
In this article we’ll share our best tips on how to work at home successfully.
Working at home is a dream for many. There’s a view that getting away from the boss offers more job satisfaction and freedom.
But it’s not as easy as it sounds..
There are challenges as well.
Working from home successfully requires patience, time, commitment, and the following 5 steps.
How to Work at Home Successfully:
To successfully build your business from home, there are some golden rules you need to follow to guarantee success.
A lot of people think working from home means work whenever you want, but if you want to build a serious business then you need to put in the hours.
Treat your business like a full-time job and you’ll see amazing results.
Here’s the Rules..
1. Create a Schedule and Stick to It
This is very important.
You can’t just get up when you feel like it and work when you want. Well I guess you can, but you need to create healthy daily habits that inspire you and keep you on track.
Bottom line…
Setting up a schedule is essential.
Not only does this get you in the right mindset to work, but you make it easier for the people around you.
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Communication is always key, let your family, friends, and neighbors know that..
Just because you work from home, doesn’t mean you’re available at their beck and call.
Setting a schedule allows you to say that you’re working between X and Y times.
There’s a difference between being at home and being free.
You can set breaks throughout your day to re-energize yourself and ease the stress.
But you need to stick to a consistent schedule.
Emergencies can come up, but avoid situations you have control over from getting in your way.
You’re WORKING from home; remember that.
2. Eliminate Distractions from Home:
Your friends and family aren’t the only distraction.
You’ll have plenty in the house, including your own kids.
Treat your home as an office..
You wouldn’t take your kids to work, so why are they in your home office?
Even if you don’t have a dedicated room for your work, treat the space you work as your home office.
If you can, put your children into childcare or make some sort of childcare arrangement.
This can just be for a couple of days a week, allowing you to focus on client work, conference calls, and other work that needs quiet in the home.
Don’t forget about other distractions in the house!
Keep the TV turned off and avoid doing housework in the middle of the day.
It also helps to avoid social media or TV shows.
If you still find the house distracting, consider a couple of days at a local coffee shop or the library.
These are also excellent backups should your internet or electricity fail.
3. Set Your Own Mini Deadlines:
When you get a deadline for work, don’t leave it to the last minute.
Create your own mini deadlines throughout the week or month.
I use Google Calendar.
It’s awesome to keep your life on task.
This is especially beneficial for longer projects.
You avoid staying up all night the day before the official deadline.
This is especially important when initially learning how to work from home successfully.
Finishing early makes you look professional and dedicated. Your clients or customers will want to work with you again in the future.
Should an emergency happen, you’ve given yourself time.
You don’t have to rush to get the work finished on time, meaning that the quality is sub-par and your clients are left unsatisfied with your work.
They have their own deadlines and need you to stick to your own.
If you let the deadlines slip, you won’t get referrals or return clients.
Your own mini deadlines will also allow you to spread out your work, especially when working for multiple clients or customers.
Consider using a calendar and mark each clients deadline on it so you can see – at a glance – what needs to get done.
4. Make Time to Market Your Business:
You will need to do some work that you can’t bill anyone for.
These are known as unbillable hours and include: account paperwork, filing taxes, marketing your business, and checking emails.
It’s important to make some time for these tasks.
Marketing is the only way you’ll reach out to new potential customers, especially in the beginning of your online career.
It’s the marketing that gets your initial customers through the door, so they can spread the good word about you.
Paperwork needs to be filed on time and taxes need to be paid.
You could find yourself with a huge fine that can potentially put your business into financial difficulty if you forget about these issues.
Some people who work from home will set a day dedicated to their unbillable tasks.
Others will set a few hours at the end or start of each day to space it all out.
Find a system that works for you and stick to it.
Read More: What is The Best Way to Make Money Without a Job?
As a freelancer, there’s always the possibility that your clients will no longer need your services.
5. Stick to a Proven Business Plan:
When looking to work from home, most people will try multiple strategies, business opportunities, and services only to eventually throw in the towel.
If you want to build a successful online business then you need to know where to start.
You need to build your business on a solid foundation.
In short, we need a website, and we need to learn how to market it using white-hat seo techniques.
Just the fact that you have a website will put you far ahead of your competition.
Conclusion on Working at Home Successfully:
Though most people love the idea of being able to work from home, the vast majority of them are unable to do it.
Not due to lack of job options, but due to a lack of schedule and self-discipline.
When you work for yourself you are responsible for everything there’s no one to tell you what to do.
Its a challenge but one that is well-worth the struggle.
If you would like to learn how to build a profitable website from scratch, check out our free training series below!
What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how to work from home successfully?
Share them below!
Everyone wish for his or her own business and there are many online programs and tutorials available which help every one who wish to start own business from home, but beware of Scams. Do well research before joining such programs.
Absolutely Nisha, good advise. For those that need a rock solid training program.
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Yes, People always thought that life is cool and do nothing when we choose to work from home. But from what I experienced this is not true and indeed take more efforts than working for someone.
The good news is we are all free from boss, instruction, and the time we spent for our business can create long sustainable income, sometimes for life.
But 3 things remain important and those who failed in there will have hard time work from home. – Dedication, time and efforts. What do you think Todd?
I think you are absolutely correct Maxx. Also having the right game plan and a proven system to create a solid foundation to your online business is what made the difference for me.
For that, get hooked up with the Wealthy Affiliate Educational Platform and get started.
Best,
Todd
Working from home doesn’t mean you have to play. It’s work even if you are doing it from home, it is still work.
Maximum focus is needed. I like how you took time explain this with tips on how to work from home, very helpful.
I just bookmarked the site. I need to always refer back to uplifting posts like this. Thanks man
You bet Jimmy, happy to help and come on back whenever you like.
Two thing I struggle with most about working from home is easily making a schedule that I can actually do and the distractions from my house.
I literally turn off all devices, EVERYTHING, and make myself some coffee and try to work . If i’m not alone at home i’ll be distracted.. it’s rather annoying. How long do you work consecutively without breaks or distractions?
Ah Yunier, it depends. If I’m engrossed in a project, I’ll work for 10 hours with a couple of stretch/meal breaks.
I like going 1 – 2 hours most of the time and then do a little stretching, yoga, go for a walk, and then get back to it.
I do have a pretty strong work ethic, now the problem get to be when it’s hard turning the work off.
It all comes back to balance I think.
Best,
Todd
Todd, I am so glad to have come across your site. I just recently quit my 9-5 and am now working full time online.
I was just reading through your 5 tips for being successful and the one that hit home the most was setting the mini deadlines.
I often times don’t do this and in turn I find myself getting behind and not hitting my daily/weekly goals.
It seems as if I just get lazy sometimes with it and it hurts me in the long run.
With that being said, this article has inspired and rejuvenated me to stay on top of things and hold myself accountable with my online business everyday. Thanks Todd!
You bet Hunter, happy to help. That discipline can be a pain sometimes, but I think it pays off big time.
Stick to those goals, try your best each day, and that’s all you can ask of yourself at the end of the day.
Did I do the best I could today? That’s it.
Cheers,
Todd
Hi Todd,
Thank you for these helpful tips on how to work at home successfully! I can see how so many people fail when trying to work from home because they don’t stick to any kind of schedule.
They are so wrapped up in the freedom that working from home provides that they find it hard to work at all.
Like you said, having a set schedule and self-discipline is the key to success at home. Great advice!
Thank you!
Weston
You bet Weston.
I watched a refreshing Wealthy Affiliate Webinar in the beginning of 2017 from Jay.
He was talking about the daily habits and by creating a kind of therapeutic routine, you can really get more creativity and enjoyment while working at home.
I found it refreshing and really when we stay on task and focus on short term goals or tasks that build to the larger task, and you’ll get ahead faster to reach that larger long term goal.
Glad the post helped and thanks for the feedback.