The Trap

ot a day goes by that I don't hear about someone lamenting their decision to leave corporate America and work at home.Maybe they were laid off, opted for early retirement, or justdecided that commuting four hours on the train, coupled with aneight hour workday was simply too much. Possibly, they will keeptheir job and work part-time at home to earn extra income. Whoknows what the reasons are, but that is not important.With "visions of sugarplums" dancing in their head, they decidedto start their own home business. They believed the ads aboutworking in their pajamas when the spirit moved them, and after amonth or so woke up to reality. They weren't making a dime.Where did they go wrong? Well, when they worked for someoneelse, they were expected to be at work at a certain time everyday. Depending on the business, there was a certain dress code,and they had goals to meet. Granted, these goals were usuallydetermined by someone else, but they were the ones who had tomeet them.It is easy to work for someone else, as they are the ones callingthe shots. They actually lived under an umbrella of discipline.Granted it was someone else's umbrella, and maybe they didn'trealize this. Possibly they did, and that was the reason theydecided to work on their own.One of the most common problems behind the failure of a homebusiness, is the lack of discipline. Some think they can workwhen (and if) they want to, and their mailbox will "overfloweth"with twenty dollar bills. Well, I got news for you!Running your own business, whether it is a brick and mortarestablishment, or a home business, requires work. It usuallyrequires more effort than if you worked for someone else. Youwill also have to do some things you don't enjoy. But, if youare the chief (or only) "honcho", you had better be able tohandle all facets of your business.So, how do you go about working at home? First and foremost, youhave to have a regular schedule and adhere to it. This isespecially true if you expect people to contact you by phone. Ifpeople try to call you, and don't get an answer, they quicklymove on. You have to be available during normal business hours.If you are in an online business, this is usually from 9:00 AM to8:00 PM. Yes there are three time zones in the USA. If you liveon the east coast like I do, when you are getting ready to packit in for the day, folks on the west coast may just be returningfrom lunch.If you are not tied to a telephone, it is still important tomaintain regular hours. More importantly, you should have dailygoals. If you meet those goals, the rest of the day is yours.But many people always think there is tomorrow.For far too many, tomorrow never comes, and things that shouldhave been done aren't. Maybe when the kids are at school willwork for you, or possibly late at night. You might even have topass up on your favorite "soap". Don't deal with hours - you'renot being paid by the hour - deal with goal oriented results.Working in your pajamas sounds great, and many of the offers youmay hear state that you can. If I get an idea in the wee hours,I may hop on the computer dressed like that, but for normalbusiness hours that is simply a myth. Who wants to spend theirlife like that?You must have an effective work space, which is free ofdistractions. You should have quiet office space in your house,which is out-of-the-way, and off limits during your work hours.Treat this like an office. Keep it neat. While I am not theneatest person in the world, I do know where everything is. If Iget a call from a client, I'm not fumbling about looking for theinformation I need. A filing cabinet next to your desk goes along way.When you get an email, take appropriate action the same day, thenfile it in a place where you can find it. Delete all emails inyour "in-basket" older than 30 days. If they're older than 30days, they're not worth anything anyway.If you don't fall into the "trap", which many folks do, you justmight make it in your own home business.