Running A Home-Based Business

Give Yourself a Personality Check

Being a home-based business owner is not for everybody. Focusing has never really been my problem, but some people physically need to drive away from their house to find structure. The first part of starting a home-based business is recognizing what kind of personality you have. If you need someone else to give you structure, or if you are a procrastinator, a home-business is probably not the best thing for you.

Be Patient

A home-based business doesn't get started in a day. I was able to set up my office quickly, but at the time I was 18 and I didn't make my first sale until a little more than a month after I started my business. When I first started I had no following, I was in college. But I said to myself that as long as I keep working at this, something is going to come of it. My persistence paid off. Consistency of action is key.

Make a Plan and Stick to It

When I started my first network marketing business, I put a list together of what I wanted it to be. I knew I didn't ever want to have a job where I am told what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Mobility and home-based was essential to my goal. I wanted a business that needed very little head count, and one that anybody could own and operate on their own, which is what a lot of our my business associates do. They are their own boss and don't even have to have employees.

You Work at Home. Don't Try to Hide It

First and foremost, I chose to run my business from home. I've been running my company from home now for ten years. Granted I have purchased other businesses that required offices, etc., but I still worked from home. I are brutally honest with my structure and have never lost a client. I find that total honesty about being a home-based business makes everything run better and feel more authentic.

Keep Your Family Out of It

Being a home-based or network marketing business owner takes a lot of discipline. I usually get up early around 7:30 a.m. and try to get as much done in terms of planning and organizing until my partner returns form work at 3 p.m. Sometimes this creates arguments over the amount of time I work, when I work and how late I work. Regardless, it is a business and you need to set a schedule and time that ou will devote to the business, and stick with it.

Keep a Checklist

Each morning, before you begin work, write down the items that you need to accomplish by the end of your day. It helps to rate each item according to priority, from high to low. Even if you don't complete your list, the high priority items will get done first. Remember, you can't blame unfinished work on your co-workers! I even make lists of additional things I accomplish that I hadn’t listed on my morning list. This is a basic form of goal setting.

Remember to Punch Out

One of the downfalls to being a home-based business is that if you wanted to, you could always be working. My partner and I are about to launch a huge business. In fact it beats any other investment we’ve ever made! It’s so important to me to build the business, so whenever the phone would ring, I would answer, no matter what time of night it was. After answering a call in the middle of the night or staying up to 2 or 3 a.m., I decided I wasn't going to do that anymore and resolved to answer the business phone during business hours, and work on business during business hours. Unless very important circumstances dictate that I have no choice but to work.

Practice the Art of Juggling

Being a home-based business is a juggling act, and the key to it is knowing which balls are glass and which are rubber. I go into every day not trying to drop those glass balls, which is my relationship and soon to be marriage. I don't necessarily think that balance is possible because there is always one element that takes priority in your life and the key to succeeding is knowing what that priority. It takes understand from everyone that is close to you. Especially, if you are just starting your business.

Make it a great week!

Dustin Mitchell