What You Can Do to Stop Online Business Taking Over Your Life
Posted by Carl Orlafski in Uncategorized, tags: business, capital online revenue, career, entrepreneurs, home business, internet, Internet Business, make money, money, online, online business, Uncategorized, work at home, work from homeRunning an online business can, at first, seem a great plan. You don’t even have to leave the house to start work, and you’re not desperately trying to schedule work meetings around all the other things you’re trying to do during the day - getting dinner on the table, changing the baby’s diaper, putting the baby down for a nap, or even spending the odd spare hour or so with the person that you married. Work can be done in your own time, and at a pace that is comfortable for you. You have the advantages that being your own boss brings, without the associated responsibilities.
Then the reality of running a business, any business, comes crawling out to bite you. Suddenly you’re working until four in the morning, tuning in to Twitter chat on your phone at your daughter’s dance recital, cancelling dates and hauling your laptop on vacation because you’ve got deadlines, and you’re sitting there wondering what the heck happened to all of that freedom you were supposed to have.
Guess what? Running a business is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week proposition. Working on the Internet instead of out of a physical office just means you can’t sleep, because work’s calling to you when you’re home. It lays down the guilt when you’re playing with the kids, or disconnecting to eat supper, or…
Well. You see where I’m going with this. Running an Internet business burns you out just as fast as running an offline business. Possibly faster, since you never actually get to get that break you’d get if you could walk out of the office for the day. Since you don’t really want to go back to the 9 to 5 grind, however, and at this point you have too many clients and customers to walk away anyway, what are you going to do?
Make sure that you keep work and communication with clients to set hours.
Many people enjoy the flexibility of working online. However, constraining that flexibility to a steady work schedule, and keeping to the schedule, is one of the most worthwhile things you can do to control your online business, and prevent it from taking over your life. Setting aside specific time for work also enables you to find the time for life outside of work.
In setting a schedule, make sure that it’s going to suit you. Setting aside eight hours a day for your business may work for you; make sure it’s no more than ten hours. Then, unless some emergency crops up, make sure you keep to your schedule. When you’ve finished your work for the day, clear away everything that’s work related, and don’t pick it up again until the next day. Doing this will enable you to keep work and home separate, and help you to avoid reaching the point of wanting to give it all up.
Make sure your to-do list is focused on the priorities.
The biggest difference between running a business and working one is the never-ending list of things you have to do in a day. Because that to-do list is going to grow teeth if you let it, make sure you start your day with the list of things you absolutely, positively have to have done before you close up shop for the night. That way, when the end of the day comes and you’re nowhere near as done as you wanted to be, at least you know you’ve got the essentials out of the way.
Buy a cell phone with no access to the Internet.
This suggestion may be rather too radical for many business owners. Personally, I feel a little lost without being able to check my email when I’m on the move, but that means that I never really get a break from work. If you need more space, and find it difficult to separate your work and home life, buying a phone that you can only use for phone calls is a great plan. It may take you out of your comfort zone for a while, but you’ll be thankful for it in the end.
The biggest “secret” to keeping your business from running you nuts is to keep your work at work and your life at home. What’s your best secret to keeping your sanity when you’re working online?
If you liked the previous article, you can go take a look at additional related content at Capital Online Revenue or this Capital Online Revenue Article.
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