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Does Starting a Business Sound Stressful?

Starting and running your own business can be stressful. You can reduce the stress by educating yourself about your business in advance. Learn about your market; what products they are currently buying? What are the weakest links in your target market? How can you, your product, or service fill in the gaps in the market? What skills and abilities will the need to make it happen?

Does Starting a Business Sound Stressful?

Isn’t it stressful to be working for someone looking over you, and managing you to get you to meet their expectations?

I would gladly trade the stress of socially acceptable slavery for the stress associated with starting a new business from scratch any day. Plus, doing so, gives you the possibility of achieving a level of freedom that could never be accomplished working from someone else.

But I Love My Job

You may love your job. It is doing a good job of taking care of you and your family, good enough, anyway. You feel like there is challenge and room for growth and expansion with the company. You can imagine feeling fulfilled for life or at least until retirement. That is, until your company is bought out and you are forced to prove to yourself worthy of your job, or worse yet, you come into work and are greeted with a pink slip. How do you like your job now?

You are Worth 5-times What You are Being Paid

The good news is, there is a good chance that you can still do all the things you love about your job working for your own company for five-times what you are being paid to do your job now. (Did you catch that?) If the company that you are working for is successful, they operate on a profit and loss formula, which dictates that every employee must have a value of five-times their pay, in order for them to survive.  So, you could easily start your own business and charge two-and-a-half times what you are being paid now, and still be a bargain.

Can be Scary

Granted there may be fear associated with starting your own business because you have never thought of it before or you thought the idea of stepping into entrepreneurship was too far out of reach. I hope it helps to ease your mind, that right now is the best time to start a business of your own. In fact, more people are starting new businesses now, more than at any other time in history.

10% America Staring New Businesses Now

Ten percent of the workforce in America started new businesses last year, and there is no slowdown now. It’s like today is the new frontier.

Of course, you will have doubts about your ability to pull this off, as anybody, even the most experienced serial entrepreneurs, have doubts, but they do what is necessary regardless of what they feel. Even if you just charge ahead, it is good to do what you can to manage your efforts effectively by getting the maximum results from the least expense of cash or energy. By managing your energy exertion in your business building efforts, you can minimize your potential for unnecessary stress or burnout.

Self-promotion

You will need to promote yourself and your business to increase your success rate. Many people are afraid of sounding like a salesperson (probably because they don’t like salespeople). There’s a good chance that if you don’t like salespeople, you were probably the victim of a predatory salesperson who took advantage of you. You will have to get over that and let it go. Just because you have had a bad experience doesn’t make you a predator. You can promote yourself and your business with integrity. Don’t worry, staring and promoting your business will not turn you into a snake in the grass.

If you think about it, you have been selling and promoting your whole life. You have been promoting the company you work for, you have sold people on how to think of you as a person. If you are a religious person, or a member of any group or affiliation, you have probably presented them in the best light. If you are in a relationship, it is likely it took some salesmanship on your part to close the deal on that one. These are also considered sales, marketing, and promotion efforts, where you are already experienced in.

Believe

The more you believe in your own products and services, the easier your sales, marketing, and promotions will be. You can also find inspiration in believing that you are actively doing something good for others or in making the world a better place.

This is your time to shine and be all that you can be.

Spread your wings and fly to be free.

 

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Face and Overcome the Fear of Starting Your Own Business

Now is the best time to start your own venture. You have had an idea, or you know you could do it better than the people you work for, but you are held back by fear of going out on your own. You can face and overcome the fear of starting your own business.

Lack of Finances

So, you think you don’t have enough resources to do your own thing?

There is this conception that starting your own business takes a lot of capital upfront. You think this because it is well publicized that buying into a successful franchise can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you have looked into it, you already know that franchises can be very expensive and can cover a wide range. For instance, $30,000 for a Dutch Bros to $200 to 350 thousand for a Quiznos franchise, or $1 to 2.5 Million for a McDonald’s to $12 to 20 Million for a Holiday Inn franchise.

It is no wonder that you think that you having a business is out of reach if you are unable to get that kind of cash. By the way, even if you were able to be the recipient of a financial windfall with enough cash to finance your franchise, be aware that you will also have to have sufficient credit history to qualify to be a potential franchisee.

In many ways, a franchise is the best way to get into a business, especially if you have not been in a business before because you can rely on the track record of the business and franchisees who have gone before. The franchisor will provide you with the help and support you need to have a successful venture.

Raising Money

If the business that you would like to build does require a substantial investment, there are ways to go about raising capital with one of the effective methods being crowdfunding sources, like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and Patreon, but be advised, launching a successful crowdfunding project is not as easy as it looks and there are many factors to take into consideration. If your plan includes a crowdfunding campaign, do your due diligence, spend some time researching the best ways to approach your campaign, or seek out a consultant who has expertise in crowdfunding campaigns.

That aside, you could do what so many people have done and that is to start your own enterprise from scratch with little or no investment. Now, of course, if you decide to build something from scratch on your own, you will have to be creative in the way that you start such a venture and have a plan in place to build the capacity and clue of your business regularly over time.

Doing it Yourself Online

There are online DIY (Do It Yourself) resources that you can take advantage of that will support your efforts to build a business one step at a time. You can use platforms already in place, such as eBay to get started, you can have your own website and e-commerce website using Shopify, or sell your wares through Amazon, the world’s largest retailer.

Fear of the Unknown

If you are feeling fear of the unknown regarding starting a business, you can overcome your fear or intimidation by educating yourself about what it takes to start a business. There have never been so many educational opportunities, and you would be surprised at how much you could learn just scouring over Google and YouTube for free. You could also join a Facebook or MeetUp group of people looking to start businesses, just like you.

The more you know, the less your overall risk. Just be aware that you do not want to fall into the trap of learning (because there’s always more to learn) and spending so much time in the learning process (which can be addictive) that you never launch your business. This is commonly referred to as the “paralysis of analysis.”

The best way to overcome your business-related fears is to face them head-on, but do not go into business blindly. This is the mistake most commonly made by inexperienced business startups, which leads to first-time failure.

Fear of Failure

Fear of failure is something that is easily overcome if you can think of your first venture as “training.” There is no better training than you can receive, not through any college or university. You learn things they would never teach by doing it yourself.

Experience is the best teacher, and you are its humble servant. So, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, look for the gold and wisdom to be gained in every experience. Do not think of these experiences as “bad.” Instead, think of them as advanced training, and you are blessed by the results.

 

 

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Time to Unleash the Real You

Everyone came to this planet with a unique set of skills, abilities, message to deliver, and purpose for this life. Once you align with your purpose, your life makes sense, though most people do not recognize that they have a purpose or a mission to accomplish in this life. Thanks to the pandemic lockdown, many people are awakening to the idea, and they are embracing their individual callings and taking this time to change their lives fully engaged and on purpose. Maybe it is time to unleash the real you.

In this process of awakening, people have the wherewithal to think freely. They are thinking about their jobs and how they came to work there. Someone, a normal person just like you and me, decided to carve out their own path, to engage in his or her purpose in life. This gave you and others the opportunity to work for a living in exchange for supporting their dream.

Now, more than ever, people are waking up and saying, “Why shouldn’t I be the boss?” And millions of Americans are reaching out and launching their own businesses, organizations, and starting projects, more than any other time in history.

15% of working Americans are starting new businesses right now, and the number is rising, while more than half of the workers feel like they could run a business better than the people they are working for. You could be part of the rise in people taking advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Should you be one of the new start-ups that takes advantage of this opportunity to start your own business?

Some people react differently to being sheltered in place for long periods of time. Some will see it as involuntary imprisonment and they will get depressed, sick, and tired, developing mental illness and disease, while others will see it as an opportunity to think, plan, create, incubate, and launch something amazing. In a perfect world, they will create an expression of their own individual message, mission, and calling.

So, what is holding you back?

If you are like everyone else who has the idea to strike out on your own but are hesitant to, it is likely that you are suffering from the same blockages as others who are not taking action on their inner calling to take action and claim their independence.

Therefore, it is perfectly normal if you start second-guessing yourself. This is common, normal, and it is no surprise because since you were born, you were programmed by your family, caregivers, friends, teachers, mentors, and society in general, not to reach to high, not to expect too much, and not to overstep your bounds, because the best you could hope for would be to be lucky enough to get a good-paying job working for someone else.

Then there is your inner voice, which is doing everything it can to protect you. It wants you to stay small and safe. Your inner voice will pretty much tell you anything to keep you from taking a risk and spreading your wings to fly.

Plus, you are afraid. It is risky enough to trust someone else, a company that you do not control, to “be there” for you today and into the future. Things are uncertain enough now, working for someone else. What if there was no one to rely on (or to blame) but yourself? Then, where would you be?

What if you fail? How embarrassing would that be, to have all your friends and family laughing at you because you believed in something or tried something that everyone else was too afraid to try, and you flop? So, you convince yourself that it is better not to try at all, than to risk failure.

You don’t have the money to start a business. Maybe you are not thinking that one all the way through, because many businesses, especially now, can be started on a shoestring budget (or less) if you can reconfigure your idea to be mostly digital and taking advantage of all the free (or inexpensive) tools that are out there that you can use to launch your new business.

Listen to your higher self, not your whiny inner voice. This is the time to unleash the real you.

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Challenges Working from Home

If you are working, there is a good chance you are doing it from home, a coffee shop, Internet café, or coworking office space. Events of the day have changed the landscape of the workforce in the world today. But is it as “all good” as they report it is?

On the surface, employers are ecstatic as they cut the expenses associated with hosting and physically managing staff by sending them home to work remotely, all the while blaming it on the coronavirus outbreak and the associated executive lockdown order.

As seamless as it may have appeared to send workers home with laptops and a list of assignments, it turns out there were dark energies lurking in the shadows waiting for the right time to be revealed to the unsuspecting employers and employees alike.

First, there is the separation of work and home. It used to be a clear distinction. Employers like it because it appears that the production numbers for employees are up, but actually, it is a mess on the side of the employees. They are so easily distracted by being at home, find it hard to stay motivated, and work longer (unreported) hours in fear that if their productivity slips, they may lose their job.

There is uneasiness and uncertainty all around the telecommuting environment when working from home. If your performance numbers falter, you may lose your job altogether. If you are freelancing or being paid by-the-project, your schedule is uncontrollable, and so is your revenue stream. Some weeks will be better than others which reduces confidence in your earning ability.

Even in the light of all the promises of the benefits of remote work, the dark side ever looms.

There is a growing concern that remote employees on lockdown are not socializing. We already know that without human interaction and connection, people deteriorate and die. At the very least, you don’t hear about it, but the pandemic has produced more mental health concerns from being locked down that deaths from COVID-19, leading to depression, and increased suicidal ideation among teleworkers.

Not being in the office, means not having spontaneous interaction with other workers. It may have gone unnoticed or unrecognized as a key component in employee satisfaction, it is ever clear in the wake of the pandemic. People need people.

A whole host of life struggle, stress, and strain is being added on the backs of telecommuters, such as increasing mental illness, fear-based employment, underachieving-driven-overworking, waning self-confidence, and the only way out, is in.

To go inward, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, putting self-care first, and learning tolerance because all things work together for good, and what seems an insurmountable challenge today will lead to tomorrow’s victory, if you persevere with integrity.

There is hope, and the hope is within you. You are the hope, the light shining to others beaconing the truth of a better day on the horizon.

Embrace your strengths, and strengthen your weaknesses, not to merely survive, but to thrive.

You got this, my friend.

 

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Cybersecurity Staff Cuts Cybercrime Stats in Half in 2020

With more people working from home every day, you would think the number of cyberattacks would be rising exponentially. Surprisingly, cybersecurity threats are actually on the downturn, which shocked the cybersecurity industry, which predicted that the working from home boon would introduce the greatest opportunity for cybersecurity breaches, releasing a hacker’s paradise.

Cybersecurity concerns were not unfounded as cyberattacks did happen as phishing and data mining did compromise identities, bank accounts, passwords, but all in all, while cyberattacks increased, resulting cybercrime was reduced by half of what it was prior to the pandemic work-from-home explosion.

If that doesn’t make you scratch your cybersecurity noggin, I don’t know what does. It doesn’t seem to make sense. Right?

The fear of increased attacks has many cybersecurity specialists on high-alert. They knew in advance that this shift from the office to the home was going to be a challenge, so they prepared for the ensuing attacks. And when the attacks came in, they were waiting and ready to respond to any potential data breaches of security.

Cybersecurity is a team effort. It takes IT staff working a hand in hand with open lines of communication, sharing any irregularities noticed, even if it may seem to be an innocuous report at the time, and entire teams, down to line staff, also keeping an eye on activity and reporting anything suspicious.

When executive orders were issued to cell-in workers, allowing them to work while imprisoned in their homes, there was a mad shuffling of IT and networking staff, manning up to answer the call, with a massive proclamation, “Not on my watch!” They had to move and take action quickly, most only had a few days to put all their telecommuting security affairs in order.

No doubt, the cybercriminals were waiting with bated breath for this opportunity to attack an unsuspecting population that would be forced to telecommute, and not having any time to prepare was a vulnerability they couldn’t have imagined would be handed to them on a silver platter.

No one was prepared for the necessary emergent response, which required line staff to have virtual private networks (VPNs) ready to connect to systems remotely. This was the single largest drain on OT staff tasked with responding rapidly to the shift.

Not to forget, the cybersecurity staff was also ordered to work from home. Imagine, having to secure the entire network from your living room, kitchen, or bedroom. Yet, that is what is happening. They are in the same boat, working from home and making sure all is secure, while they are conducting regular training for line staff to learn more about what they can do on their end to help prevent cyberattacks while working remotely.

What could have been an embarrassing collapse of security around America, ended up being an impressive display of how a well prepared IT staff can respond to emergent needs in a heartbeat, to the surprise of hackers and cybercriminals (and maybe the IT staff, as well).

Statistics verify security response and efficacy by a 50% significant drop in cybercrime.

Good job, guys!

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55 and Older Workers Lost in the Pandemic

Millions of workers aged 55 to 70 lost their jobs, and most of them lost their jobs forever. On the surface you might think that these advanced-age workers were in their retirement years anyway, so what is the big deal? The fact is these older workers cannot survive on Social Security or the combination of retirement benefits they receive monthly to live on. So, they need to work well into their retirement years into their eighties and nineties, if they can.

Granted, these are high functioning older Americans that are not only able to fully function in the job marketplace, but they are driven by a force that makes them want to participate and contribute by working and serving the community when their peers have opted out of working altogether.

Returning to work post-pandemic is not looking good for many of the seniors because there is likely to be so many more youthful workers flooding the job market that there will be little or no room for the older workers.

Many of them are already waking up to the realization that the prospects for employment in the future is bleak, so they are looking for other alternative and finding opportunities in entrepreneurialism. They are among the record-breaking numbers of unemployed in America who are starting new businesses to replace their lost income-earning ability since the pandemic.

As necessity is the mother of invention, so has entrepreneurialism become the answer to joblessness.

Each of us has a unique set of skills or natural ability that can be easily turned into a business. And older Americans, while they may not be thought of as technologically inclined as a younger workforce, they bring something far more valuable to the marketplace.

Though not all Americans are aging gracefully. Not feeling as though one has a reason to live, living under stressful circumstances, being angry, or worrying about things tend to add to complications during the aging process and these concerns shorten life expectancy.

Often, because of their age and experience, older people bring a perspective that is unique and rare, something that could be regarded as “wisdom.”

Some cultures consider their elders to be highly regarded in terms of their experience and wisdom if they have earned it by living a good life. These older members of society are honored and invited to participate in leadership or support roles, and they are consulted with prior to making decisions that may have an impact on the greater community.

Cultures that hold the wisdom of their elders in high regard include Native Americans, Greeks, Indians, Koreans, Romans, and Chinese. Though the present-day Chinese reverence for their elders is waning due to the westernization of China in general.

Our elders have so much to offer, and the lack of jobs in America today encourages them to embrace their strength and wisdom to reach out and serve the greater community at a higher level than just trading effort for a dollar in a work-for-wages scenario.

Many of these new advanced-aged entrepreneurs are profiting handsomely and being wildly rewarded both financially, and feeling as though they are adding value to their communities, increasing their desire to give back, and to even make the world a better place.

They have a new, revived sense of purpose in their later years.

It is this driving sense of purpose that is extending their high-quality years of life.

 

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How Many Small Businesses Have Closed Due to COVID?

Hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed permanently due to COVID. We have seen the loss of retailers, bookstores, antique stores, restaurants, fitness centers, health clubs, private schools, theaters, gyms, and many other independent businesses lost forever.

The list of business survivors includes mostly the biggest corporate chains with the wherewithal to withstand temporary shutdown or slowdown, while others were deemed essential and have thrived exponentially due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Small Independent Businesses

The smaller independent businesses are those hardest hit by the pandemic. These businesses are run by individuals with modest means who have taken the step to get a piece of the American dream, to be your own boss, do what you love, and let the world support remunerate you accordingly.

Unable to finance their businesses while waiting in hibernation for the pandemic restrictions to be lifted, forced these people to abandon their businesses forever. In one fell swoop their American dreams were smashed once and for all.

How many small businesses have closed due to COVID?

This is such a tragedy. Most of these businesses supported the everyday lives of entire families, who could have not seen this coming. Most of these businesses survived marginally, paying the bills, and taking care of the family on the difference. Instantly, all financial support stopped, and some owners were able to walk away with little more loss than their wounded pride, while others were disgraced, headed to bankruptcy courts, and feeling as though they let their families down.

No Unemployment

Unlike Americans who were sent home with no job due to the pandemic, the independent business owners who lost their businesses will not be entitled to unemployment, though family members who were employed by the business, would qualify for unemployment compensation.

Huge Fines, Restraining Orders, Jail Time

A few businesses have tried to survive and remained open to operate their business in order to survive as their business was the only method of supporting their family. Any of these businesses were fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and forcibly shut down and some of them went to jail.

One such restaurant near me, Spiffy’s, did dare to make a stand and was fined and restrained in court, and there are others everywhere all around the country. Businesses being court-ordered to shut down or else.

If my business was the only way I could feed my children, and I was ordered to shut it down, if I’d put all my life savings into this business and I had nothing else to fall back on, I might do the same. I can’t imagine what someone in that situation might do.

New Business Startups

On the other hand, while businesses are crashing and burning all around us in the wake of the pandemic, more new business startups have been launched than ever before in U.S. History.

People who have lost their jobs, are pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps and are starting their own businesses (ones that would be authorized to function during the pandemic lockdown) to better take care of their families.

I know a lot of these millions of new businesses that were launched during the pandemic, some of them were likely former independent businesses that were forced to close their doors forever. I know that is what I would do.

 

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How to Motivate Employees

You have a team, but they are looking a bit lackadaisical these days. How can you motivate employees who have lost their enthusiasm? Do they even care anymore? Here are the top 4 how to motivate employees who don’t care methods used by highly successful contemporary leaders.

If you can get them enthusiastically motivated, it can make the difference between success and failure. Let’s face it, you could do this on your own, but what sacrifices would you have to make to go it alone? You are miles ahead if you can get buy-in from the team you already have assembled, right?

To some managers, enthusiastically leading teams comes natural, it is part of their DNA, they are born with this gift, but the skill can also be accumulated, and it is far easier if you have all the necessary components.

Let’s take a look at the necessary components of an enthusiastic leader who supersedes other methods of motivating team members.

How to Motivate Employees Who Don’t Care

Positive Correction

When you have noticed that someone on your team is not up to par, then you can, and should, approach them but have your ducks in a row before entering into a conversation about changes that you would like to see.

To line up your ducks, have a list of the areas where you would like to see improvement. At the top of the list should be attitudinal adjustments you would like to see because this can have a negative effect on the whole team.

Now that you have your list, you can schedule your meeting. Do not let the employee see that you are not happy with the employee’s enthusiasm or performance. Stay psychologically centered and neutral.

When you interact with your team member, never express your concerns in the negative. Whenever possible (always) state what your expectations are. Instead of saying, “You are late,” say, “I would like to see you on-time more often.” Keep your professional demeanor present.

Practice Tolerance

Tolerance is compassionate and empathetic. You try to imagine what it might be like to walk a mile in your employee’s shoes. You don’t bark out, “You don’t care about this organization!” That will only distance your employees, most likely take them straight into fight-or-flight, or to take a defensive stance.

Instead, reach out sensitively, “Are you okay? Is there anything I can help you with?” Because you really do not know what your team member might be struggling with, “It’s just that I noticed that you are just not yourself, lately, and I was wondering if everything’s okay?”

Allow your employee to share any concerns they might have and let him or her know that you are noticing their numbers are not as consistent as they once were. Let them vow to make adjustments and help them when it is appropriate if you can.

Leadership Sleight of Hand

I love this little tactic that allows enough leeway and space for your employee to think of solutions to solve any concerns at hand. Through positive reinforcement, the team member comes up with the idea you were thinking of as a solution or an even better solution that may not have occurred to you.

Without patronizing or being sarcastic, thank them for being such a valuable member of the team and for having come up with such an incredible solution to the problem.

Empower Them

Empower your staff to in a sense take responsibility for their own actions. You do not need to overpower your staff or lead with an iron fist if they feel like they are empowered to police and manage themselves.

This is the winning component in any successful enterprise and is the foundation of positive work culture.

I think that we all agree that employees are our eyes and ears in the trenches. We cannot always see what is going on at the frontline level clearly without their experience and input. So, we ask them questions and highly regard their answers, weighing them individually based on their merit.

This builds trust and affinity among your workforce.

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How to use Google jobs near me

There are so many ways to find jobs online, whether in your local labor/retail market or remote work/telecommuting, but Google has just made looking for a job easier in the most streamlined way.

Google is smart, no doubt about it, and getting smarter every day. While Google prefers job posting sites to pay for their job postings, many have circumvented the pay-per-click feature, and just exploit the search engine’s organic results at no cost.

No problem, then Google should get full credit for providing those customized results to Google users looking for work, either in-person or working from home, whatever suits you. A few tweaks to the search algorithm and voilà, you have Google’s brand of ultimate job postings board.

All you have to do is to go to Google and type jobs near me in the search box and hit enter (or click the magnifying glass) there you have it: A preview of the top few jobs will show, but if yu look below the sample list and click on “100+ more jobs” BAM! All the local job postings near you from all the job boards pop up in one convenient listing of search results.

Want to refine your search even more add a quantifier to your search query, such as “part time” would look something, like this:

You can select jobs from pre-determined categories or refine your search query even more.

And if you are looking for remote work, just add “telecommute” to your query and see everything you can apply for today that you can perform your work from home.

If you have the inclination to surf through the top 10 rated job posting sites for 2021, then take a look at these:

The Top 10 Best Job Search Websites of 2021

  • Indeed: Top job search engine
  • Monster: Classic monster job searches
  • Glassdoor: Excellent resources for employer data
  • FlexJobs: Telecommuting and remote jobs galore
  • The Ladders: For managers and leaders on their way up
  • AngelList: For upstarts and new businesses news
  • LinkedIn: Recruiters’  and head hunters’ top resource
  • LinkUp: Up-to-date job search listings
  • Scouted: Scouts in search of college graduates
  • Snagajob: Hourly job resources

CraigsList

But that’s not all, craigslist is another resource, though it is not considered to be one of the top ten job posting boards, it still receives over a million job postings per day. Originally, job postings were free, so the offers were not that good and included a lot of spammy or scammy offers. Since they started charging for job postings, it has helped to filter out the riff-raff.

Facebook Jobs

Whether you are a fan of Facebook, or not, whatever you think about Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 billion fortune, his job posting service on Facebook is becoming a contender in the job search arena, and you might like to check it out at https://www.facebook.com/jobs/

We Work Remotely

I have a friend and associate who has been working remotely for years, he is a nomad, travels around in his RV around the USA, free as a bird, yet is always employed whenever and from wherever he wants. He uses We Work Remotely for all his teleworking gigs.

This seems a natural fit for telecommuters looking for side-gigs for a little moonlighting adventure in their professional lives.

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Telecommuters Don’t Get Caught Doing This

If you worked in an office or other on-site location job which has transitioned into telecommuting, there are important things to keep in mind. There is a lot of talk about what to do to be a good telecommuter but rarely are you cautioned about the things not to do. Being caught doing any of these things could mean the end of your remote working career.

Top 5 Things Not to Get Caught Doing as a Telecommuter

1. Disregarding How it Was

The less dissimilar you can keep your work environment when working from home from on-site work, the better. Of course, you are no longer at the office, so there is a great deal of difference, but try to keep the way you go about conducting your business tasks as similar to the way you would conduct yourself when working on-site. Keep your daily routine as similar as possible.

2. Babysitting

Okay, it is not babysitting unless it is someone else’s kids, but do not be caught being the childcare provider when you should be on-the-clock working. It is nearly impossible to be fully functional while maintaining a positive level of job performance while trying to manage one or more children at the same time. Find someone to take the responsibility of looking after your children while you are working. They could still be in your home, where you will be working, but do not let them distract you, and enjoy the extra time you have to be with them while on break periods.

3. Working in Bed

Yu are telecommuting, you can work anywhere, right? Technically, “Yes,” you can work anywhere and in any state of undress that suits you (even naked) but by becoming too lax in your work efforts, like working in bed, your pajamas, the hot tub, or sprawled out on the sofa, you are not projecting the right kind of energy into your work, and sooner or later, your job performance will decline because of it.

So, create a separate “office space” for you to perform your job tasks. It doesn’t have to be a separate office if space does not permit (but the more separation, the better), but a unique spot with a chair that you can sit upright in would be good. Decorate it any way you want, like you might your own cubicle at work. Just make sure this space, wherever it is, is reserved for work only, and your performance levels will not falter.

4. Allowing Interruptions

Just do not do it. Do not allow the kids, the dog, your spouse, your friends, or your family to interrupt you when you are working from home. I know, the temptation is there. Normally when you are at home you are accessible simply by being present. You need to establish boundaries and let your people know that when you are at your home office space and you are working, they need to wait their turn(s).

5. Being Unconscious of Noise

When you are working from home it is easy to get used to the ambient noise that surrounds you. Your conscious mind just sort of blocks it out, but if you are on a conference call, everyone can hear that noise, the kids in the background, the dogs, the washer, the TV in the next room, and it can all be very distracting.

You may not be able to eliminate the noise altogether, but maybe you could find a remote location, like a closet, that you can use for a phone booth of sorts. If not, then at the very least, you can apologize for the uncontrollable noise and mute your mic or phone until it is your turn to speak.

Keep doing the best you can, and we will all get through this, as we emerge into the new normal together.