. Now it’s been a while, and one of your worst fears has come true — you’re unhappy in your job. When you’re spending at least five days a week at work, it makes sense that you’d want to like what you’re doing. But there are times when you’re in a position or company that doesn’t work for you.
If you’re unhappy with your job — and everybody around you probably already knows it — it might be time for a career transition. Results from an Experience.com survey provide some insight into making the change. According to the survey, the top signal that it’s time to transition to a new job is not the boss yelling at you. In fact, the number-one warning sign is:
- Your job has become boring. Most people are not in it just for the money. On the contrary, they’re
looking for something that gives them the chance to make a difference. If, in fact, you’re finding a lack of intellectual stimulation and challenge, you have lots of company — nearly 30 percent of respondents cited this as their biggest indicator it’s time to leave a job. - Another warning signal to workers that it may be time to make a transition is the lack of growth opportunities. If you’re in a dead end job, with no place to move (unless a lot of people grow
old and retire), you’re in trouble. Twenty-two percent of respondents felt trapped in a position with little room for career progression. - Others felt they were receiving inadequate pay or benefits. It may not all be about money,
but some of it certainly is. Do you feel underpaid? Do you have lousy (or no) benefits? Seventeen percent of employees feel the economic pinch, and when that happens, may have to decide whether their job is really worth it. - Work friends are very important. If your relationships with co-workers have gone bad, that’s a definite sign that it’s time to move on. Seventeen percent of those surveyed agreed — if you’re not getting along, you’re going to feel like you’re suffocating.
- Lack of investment in the company’s goals/mission.
This is more than just a self-esteem thing, but was mentioned by 13% of the respondents as a key factor indicating a career change. You need to be part of the big picture, or you’re not in the picture at all.
Once you encounter the warning signs that it might be time to make a career transition, how long do you wait before you leave?
Most people (52%) said they would wait at least a year to see if it improved. Others were not as patient and hopeful. Thirty-two percent of respondents said they would quit as soon as they found another job, while 16% reported they would stay no longer than six months.
“When you clearly communicate you are under-challenged, wait a few months to see if your superior
responds, and if not, it’s time to take your knowledge and expertise to a company that will let you grow,” one respondent said.
12 Tips for a Lengthy Job Search
One never expects that a job search will last long until the weeks — and months — start ticking by. Plus, during an economic downturn, it may take even longer to find work. To better increase your odds of finding a job sooner, here are 12 “don’ts” to avoid.
1. Don’t rely on one resume and cover letter. The longer the job search, the more custom resumes and cover letters you will need. Your resume and cover letter should match your skill set to that particular job’s qualification requirements.
2. Don’t expect a response from every company. Long gone are the days when the hiring agent would inform you that you’re not the right candidate. Today, if the company is interested in you, the hiring agent will let you know.
3. Don’t harass the hiring agent. Do not make more than one inquiry into the status of your application. If they tell you they will get back to you, believe them whether they do or not.
4. Don’t expect immediate results. Finding the right job takes a lot of effort and time. Even when the company decides you’re the best candidate, it may take weeks or months to be processed.
5. Don’t limit your possibilities. Unless it’s drastically lower than your job expectations, a lesser title, pay or benefits may at least get you in the door. Once you’ve landed a job you will have a chance to prove yourself. If at all possible, also be flexible in where you can work.
6. Don’t get discouraged. Discouragement is only in your mind. The reality is every day you look for work is a new day. What happened the day or week or month before is history. Shake off disappointments with a quick “pity party” and then let it go.
7. Don’t focus on the rejection. Treat it as information. At least you know that for now that company does not have a job for you or that your skill set is not a match with that job or company. If possible, find out why you were rejected. The more specific the feedback, the more specific your changes and improvement.
8. Don’t compare yourself to others. If your colleagues are finding work faster than you, or you’re in an outplacement group and you’re the last one left, don’t compare their situation to yours.
9. Don’t spend all your money. Pace yourself and your budget. Take a temporary or part-time job to pay your bills. Try to find something at night or on the weekends so you’re available to interview during the normal workweek.
10. Don’t go sloppy. This is not the time to gain weight, grow lots of facial hair, or wear sloppy clothes. How you look is how you feel. Be kind and respectful to yourself.
11. Don’t stop looking until you actually have the job. Because stuff happens, keep your job search going until you have a contract or start date. Too often, candidates stop looking once they have an interview!
12. Don’t panic and exaggerate. If your resumes are not getting results, don’t even think of enhancing your resume with exaggerations and untruths. Character still counts.