I built my business part-time for a little under two years, fitting in
as much time as I could in my off work hours. I just couldn’t wait
for the day I could quit my job and just work from home for myself!
I thought, “if I can make this much money with my spare 10-15 hours
per week, just think what I can do with devoting all my time to it!”
And I knew there would be less stress, not having to worry about a
boss keeping tabs on me at all times, and I could work whatever
hours I wanted.
Finally the day came, I was making enough to walk away from my job.
After my first full month working at home, I figured out there was
ONE THING that could absolutely KILL my business if I let it…
What is that one thing? Well, for some, it is laziness.
Prior to working at home, the house is a place for sleeping, eating,
relaxing, watching tv/movies, or other entertainment.
So those activities are ingrained in your subconscious, and
when trying to work in that same atmosphere, the subconscious
will drive a person to do those same things.
For me it wasn’t really laziness, just more a lack of discipline
and being distracted easily. I would try to buckle down, and
distractions would come along to take me off course.
First off, I live in the country, and if it was a nice day I would
usually rationalize, “Brent, you need to take advantage of the
great day, do some work outside, and then do your business
tonight when it’s dark.” You can probably imagine the end result,
night time would roll around and there would be plenty of other
things to occupy me and keep me from getting back to work.
Secondly, things that are unproductive would keep me out of focus.
You know, things like email, checking the news/weather/stocks,
social media sites, cleaning the house, etc. Maybe I only took a
few seconds in the act of doing them, but they completely throw
you off course, and it takes time to get back going again.
So, how do you combat laziness, lack of discipline, and distractions!?
I came up with some solutions for myself that worked very well.
Here’s some of them, and what you can do as well.
Creat A Separate Area:
Any way you can create a room devoted to your work, do it.
If it’s just a spare bedroom you can make it your office.
Make it a place where you and your family don’t normally use it a lot.
This will help with your subconscious not to relate the area with
the things you do in the rest of the house that will distract you.
For me, I have a shop/barn, detached from the house. I built
an office in one corner of it. This way, I would have to physically
leave the house, and when I got out to the office, it is all about
work, nothing else.
Leave and Come Back Home:
This may sound absurd, or a waste of time, but for me it was a
huge help. If I just went straight out to the office it would take
me a while to get productive. So, I go just a few miles into town
to get a cup of coffee at the local coffeehouse, get some breakfast
or whatnot, and come right back home. Then I’ve got it out of my
system, got some energy, and I’m ready to go.
Sounds crazy, but it works.
Establish Rules With Your Family:
Let your family (or roommates) know that when you’re in that
office area (even if it’s just your dining room, whatever you’ve
established as your office) you are not to be disturbed, and
explain how it will be for their benefit as well. More productivity
equals more money and also more time with them later on
when your work is done.
Eliminate Web Distractions:
This is a big one for me. While working on the computer,
there’s constantly the temptation to click over to another
site in another tab to check email, Facebook, Twitter, the
news/stocks/weather, etc. Well, I’m really not going to tell
you to eliminate that stuff altogether, heck even email,
Facebook and Twitter are a big part of my business strategy,
so there’s value in doing some of those things.
The key, however, is to limit fifteen or twenty minutes to
check all those things at once, every few hours. You would be
amazed if you added up all the time it takes away if you’re
constantly flipping over to them for five or ten seconds here and there.
If you’re already trying to work from home and be productive,
I hope these tips help you.
And if you’re looking for a way to work from home and be able
to have more money or quit a job, sign up for my training newsletter
in the right column. I’ll give you tips on finding the right business
and how to use technology to help you grow it quickly.
To Your Success,
Brent Wehmeyer
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