Chapter 13 - Managing Your Life When You Work from Home

At the beginning of this online ebook, I pointed out that not only does my Internet business bring me a decent chunk of money each month, it also brings me time. Now that my system is set up, all I have to do is check that my affiliate partners are sending me cash, suggest the odd joint venture to a partner, and stay in touch with my customers. I rarely spend more than three hours in front of my computer each day.

But it wasn’t always like that. It took a lot of effort and a lot of work to get into the position I’m in now. When I first started, it was a bit of a struggle to organize myself. My first website took ages to launch and while the other ones went up quickly, my family went days without seeing me.

Let’s be frank, if you don’t set up your business properly right at the beginning, you’re going to make your life much harder—and your income much lower.

The problem is that until now, you’ve always thought of your home as a place to relax and the office as a place to focus and work. Now you’re going to have to focus at home—and that’s not an easy shift to make. You need to keep the same rhythm (without stopping to watch your favorite daytime soap!) and the same kind of discipline you had when you had to commute every morning.

The first thing to do is to give yourself an office. I’m not talking about a laptop on the coffee table or a corner in the library; I mean a proper room with a door you can close and a desk full of goodies: from a computer with broadband to a place to put your safety clips. If you don’t have a spare room to start with, then use your bedroom. But if you’re serious, think about finding an office once your business gets running.

The next thing you’re going to need is a schedule—a realistic one. This is one of the greatest challenges when you begin working for yourself. At the end of each day, I’d make a list of all the tasks I was going to do the next day. If I got half of them done, I was lucky. I spent weeks frustrated and grumpy.

Once you get a feel for how long each task takes you, whether it’s approving a new site design, planning a new marketing program or answering customers’ emails, set yourself a timetable and keep to it. Turn off the radio, shut the office door and get to work! And at the same time, don’t get annoyed if the day ends before your work does.

13.1 Balancing Your Business and Family

Of course, all work and no play makes Michael a dull boy. And it doesn’t do much for his wife and kids either.

When you have a family as well as a business, time in the office is time away from the family, and it’s hard to know when to stop. You can easily find yourself in front of the computer at midnight and all weekend too. Sometimes working from home seems to be a double-edged sword. If you spend too much time with your business and not enough time with your family, the most important relationships in your life can suffer. But if you spend too much time with your family and not enough with your business, the success of your business can be in jeopardy. And, since your business is likely your main source of income, its success can also determine the wellbeing of your family. Tricky.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a superhero to make the work/ family division work. All it takes is some patience, a little savvy scheduling and a lot of willpower. In fact, if you have the time to read the following tips, then you have the time to do them!

13.2 Know how to say "no"

Not easy to do, especially when you’re just starting. But if something doesn't fit into your schedule and impedes on another activity you've already planned, just say "no." For example, if a client calls at six in the evening and pleads with you to have a teleconference with him at seven, but your son's basketball game starts at the same time, you’re allowed to reschedule. Clients actually like to work with people who sound busy.

13.3 Take a day off from work at least once a month

How often have you said: "I wish I had my own business. Then I could take a day off whenever I wanted." Now you can do it! Chances are, you’ll be working more days with your own business than you would when you were employed by someone else. If you don’t take the weekends off from your business, make sure you take at least one day a week for no work and all play. Then, on top of that, schedule one day per month for a mini vacation.

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