For many people, the idea of starting a business from home is an exciting prospect that is being made more and more possible with the popularisation of cloud computing and industries like digital marketing. Chances are you will already be expecting it to be quite difficult, but surely, enough people are doing it that it can’t be that difficult … right? Actually, to make it work, it takes a lot of thought, perseverance, and planning. If you’re thinking about starting your very own business from home, here are some of the dangers that you will need to consider.
The Commute
I know what you’re thinking: ‘I can’t wait to work from home and destroy that commute. It means I can get up late and still be finished before office workers have even left the office.’ This is wrong. Yes, you won’t have the long car/train journey into work, but do you know how difficult it is to get out of bed and head to your desk. Oh, I’ll just have a bit of breakfast … I had better wash up the breakfast stuff now before I start … a shower might be a good idea, actually … did I get the bins in yet? … I’ll quickly make my bed … I’ll make a coffee before I start … oh I didn’t clean out the vegetable draw last night … you get the picture? It takes a long time to start work in the morning when you work from home … I like to call this subconscious procrastination.
Conscious Procrastination
I’ve covered the subconscious procrastination, now it’s time to look at the active version. If you ever get sat at your desk, the procrastination possibilities are everywhere and without the threat of a boss looking over your shoulder, it can be too easy to simply waste away hours literally doing anything else. You will check Facebook and Twitter, you’ll pop onto Sun Bingo for a ‘just a little bit’, you’ll check the latest deals on Amazon, and before you know it, it will be 5pm and you’ve done nothing apart from win a little bit of money on the bingo, spend that money on a new pair of shoes from Amazon, and jealously stare at your friend’s wedding pictures.
Friends and Family from Hell
As I sit here writing this, I know my brother is going to stop in for a cup of tea any minute. You will never, ever be able to convince your friends and family that during the day you are still working and are just as busy as they are when they are at work, but as soon as one of them has a week off, guess how long it will be before they come round for an impromptu shopping trip or ‘nice lunch’ somewhere. It can be very annoying, so just try to stress that between the hours of 9 and 5 (or whatever) they are not allowed to call on the phone or come round unannounced. They will still do it … they’ll also always volunteer you to help out gardening, moving and DIY-ing, during the week because ‘you’re just sat at home anyway’.
No one thinks about these issues and although they can sound a bit tongue-and-cheek, take it from someone who does work from home: they are real issues. The amount of deadlines and work I’ve missed out on due to procrastination or bothersome family members is way too much and you need to really take it into consideration when planning a change to work from home. If you’re the type of person who is easily distracted, stay at the office and leave the working from home to people who can sit on their own working for 8 hours at a time.
