Catha For Council Blog

Early warning

“Working for yourself” has a pleasant ring to it, doesn’t it?
No more commutes. Forget the alarm clock. Take a break
when you want, not when someone else says you must.
Special program on TV? Go ahead and watch it. It’s your
choice, and you make all the decisions. Join the right program
and the money comes in without work.

That’s the impression you might get if you believe some of the
advertising you see on the Internet and elsewhere.

It’s bogus, and if this is how you think your life will be,
at least in the beginning, stick with your day job.
With this attitude, your living expenses will far outstrip your
income, if there is any income, and you will soon be looking
for a job, if there are any of those available for you.

Sorry to be so rough, but it’s better you examine yourself and
your motivations now rather than later.

Temptations

Being in business for yourself, especially a home-based
business, puts many time-wasting temptations in your path,
and you need a solid dose of self-discipline and organization
to be successful. After all, if running your own business at home
was as easy as the ads would have you believe, no one would
work for an employer.

Here are 10 tips that should help:

• It is important to prioritize what you do. If an activity
does not make money or lead to making money, give it
the lowest priority.
• Make a list of everything you need to do in your day.
You’ve heard this before, but do you do it? Prepare
your list late the day before, so that you can start right in
on your top priority project without distractions.
Prioritize the list. You will be amazed by how much
more you will achieve each day.
• If there are low-priority items left at the end of the day,
either add them to the next day’s list or delete them.
• Have a set hour each day to be at your desk and working
on the first priority on your list. If you’re tired and would
rather stay in bed an extra hour, don’t give in to the
temptation; resolve to go to bed earlier at the end of
the day instead.
• Resolve to let nothing and no one derail your work day
unless there is a dire emergency. Social events and errands
do not count as dire emergencies.
• Studying what you need to know to be successful is not
part of a work day. That is a task for the evening, like
going to night school. It is, however, an important task
and you should not ignore it. Learn all you can, and then
learn some more.
• ‘Thinking’ time is also important. This is when you will
develop fresh ideas and different and perhaps more
efficient ways to do things. But it also is not a
working-hours activity. Learn to think ‘out of the box’.
• The two points above refer to the fact that we need to
guard against work avoidance. Sometimes, when there is
a task to be done, we find excuses to put off what we
don’t enjoy doing. Be conscious of this robber of time.
Time is one of your most precious assets.
Money can be replaced; time cannot.
• If there is a piece of paper on your desk, or an e-mail
in your In Box, deal with it once. Act on it, file it for later
attention, or chuck it. Deal with each piece of
correspondence once only. Have on your desk only
the single task with which you are now dealing.
• Have a single time in the day when you look at
e-mails or other correspondence. Deal with it at that time.
Don’t be distracted from your priorities by e-mails at other
times of the day.

Success with a home-based business depends perhaps more
than any other type of occupation on you having a
success-focused mindset. You need to be tough with
yourself, and able to make conscious decisions to sacrifice
what you might otherwise wish to do so that you can
make a success of your business.

Balance

Having said that, it is also important to have balance in
your life. Make sure you set aside time for family and
friends, and use some discipline not to infringe on that time.
Don’t impose this time; consult your family first. You
are asking them to make sacrifices, too; make sure
they are part of that decision-making process.

Take time also to look after your health. Eat and exercise
regularly. It is hard to succeed in business without
maintaining your health. To be at peak mental and
physical performance, you need physical training.
Business may not be the Olympics, but it is demanding.

What about those good times on the beach, working
just a few hours a day with your laptop? If that is
your goal, it is quite achievable. This is a lifestyle enjoyed
by countless thousands of successful people.
But it comes after they are successful. To get to
that point, you must work smart and creatively.
And you must use all the self-discipline you can muster.

Are you up to the task? If so, you will let nothing stop you.

Matthew Eigbe has over 25 years experience in consumer marketing
and now focuses on network marketing using the internet.
He is webmaster at http://www.mattlinks.ws, a site that explains
how you can gain Financial Freedom by inviting people to have
their own domain name