Getting things done when “the boss” is not around

One of the most common reasons why people want to work from home is to be their own boss…

“Fire Your Boss” is a common subject line for work at home ads and it sounds dreamy, not having to set up an alarm clock, not having to rush through traffic to get to the office to work with people you don’t really like and to work hard to make other people rich.

So when people see these ads in the newspaper or the Internet, they see a way out, they see a light at the end of the tunnel, and they choose to enter that “tunnel” so they evaluate a few opportunities and join a home based business or network marketing business opportunity and get are excited of the bright future ahead.

But soon, the realize that it’s very different to be “watched by the boss” than actually being the boss… in the beginning you think is fun to have all the freedom to do things when and how you want to do them, you think is awesome to work around “your schedule”, and you create this illusion that “the business is taking care of itself while you are busy being the boss”, while you are actually “playing to the office”.

Let me tell you, your business is NOT taking care of itself, if  YOU are not doing the things your “employees” are supposed to be doing, like prospecting and selling, soon you will have no business at all!

See, that is one of the reasons most people fail in home based business or network marketing, lack of discipline, it’s not because the opportunity they joined is a scam, or the products don’t work or ”nobody” is interested in buying, it’s because they don’t have the discipline to work for their own business as hard as they do for their annoying boss.

I know from first hand experience that this can seem to be a difficult giant to conquer, I was overwhelmed when I looked at my “to-do-list” and I used to hide the list and just “get ready to get ready to work”, wasting my time appearing to be busy when in reality I wasn’t doing any money MAKING activity.

If you are going to tackle that “to-do-list” don’t keep staring at the list, just commit to start doing one of the items of the list… just to start even if you don’t feel like it. Don’t wait for motivation to kick in because most likely, (if you motivation has the same “attitude” problem like mine) it’s going to show up after you see that you actually accomplished something. 

For example, commit to write 1 sentence of that article, post 1 ad,  call 1 prospect, hand 1 business card, etc, once you start, you will be motivated to keep going, the hardest part is to start, so don’t give it  a thought, JUST START.

You are the boss now, and I’m sure you like yourself more than you did your boss, right?

• Be respectful to yourself and develop the discipline to work your business every day just like you used to show up for work every day.
• You have the freedom of a flexible schedule of course, but treat your business as a business.
• Set up goals and commit to meet those goals, 1 step at a time.
• Divide your work and goals in little bits and pieces, every section you accomplish brings you closer to meet the final goal
• Make use of “hidden time”. For example, if you are driving the kids to school, listen to a training CD, while you are waiting in the doctor’s office jot down topics for future articles, if you are folding clothes, post an ad before you put those clothes away, if you are waiting for the coffee to brew, staple some samples to your business cards, etc.
• Divide your work days in categories, for example: AM-post ads, send emails, make calls. PM-write articles, post to blog, social networking. Or categorize each day Monday-post ads, Tuesday-blog, etc.

 

It will take some time to adjust and come up with an effective work plan for you, but once you do, stick to it and watch your business grow!

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About Mariangie - She lives in Puerto Rico where she works full time as an Agronomist, owns a home based business since 2004 and is the proud mother of 2 bright kids (and 2 cute cats).

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