SOHO Start-Up -- Ten Ways To Keep Your Home-Based Business On Track

Ten Ways To Keep Your Home-Based Business On Track

(Redondo Beach, CA) -- According to Millie Szerman, one of the country’s leading experts on working from home, running a home based business can sometimes mean being all things to all people. Balancing family, social and career demands is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to keeping a home-based business focused and successful. Here are Millie’s top ten tips to keeping your home-based business on-track.

Stay organized to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Your productivity will improve each day.
Work on what has to be done first each day, and tackle tomorrow’s projects tomorrow. This sounds overly simplistic, but you’d be surprised how many people waste time worrying about projects that are due way in the future, and ignore projects that have to be finished right away.
Save the things you enjoy doing for when you’re feeling tired, frustrated or restless at work.
Monitor your work time to make sure you’re not working too much or too little.
Educate yourself and try to learn at least one new fact each day. Keep a journal to remind yourself of how far you’ve come.
Build in breaks to avoid burnout. When you work at home it’s important to create “people contact” breaks to satisfy your need for social connection -- one way is to develop interests and hobbies that take you out of the house.
Avoid needless expenses and other annoyances. There are two extremes to business-related spending: either you become overzealous about being in your own business and spend money like water, or you pinch pennies and procrastinate buying yourself those tools that will help you become e more successful. Both extremes should be avoided -- at all costs!
Keep accurate financial records and do a quarterly overview of your expenses vs. income. Balance your books and maintain consistency when coding expenses or making monetary assignments. One of the perks of keeping good records is that your accountant can find deductions that might not have been clear without thorough financial data.
Keep enough money in the bank to cover your living expenses for at least three months. If your cash flow is unsteady or uneven, you’ll be glad to have funds stored up for the not so prosperous times.
Take stock of your accomplishments. Every six months is a good time to stop and evaluate your home-based business. Pat yourself on the back for your success stories and take an honest look at the areas in which you could stand to improve. Look at where you’re at related to your goals and set your course for the next six months heading in the right direction.

For more advice on working from home, check out Millie’s book, A View From The Tub or visit www.aviewfromthetub.com

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