Having your own business is wonderful. Working at your own pace and within your own timeframes is also equally fantastic. There’s one small problem however. When you work at home you have no time boundaries. You can work for as little or as much time as you want. In your 9 – 5 job you eventually had to go home and leave the office/factory/store behind. When you’re working at home you never actually “leave”. Your job is always technically there – perhaps just a few feet away.

What’s the problem then? Forgetting to switch off. Power down. Walk away. Get rest. Many home office workers (myself included) have this really crazy habit of actually working more hours in their own business than they ever worked in the office! What? Yup! It’s not uncommon to find people working from home for 12 or 14 hours per day – you’d never dream of punishing yourself like this for a 9 – 5 boss yet you do it at home to yourself? Why? Probably because you enjoy doing what you’re doing and you have the added drive and ambition to truly succeed in your own business – after all you pocket all the profit from your work for a change right?

Be very careful though. You can burn yourself out doing this in just a matter of months and if you do it can be really tough to recover and find that drive and ambition that you had before. You could even wind up resenting the fact that you work for yourself and want to go back to a 9 – 5 job…….. yes really. It can and does happen.

The moral here is to take time out. Take breaks. Hell have some fun. Goof off. Watch some episodes of Lost or 24 (not too many mind!) and generally give yourself some headspace. You’ll be glad you did and your business will thank you for it in the long run (you are in this for the longrun right?)

Taking your unused attic or loft and converting it for use as a home office is a wonderful idea. An office of this type in this location offers privacy and quiet away from the noise and disruption in the rest of your home. You’ll have complete privacy and a dedicated working area that you can then also lock when not in use; just like a real office.

Read the full article on attic home office conversions here.

Ok so you’ve taken the absolutely massive leap of deciding to work for yourself and now you’re wondering where might be the best place to put your home office. There’s no really easy answer to this as most of the potential locations have their own pros and cons. It’s important to think before you leap in this regard as you don’t want to blow your budget on setting up your office in one room or area only to discover that it wasn’t really quite right for that purpose from the start.

Read the full article on home office locations.

It occurred to me as I was sitting around the other day that I’d never stopped to ask what business people reading this blog might be in. Or if they’re in business at all? What if they’re only thinking about it?

I know it’s not always easy to decide what business you might want to start so I thought about this and figured it would make something worthwhile to write about.

For me I needed to look at what I was happiest doing. I knew I enjoyed writing and tinkering with computers and software so after several false starts I started up my internet marketing business which I now run from home.

Why am I saying this? Well there was little point in me starting a window cleaning business because it would do nothing from me (plus I suffer from vertigo… well just a little bit..) personally or professionally. Nor would being a gardener or electrician (I electrocuted myself in the mouth once so I decided against any further electrical shennanigans).

Look at what you love doing as a hobby. Can you turn this into a business – maybe even just part-time for extra cash? Look at what you’re good at. Look at your strengths, abilities and aptitudes and then jot down some ideas on the types of business you might be able to start. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how many ideas come up.

Being stuck working in your office at home can be tedious at times. A lot of you probably listen to music as part of the struggle to beat boredom and keep your mind from wandering too far away from the task at hand. There are so many choices however – mp3, cd and internet radio for example. What about if you had a piece of software that could schedule what you get to listen to during the day – almost like your own personal radio DJ beside you? A piece of software that loads, rips, converts and then catalogues all your mp3 or audio files?

A very creative guy called Brad Hillyard has created just such a piece of software called ProTrax which allows you to go far beyond building mere playlists of your audio or mp3 tracks. Brad has used his years of experience to create a piece of software that gives you the same flexibility as a radio station scheduler except it’s right on your desktop in front of you.

If you’re a music fan and work from home you really need to check out ProTrax at  www.betterplaylists.com

Nobody who ever starts their own business dreams of mediocrity. Far from it. You all expect the sun, moon and stars to come from your work. Of course you do! Starting a business any other way is simply crazy – if you expect mediocre results then that’s exactly what you’ll get.

That being said running your own business to any extent has its good times and bad. There are times when things couldn’t be going better even if you tried. Profits are up, customers are happy and life is just generally good. We can all deal with these times in spectacular fashion.

What happens, however, when the chips are down? When things aren’t plain sailing and business isn’t as great as it was last month or last quarter?

Practice patience. Stay the course.

Now some people will misinterpret that to mean “sit on your hands and pray for a miracle!!” That’s not it at all. Having a thriving business requires work but also requires a great amount of patience at times.

The formula is:

Patience + Hard Work * Your Business = Success