Creating Your Own Business is Easy: Getting Started is the Hardest Part!

Have you ever considered the idea of working from home? More and more these days people are choosing to set themselves up in business and work from the comfort of their own homes.
Is this something that might work for you?  Do you have a talent or a skill that might lend itself to this arrangement?  Some of the more obvious choices would be photography, cooking/catering businesses, and website or graphics design. 

Of course, this is not something you’ll want to leap into without careful consideration. It can be a lonely road to travel, especially if you have been used to being around other co-workers in your previous position.  You will have to learn the art of self-motivation because there won’t be any one else around to keep you focused.

After you decide what it is you plan to do/sell, create an office space for yourself.. Even if it’s only a corner of your bedroom or kitchen, try to delineate it as a separate area. You’ll probably need a second phone line—one with a distinctive ring so you can tell when you’re receiving a call from a prospective customer vs Aunt Mildred who just wants to chat about her newest fad diet.
If you have a family, undoubtedly one of the biggest struggles you’ll have at the outset is keeping the interruptions down to a bare minimum. Both your kids---and your spouse--may have difficulty realizing that 3:00 pm is not the time to ask Mommy where their socks are, or whether she's done the laundry yet…

Your work time is serious time, and you need to gently, but firmly convey that concept to others in your household.  Similarly, your friends who are just calling to gossip about the latest neighborhood news are going to have to be discouraged.  You’ll need to set up a strict schedule for yourself which does NOT include unanticipated work stoppages! 
   
Perhaps you can use a visual symbol to delineate the fact that you are hard at work and cannot afford to be disturbed.  A replica of a traffic light works well: put the Red Light symbol up when you’re busy and a green one when the tasks you’re doing are just not that important.

In the initial stages, you’ll need to focus, focus and focus. Eventually when you figure out what it is you are doing for a living, you’ll be able to relax some of the rules you’ve set for yourself.  But for the time being, you’re the only one running the show, and that show deserves your full attention.