Many of us have started running businesses from home over the last year. Whether it's a graphic design business or an online eCommerce shop, it can be difficult to get a good work life balance when your new business baby is on the up. Yes it will take lots of your time. Yes, there will be stress and you might feel up against it at times. However, if you use a few running a business from home tips, you'll be managing your work load and organising your work flow much better.
A Dedicated Space
Firstly, you need a a dedicated space to properly run your business from. If you're going to take this seriously, you cannot be packing away your business equipment like your computer every night so you can use your dining room table for tea time. Of course, there are businesses that start from the breakfast bar, but you need to have somewhere you can go to to properly work from. To concentrate, deliver professional work, package orders effectively and efficiently. When you have a space you can call work, the rest of the house is home. That helps the work life balance. You might even consider putting a lock on the door of the office or room you turn into your work space.
Proper Work Hours
As mentioned, you'll be spending many hours running a business from home. However, that doesn't mean you don't need down time. We all need personal space. Time to do things we love, be it going for a run or enjoying time reading a book. Give yourself proper office hours to work from. You might push it occasionally if you have some extra work to do or orders to package. However don;t start replying to clients out of office hours. Once you do it the first time, it will be expected every time after that. You might be keen to secure the work or sign a contract but it will still be there during office hours tomorrow. Make your boundaries from the very beginning and you're more likely to stick to them.
Stick To A Budget
When you start a new business it can be easy to get carried away buying lots of different things. In reality, you need the basics to get things up and running and then you can invest and reinvest in extras further down the line. There is little point in spending a small fortune setting up a business and then chasing your financial tail trying to bring in the money to cover what you've spent. Many ventures can be ran from a simple laptop. So as long as you have a decent broadband connection you can be running a business from home. Although, you may want to pay a little more for important things like the best startup recruiting services and decent brand design which will help you to be a success. Be sure to look at what you can claim back as expenses when you work from home too.
Remove The Solitude
When you are running a business from home, especially if you're doing it by yourself, it can sometimes get lonely. If you've been used to a busy office environment, then solitude may become an issue, as you can soon get bored of your own company. There are many ways to keep you focused on the work and help you enjoy your day. Having background noise might sound distracting but it can actually aid our work performance. You could choose a stress relief playlist on Spotify or something along the lines of The Sound Of Colleagues. Make sure you do plenty of networking and try to immerse yourself in a group of other work from home people in your sector. You might even end up passing opportunities between you! You could even give yourself a couple of hours once a week to work from your laptop from a local coffee shop. For the price of an Americano you can usually log onto some free WiFi and nail some serious work. Add a muffin and possibly a refill and you're looking at maybe £8 or £9. However that can be money well spent when you get some work done in a different environment, chat to some people and come home feeling refreshed!
There are lots of running a business from home tips that you can look into, what we've talked about are just a handful. However, make sure you are comfortable, able to work and take time away from the business too. Some of the best ideas come to us when we are away from the work we're thinking about and returning with fresh eyes is often underrated! The very best of luck to you running your business from home, go smash it!
