When belief met action… we did it!
The decision to start a home business can be many things to many different people. Exciting, terrifying, a big leap, or not so big step depending on your character. I feel this divides us into two types of people – those who focus on the things they will have to do and feel weighed down by doubt if they could do it or ‘fit it in’ to an already busy schedule, meanwhile, there are those who focus on the things that they could achieve if they just got on with it. You can guess which type make it happen.
However once you’ve started, there are some pitfalls that seem to drag people down after they’ve made that important decision. I’ve noted a few of them below so you can avoid them on your business journey.
People watching – Comparing your real life to other people’s Facebook highlights
If you are stalking someone in your industry who makes it all look super easy and wondering why your life isn’t the same, you know who I mean, that six figure earner who doesn’t share what he or she does only their lifestyle shots! Then you have to do 2 things. 1) Unfollow them, you can’t lead your own tribe while you’re following someone elses! 2) Get on with your own income producing activities that will grow your business and make you money. Why not focus on your own business, switch all that time thinking about something that won’t grow you or your business into productive time that will drive you forward. Working from home is amazing, finding your flow, building momentum and creating a rewarding environment are all amazing attributes, however if you aren’t working at it, you aren’t getting there.
Spend your time on income producing activities
You may only have 5 hours a week to build your business, that’s fine and you can increase your income month on month by doing that, but not if that 5 hours consists of 2 hours watching other people on Facebook, 2 hours watching training videos and 1 hour thinking about what you should have done that week. Your work from home business is a business, I find it helps to ask myself at the end of a day or week, would I pay myself well for the work I did in that time? If the answer is no, you need to be more productive. Income producing activities are as the name suggests – activities that bring in income. Changing your Facebook cover photo, shopping for notebooks, watching Youtube videos etc aren’t going to make you any money. Doing attraction marketing on Facebook, speaking to people, leaving flyers into your local shops, sharing news of your favourite product to a friend – that all makes you money!
Get off the rusty nail
There’s an old story about a dog that groans on the deck of it’s owners house, a visitor asks the owner why the dog is groaning and she replies he’s sitting on a rusty nail, it’s enough to annoy him, but not enough to do anything about it. If you find yourself moaning that the money isn’t flooding in because you’ve decided it should but aren’t doing anything about it, give yourself a break, look at what your activities are, make them income producing ones and start earning what you deserve.
Full-time, part-time but not spare-time
You can spend as much or little time as you want on your business, it’s your business and you get out what you put in, but one mistake I see people make over and over is that they work their business like a hobby to fit in when they have free or spare time. Something else happens this week or next week and they get to the end of the month to realise they didn’t fit in any work this month and their income reflects this. My advice would be to decide what you want, work out how much you need to earn to get it, work out how much you need to do to achieve it, then create a timeline that allows you to achieve it based on a certain number of hours each week or month. Get your diary out and create a schedule for when you are going to work towards that goal and stick to it. (Scheduling is key to success here) Consistent effort always wins over exaggerated efforts with no follow through.
You are worth more than how other people value you
80% of the people in this industry start because they just need an extra couple of hundred pounds a month. That kind of money is not hard to make in very part-time hours, but just a little more effort could add a zero to that figure. I see people aim for small goals because they don’t think they deserve the bigger things and doubt they could have them. I find that people believe in other people more readily than they believe in themselves but if they just did that then their lives could be so different!
If you’re reading this and thinking of working from home, or have already started, I would urge you to decide what you want to achieve, work out a plan on what work you need to do to get it over a certain period of time, then apply consistent action and small steps every day towards making it happen. If I can help in any way, or if you’d like to know what blueprint I follow to work from home, please feel free to email me at gracecarlisle @outlook.com
