How to Stay Focused on Your Home Business Goals

By Stone Evans
Posted Wednesday, September 8, 2004

When you are the owner of a home business, you will find hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and focus.

Common distractions include: children, family, friends, neighbors, pets, phone calls, mail, household chores, video games, television, neighborhood children, visitors, and so many more.

As an owner of a home based business, you must always remember your purpose in bringing your profession home. What was your reason for wanting to own a home business? Was your goal to work from home so that you can share in the lives of your children? Was your goal to be out from under the rule of a tyrannical boss? Was your goal to have the freedom to work when it is convenient for you? Was your goal to make tons of money working for yourself?

Here's a few good tips that will help you stay focused on your home business:

TIP #1:
Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep your reason in the forefront of your mind. If you forget your reason for starting your own home business, you will not be working for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let circumstance drive your activities --- and when circumstance is in the driver's seat, you are more likely to crash and burn.

TIP #2:
Remember --- your own business is a lot like a real job. Some people go to work to play, some go to socialize, and others --- most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment
--- go to work to work and to make money. When you work for yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your productivity. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense to stay focused on getting as much done in as short of a period as possible?

Go to work to work and to make money. Leave playtime and recreation for when your workday has ended.

TIP #3:
When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With small children, you must take time when you must, but you
should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific number of hours to your workday.

With older children, it is much easier to tell them that you will be working between the hours of x and y. Your children and your friends must understand that certain hours of your day are devoted to the activities of your business.

TIP #4:
Don't permit your friends and extended family to run over you. Many people get the blind idea that if one works from home then they are not actually working.

Well-meaning people may try to fill your doorway to bring advice about getting a real job. Others may simply believe that if you are at home, then you are fair game for chitchat and socialization.

You must stand firm. You must make certain your friends and family understands that when you are working, then you ARE working! If they wish to socialize with you, then they need to do it during the hours that are not dedicated to your home business.

You are the only one who can stand up for you. Your friends and family will seldom be able to appreciate your dedication to your home business, unless you make the effort to make sure that they have the same respect for your business that you do.

TIP #5:
You should allot a certain portion of your day to email and to regular mail. For example, allot one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to handling your written communications.

Unless you dedicate certain times to the handling of these communications, you will soon find yourself on the downward slope of decreased productivity.

TIP #6:
When you find yourself spending too much time doing non-productive activities, then you should seriously consider finding a third-party service provider who will assist you in those non-profitable business activities.

As an example, you might be in the mail-order business. You might believe that your time is best spent writing ad copy and setting up your advertising, but you find yourself spending far
too much time taking care of your books to take care of your advertising in the manner that you should. In this event, it might make more sense to hire a bookkeeper to handle your financial records for you.

CONCLUSION:
In the end, the success of your home business is entirely and completely reliant upon you and the decisions that you make.

You had your reasons for deciding to start your own home based business. You must always keep your reasons in the forefront of your mind. You must always be able to rely upon your own self and your dedication to the success of your business.

Your friends and family might be annoyed that they cannot come visit upon their own whim, but when success comes to you and your business, they will better appreciate you for putting your
foot down when necessary.

Success is within your reach, if only you can stay focused on your goals. You must decide to reach for your goals, and then, you must have the discipline necessary to reach them.

About the author:
Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything you'll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: (http://www.Home-Business.com)