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You Still Have Responsibilities When You Work From Home

Guest post by: Robert Strong

Article Overview: It really doesn’t matter what you do when you work from home, you still have all your normal household responsibilities. While there are thousands of different things you can do to work from home and make money, this is not one of those types of articles. This is an article that helps put you in a mindset that reminds you to consider your other responsibilities.

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You Still Have Responsibilities When You Work From Home



It really doesn't matter what you do when you work from home, you still have all your normal household responsibilities. While there are thousands of different things you can do to work from home and make money, this is not one of those types of articles. This is an article that helps put you in a mindset that reminds you to consider your other responsibilities. I have been an internet marketer for awhile now and I love it! Many work from home individuals carry on their shoulders a spouse, children and many other what could be considered distractions.

Here's My Story

Like many people I worked my way up the corporate ladder only to find false hopes and empty promises. I found myself not enjoying anymore what I was doing in corporate America and decided that the relationship between my employer and me should be ended. I had been with the same retailer for the past 15 years and my wife and I were accustomed to a certain lifestyle. With it only being the two of us we were able to have quite a lavish lifestyle. Working from home full time allows me to spend more time with my wife but many things have changed. I had to rebalance what I was used to doing on a normal basis, and my responsibilities changed slightly.

Pick a Location and Stick to It

Working from home opens what many consider Pandora's Box, so many obstacles, questions, interruptions, and unknowns. The first thing you want to obtain is your own space or a location that you are going to work from. Many people have set up their own space to work from in a spare bedroom, in the basement, over the garage, or extra space somewhere in the house. Where ever you are you need to make sure that you have a nice quiet environment.

I sometimes move my "office," which consists of grabbing the laptop from my office and going to the kitchen table. This allows me a new environment to work on my internet marketing, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, writing articles, or helping team members on their blogs.

Don't Get Distracted

As I worked in the corporate world for so long we had distractions and plenty of them. I now have a different set of distractions. You may also have ones I do not; like kids watching TV and singing songs with the characters. Maybe your son is working on his soccer moves and needs a goalie. You are your own boss now; while you work for yourself you cannot afford to get distracted every 5 minutes. You do have the freedom to do all these things but there is a time and a place for everything in your life. I am not saying that playing goalie should or should not be a number one priority, I am just suggesting that you have to control yourself in the same amount of time we are all given. I am a strong believer that there is such a thing as time management, I do believe that you have to control yourself.

Family and Home Responsibilities

I have talked to many different people that work from home and found something that is very interesting. Many mothers that work from find it very difficult because they still try to accomplish everything: laundry, house cleaning, watching the children, and making meals for everyone. Mothers have a strong maternal instinct to take care of all these things so they lose time throughout their day to focus on their actual work. One suggestion may be that the wife work on her home business when the husband is home so he can spend time with the kids and control the house flow for a few hours.

Now many men also fall victim to this because they also want to spend time with the kids and do things they enjoy around the house. They also tend to get bothered by their friends a lot easier, wanting to go out to play a round of golf or go fishing.

Just a reminder though, you will both need to make time for the two of you.... Have a date night scheduled just like you would a conference call or webinar, you cannot lose sight of the true meaning of family.... This is also one of your responsibilities.

Shut Out the World to Non Emergencies

Having your own office with a closed door, can be a very powerful statement to your family members. Having a closed door policy which tells everyone in the house that if the door is closed, "don't bother me" unless it is a dire emergency. A dire emergency could be something like a lost limb or the side of the house just exploded, anything else can wait until your door is open.

This is also your opportunity to have some low playing music in the background to keep your energy going. Just make sure it's not distracting you, while it needs to keep your energy going, if you are wanting to get up and bust a move, you are being distracted.

Shut Out the Noise

For many people especially online marketers like myself, Facebook can be a huge distraction. Some people have a Blackberry or iPhone that goes off with every Facebook, email, Twitter, or text message and sounds like an orchestra playing nonstop. If you are like me and cannot think straight or let alone brainstorm with tones of different noises in the background, turn it all off! As for email, my suggestion is to schedule 30 minutes a day to filter through your email, and let people know this upfront. There are a few software programs that auto respond to people for this exact reason. Educating people upfront that you schedule times to filter through your email and may not respond right away it a great way to start building a relationship and a way not offend anyone if they were expecting a answer right away.

Run Forest Run...

When I first started as an online marketer with the ability to work from home, I really isolated myself. I think we have all done that, but remember why we chose to work from home, more freedom and the ability to spend more time with family.

If you need a break, take it! Go to the local coffee house, go for a walk, take your spouse out for lunch, or watch your favorite TV show. The possibilities are quite endless on how you can get away not only physically but mentally.

Maybe you are like me and enjoy washing your car...I seriously do! It is very relaxing for me and when I am done I can see the sparkles. You need to find an escape from your work from home also. No different than when you took a vacation from your corporate job or your 70 hour work week. While you have responsibilities to not only your home business you also have responsibilities to yourself.

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Home > Home-Based-Business > Robert Strong > You Still Have Responsibilities When You Work From Home
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About the Author: Robert Strong
RSS for Robert's articles - Visit Robert's website

Roughly seventeen years ago I began my career into retail, and had been with the same major retailer for the past fourteen years. I can remember starting out and I really had no idea what to expect or to do. To me it was a new company, new people, new rules, new expectations, new everything! How was I going to remember everything and prosper? I quickly learned who the leaders were and began observing and studying their responses to different situations. I have always had a strong internal feeling that I could do more: for other people and for my family. I have found this by joining a team that focuses on helping others obtain their dreams and becoming more in tune what really matters in life, our loved ones around us.

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Try wikipedia.com for more information Try wikipedia.com for more information - That depends what type of business you are involved in. Maybe if you share that, we can help you a little better. I work mostly in the Work at Home industry so my advice would only be along those lines.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Re: Five Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners Re: Five Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners - 1. Focus 2. Ability to Adapt 3. Hard Work 4. Good planning 5. People Skills
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Another great book for internet entrepreneurs is The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris MichelleJ


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