Ok, everything but that last part is actually true.
For a number of today’s small business owners and entrepreneurs, one of the greatest benefits of their chosen line of work is that they get the chance to conduct their trade from the comfort of home. The internet has opened up a brave new world of opportunities for the modern businessperson. Online startups, telecommuting, and freelance professions of all shapes and sizes create a world wherein people have the ability to work where they play. We’ve cut out the commute and become CEOs of our own home offices, living rooms, basement rec rooms, or any place we chose to set up shop. It’s a fantastic feeling, one which most people probably wouldn’t trade for the world.
However, with great power comes great responsibility, and that great responsibility in this case is to actually get down to business and do some work when you roll out of bed in the morning a shuffle across the hall to the office.
Not having a boss breathing over your shoulder 24/7 is great, but it also means that all of those much maligned supervisory duties associated with the lords of cubicle-land now fall squarely on you. This includes, perhaps most importantly, the responsibility to make sure you get to work on time, and then actually do something when you’re there. 8 a.m. quickly morphs into mid-morning when the onus to start the work day is yours and yours alone, so having a game plan for how you’re going to get down to business at the start of the day is imperative.
Developing a routine, any sort of routine, is the first step towards successful self-management. I have a friend in the world of freelance who swears that he isn’t able to start work each morning until he puts on his shoes. Socks or slippers just won’t cut it; he needs to lace up before he’s ready for action. There’s not only a practical aspect to this thought process, but the symbolism is also key. You wouldn’t be able to go into work at an office wearing your fuzzy pink bath slippers, it’s not professional. Why should the rules be any different for someone who is working from home?
Today’s entrepreneurs have a fantastic opportunity to rewrite the rules of successful small business ownership, but it’s important to make sure that these changes don’t come at the expense of a solid work ethic. So what do you think entrepreneurs, what are some of your tips and tricks for starting the work day off on the right foot?