Starting a home business beyond the rat race is the Holy Grail for many who have been beating clocks and grudgingly tolerating co-workers, supervisors, workplace politics, egos, and incompetence in their previous vocation.

Business life from home is very different!

Starting a work from home business is usually quite an exciting and unique experience for most newbies. The change of environment, products, people and cultural changes are a “BUZZ” for a while, however this new “FREEDOM” presents some challenges and pitfalls for the uninitiated.

It would be wise to establish some personal disciplines when beginning PROFESSIONAL LIFE AT HOME. Yes, you no longer need to travel to a job site; now you just walk to your new workstation and start operations, but often it’s not that easy!

• Resist the TRAPS of other domestic activities at home
• Unusually at first your home is now your place of rest, recreation and WORK! – Don’t confuse these dynamics or you’ll be back in RAT RACE before you know it!
• Be sure to PLAN your day and work through it just as you would if you were away from home.
• Communicate your WORKPLACE PROTOCOLS to others in the home so you can cooperatively combine professional and domestic responsibilities.
• Establish A DAILY METHOD OF OPERATION – Identify business activities for each day, week and month.
• Build a strong relationship with your Sponsor or others in the same or similar business dynamics and COMMUNICATE with them regularly.
• Recognize the FREEDOM of working from home and the ISOLATION of it: Ironically, some people fail because they simply can’t perform efficiently in the absence of other people.
• Identify when their Professional activities end and they re-enter their domestic existence. Many first-time home-based entrepreneurs forget when to “TURN OFF” and engage other parts of their home life!

Goal, performance, and productivity measures are commonplace in most progressive organizations. These definitions set the performance direction and expectations for individuals and groups alike. Without these measures there is no performance chart and little is done. When little is done, companies quickly go bankrupt!

Works from Home Entrepreneurs are encouraged to exercise the same disciplines. Establish a comprehensive business plan, performance resources, and performance benchmarks.

Sure it may be a lot less formal than when you were back on the payroll, but without Disciplined Leadership, Planning, Resources and specific Performance goals, your new found freedom and home business could soon be on the slide!