Working from home – that special 8th trait
It is around 18 months ago, when a friend, Eliot Zimelman, asked me to join a boutique networking group, whose members run a businesses from home. We have since tackled many issues, which are common to all of us, and frequently we have pondered if there is any true advantage to the home environment or whether we should pay out for ‘proper’ office space.
Unofficially, Eliot raised the subject again today, when he sent around a link to a blog post entitled: “7 traits you need, if you want to work from home”. The author, Jason Demers, referred to: –
- Self-motivation
- Good communication skills
- Resourcefulness
- Tech-savvyness
- Ability to self-evaluate
- Independence
- Confidence
Arguably, the last point is most important. In your home, there is no set of work colleagues around to provide extra encouragement. You need to be able to power ahead by yourself. That takes a lot of internal drive, which in turn demands confidence.
However, I believe that Demers has missed a trick. My evidence comes from many of my own clients, whose home is their office. In my sessions as a business mentor, they often lay out to me that they are busy, yet never seem to fulfill their work schedule.
Yes, some of this can be blamed on procrastinating, frequently putting household chores first. However, I maintain that there is an additional factor, the 8th trait.
When many of us set up shop in our lounge or kitchen, we fail to internalise that the hours between 9.00am and 5.00pm precious, even holy. They are defined as commercial time. In other words, this is when you are supposed to create new, valued work. In actual fact, many of us at this stage become lost with the minutiae of worthless tasks, which could so often be done another time.
Interestingly, I came across this phenomena the other day. When I pressured my client, he proudly declared how busy he was busy yet income was tailing away. So I asked him for a specific list of tasks he had undertaken recently. I was greeted by an embarrassed glance.
If you set out to work from home and you cannot maintain a ‘commercial regime’, you are likely to see a very low sign in your income column. You have to be able to move out from the four walls and to engage consistently with your customers.
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