Throw away the Car Keys?

Throw away the Car Keys?
by Layard Dunnett
So you want to work from your home... well, you actually can do that but it requires some Focused Thought and lots of discipline.
Not all of us are capable of working "unsupervised" from home. For one thing it is to easy to be distracted. Kids, Spouses, Pets, TV, Radio, and Doorbells all draw our attention away from what we are supposed to be doing.
Plus there are different "motivational" aspects of working at home.
If you are doing contract work for an account then the motivation is a monetary return that can be measured in a time/income relationship.
What that means is that You control that ratio (time/income) by how efficiently you work on the project.
If you are doing assigned work for an employer then your income is already fixed but... most employers have certain guidelines in respects to hours per assignment and you are expected to complete the assignment within the allotted hours.
If you don't then you may not get paid for additional hours you put in or... you may loose your "work from home" privileges or worse.
If you are operating your own business from home then it gets even scarier.
Now YOU are the boss, the CEO, the CFO, and the Board of Directors all in one.
The total responsibility of the income generated lies on your shoulders.
In other words, "The Buck Stops Here" has a much more serious meaning.
Not only are You responsible (the meaning of the saying) and accountable for the success or failure of the business but you also have to insure some "bucks" ($$$) are actually stopping "here" or you're not really working from home.
Your just "playing" from home.

Many people are attracted the "work at home" scene because it sounds easy.
It isn't.
It takes Personal Fortitude, Self Discipline, Persistence, Goal Establishing, Faith, Budgeting, and Passion to really succeed in that arena.
These are not attributes that we were born with.
They are skills that we learned, or acquired, through our life's experiences.
Or skills we haven't learned yet. If you don't have at least some of those skills you "work at home" business is almost certain to fail.
Actually, I hate using the word "fail."
I used to tell my Students "No one fails in my courses... they simply find another way to not do something" and they would laugh.
There is more than one way to do many things.
Some ways are more efficient than others, some ways don't accomplish the goal, some ways work for one person but not the next, and some ways can result in damage or injury.
The point I wanted to make to them is that if the method you tried did not accomplish the goal, then try a different method.
Whether it is fixing an engine, creating a program on a computer, taking a "good" picture with a camera, or baking a cake, no one fails... as long as they learn from the experience and try again in a different manner.
They didn't fail... they just found another way to "not bake a cake" so they now know what not to do.
They learned something even though they didn't accomplish the goal... on that try.
When I worded it that way it removed much of the "pressure" from the course.
It gave them the freedom to make mistakes in the learning process therefore they, as a rule, were more willing to try, to take that "first step" in learning a new skill.... because they couldn't fail.
No matter what they did they would learn something from the course. Even if it was only that they weren't good at that particular subject.
So... nobody "fails" as long as they keep trying.
One only fails by giving up.

One more comment on that subject.
Somebody said "Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again but expecting different results" and I think that is a very good definition.
If you keep trying and keep getting the same results maybe it is because you are not trying in a different manner.

So... what do you really have to put in place to be successful at your Home Business?
First you have to establish some "rules" that you are willing to follow.
Here are some suggestions.

Choose your business.
Think long and serious about this.
In order for you to be successful at it you will have to like the business you choose.
If you don't like it, or don't believe in the service or product then you won't make money at it. Many folks choose something they think they can make a lot of money quickly with but they have no true knowledge of the product and therefore are not passionate about it, or their business.
That is a recipe for failure if I ever saw one.
Although there are "recipes" for success that you can follow you must have certain mental precepts in place to bring them to realization.

Create a work space for your home business.
Preferably in a separate room. If that is not possible then choose an area that is isolated as possible from the daily traffic that occurs in your home.
Typically you will need a desk, adequate lighting, a computer (whether your business is Internet related or not), a printer (for most businesses), and perhaps a small bookshelf. If your business is going to be Internet related you will also need an internet connection.

Then, establish your work schedule (print it out and post it) for your business. You don't want to go to work "when you feel like it" because that mindset doesn't lead to a successful endeavor. Set regular hours... and stick to them.
Let the other family members know that those times are your "working" times and you are not to be disturbed.

Write down Specific Goals for your business.
See Achieving Your Goals for a good article on that subject.
Set "time lines" for your goals and do your utmost to reach them.
If you don't quite reach a goal but see progress towards it, don't beat yourself up.
You made progress, you're headed in the right direction, maybe you just need to "fine tune" your methods a little.
If you didn't make any progress towards a particular goal maybe you need to take another look at that goal.

Is it realistic?
Does it fit in your business model?
Is it something you REALLY want?
Think about those questions and try to answer them honestly.
If it is, and your not heading in that direction, maybe you need to try something different.

Read some of what Mike Brescia offers on that subject in his free newsletter HERE.

There are many more elements to being successful at a home business, or any business for that matter, that you need to embrace.

You can read The Science of Getting Rich on-line (One of the most complete step-by-step methods Books ever written on getting what you want out of life and it's Free) at:
http://www.mind-farms.com/free/SOGR.pdf

Visit the links, and think about the comments above.
Hopefully I'll see your comments here that this was of some help in "Throwing Away The Car Keys."
Enjoy,
Layard