Building Your Empire From Home? Don't Be Caught Out By These Common Mistakes

Having the drive and will to take your small business idea and turn it into a reality takes a lot of hard work. To make it a success, you’ll need to be working as efficiently as possible - and treat your fledgling business as seriously as the big companies treat themselves. However, this isn’t always easy, especially when you’re working from home. Then, a whole range of bad habits - either intentional or otherwise - can creep in, Below, we’ve outlined seven of these mistakes. Make sure you’re not guilty of any of them.

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This is my Office

It’s all too tempting to prop yourself up at the kitchen table, or in the garden, if the sun is shining, and get down to some work before heading to unwind on your sofa. However, this might seem like a good idea, but it’s not: to be productive and work to the best of your ability, you need an established office space within your home. If you don’t have space to set up a home office, you may be better looking to rent a desk close to your home. Achieving great things requires focus!

Keeping to a Schedule

One of the main advantages of working from home is that you get to set your working hours around whatever else you have going on that day, or at least that’s what people who don’t currently work from home think. In fact, you do need to keep to a schedule. Studies have shown that we work best when we have a routine, and in any case, it won’t be a good idea to work late at night if all your clients are online during the day.

Dressed to Impress

Like setting your own hours, there’s the idea that working from home means you’re able to wear whatever you want. This is true to an extent, but you should avoid dressing too casually when you’re working. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a number of studies that showed that dressing smart really did have an impact on a worker’s productivity. You might feel a bit silly wearing that smart suit when you’re not even leaving home, but it’ll help you to get “into the zone” when you get down to business.

Piggybacking off your Home

You work from the place you also happen to sleep and unwind, but that doesn’t mean you should start blending your work life and home life. For one thing, it might trip you up in unexpected ways, especially when it comes to business essentials like insurance. Your policy for your house won’t be enough: you’ll need to get home business insurance if you want to be protected against accidents, whether they are related to your clients visiting your premises or your work equipment. Also, you shouldn’t rely on your home phone for business needs. Get a business only number and keep the two lines separate.

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Switching Off

For some people, getting going is the hard part; for others, it’s switching off and doing anything other than work that’s the problem. If you work from home, it’s possible that you’ll always be tempted to check your email, work longer hours than usual, or otherwise not be able to stop thinking about your business. This can be damaging in two ways. You won’t be as productive if you think that it’s always possible to work; having set hours helps keep us focused (“these are my working hours”). Additionally, you might also burn out if you’re always in work mode. Have set hours and step away from the computer when you clock off.

You’re Working Solely From Home

You can be a home-based business, but you shouldn’t be a home-only business. It’s important that you get out of “the office” and meet your clients - current and potential - face to face. This will give you a better understanding of their needs and will solidify your relationships with them. Also, you’ll avoid one of the common pitfalls of working from home - isolation. Even when you’re not meeting people, mixing things up and working in co-working spaces for a few hours a week can help keep things fresh.

Staying Professional

It’s all too easy to fall into an unprofessional attitude when you work from home, and there’s no one around to make sure you’re doing things “as you should”. Treat your business with the respect you would show for other companies if you worked for them. Other people will only treat you as seriously as you treat yourself!