Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 |
What does one do when you are running your own business from home and the isolation just hits you?
Just like that. Bang! One day it just fronts up and smacks you right in the face…
Well it has happened and it has happened to me. Notice no posts since the start of this month…
…those days were what I call my lost and hazy days of June.
So what does one do? How does one cope?
For me, it’s being prepared for such situations. That means the business must be automated as much as possible - personally, I’m about 75% of the way there, still working on it.
Secondly, the cashflow and backup funds have to be in good nick.
Ask yourself this: Can I walk away from my business - completely - and still know that money is coming in or at worst, that there are funds in the bank account to cover “days off”?
If you answered yes, then good for you, you’re in a good place.
But I bet a lot of you would have answered no.
Maybe it’s time to take stock of your situation. Look at ways of automating as much of your business as you can - you’d be surprised by how many ways you can put your business on auto-pilot.
Secondly, start planning on breaking free of the cashflow cycle you may be in. Put aside a set amount (say, 10-20%) of your income away for that rainy day.
Now back to coping…
…my way of coping is to simply shut up shop and get away from it all - literally. And that’s why I’ve seldom been around my blog(s) and hanging at Twitter these past few days.
Yes, my business revenues has slowed down (30% or so) but I can live with that, knowing I’ll get back into the swing of things. And hey, I might even come out of it with more ways of putting my business on auto-pilot.
Getting away from it, taking in some new scenery, getting yourself out of your comfort zone is my way of dealing with isolation and the blues.
What about you?
Posted in Home Business, isolation | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 |
It finally hit me a few weeks ago just how much of a factor Facebook has become in our lives.
Do you want to know why I think that?
Well, I’ve been on the Internet doing my “things” for more than 10 years now. And you know what: during that time my online and offline world never met, never collided - heck, most of my offline world (eg: friends and family) thought I was pissing away my time and life at this thing called the Internet. Bah! That’s for another column.
Well recently, those two worlds for me have collided.
The point of impact in this collision? Facebook!
When your Brother-in-law (who’s on Army duty overseas) and your cousin who lives 5,000 miles away finds you on Facebook and wants to be Friends then you know the two worlds have collided, or … are nicely welcoming each other. Online world: may I introduce you to my offline world. And so on…
It’s become a big revelation for me these last few months about how Facebook is really the one and only Web 2.0 app that has broken through the echo chamber and is working the mainstream with aplomb.
Facebook and the Home Business
You’ve read about it, there’s been post after post after post, it’s been written about by mainstream media and your everyday citizen journalist/blogger.
It’s called “isolation”. The home business owner faces it constantly, if not every day.
Yep. Isolation can be a big issue for the home-based business owner. I know because for years I upped my nose at this isolation clap-trap only to realize that yes, even me, your humble Aussie home business Evangelist, got caught up in isolated insulation that was just not plain healthy. It hit quick, it hit hard and I had to do something about it.
Of course, I quickly figured out that getting away from the computer for a round of golf, or a walk down by the beach or going out for a drink or three did the trick.
Stuck in the home office, it’s background music or radio, or taking an hour off work to do some IM’ing or Skyping or pottering around in the garden.
On the outside, it’s getting to a crowded coffee shop with pen and paper in hand or off to the library (which I religiously do every Monday morning). Daily interaction (often missed when one opts for working from home) is almost a must for the majority of us to keep some sanity in our lives.
Now back to Facebook. With Facebook, this can be taken all to another level. Because lets face it. Competition is fierce. There are times when you are building your business (from home) when every hour counts. You just can’t up and leave it all behind. You’ve got to spend the hours in front of the computer building your business, doing the hard yards.
And that’s where I found joining Facebook handy.
Spending an hour a day at Facebook has improved my mood and my productivity remarkably. You can let off steam just by being yourself, seeing others being themselves and basically being the social creature that we all are.
It also helps that the Facebook Developers have released a Facebook Toolbar for Firefox - and for one who literally lives online in their many Firefox tabs this not only tips Facebook over the edge, but is something that I highly recommend every home business owner gets into - your professional and social life has never been easier to manage than it is now.
Posted in Home Business, facebook, isolation | 6 Comments »