GlobalBX

Having a home based business is a wonderful way to be available to a family while still earning a living.

Balancing Business
Balancing the business with family schedules and commitments can be quite a challenge. A productive way to balance both is to set and keep regular working hours. Making sure the family knows that during these hours you will not be available to them is crucial to the success of the business. A positive benefit of having a home business is choosing one’s own schedule.

Write A Home Business Schedule
One of the biggest mistakes home based business consultants make is not writing a schedule. A written schedule will help you, your family and your customers!

Professionalism is an attitude! Not a time commitment! If you ant to achieve success working from home put a few professional practices into your business. All successful businesses have a written schedule and so should YOU!

This schedule may differ for various home business owners depending on the schedule of their spouse or the ages of their children. For instance, if one’s spouse works during the day and there are no children, it would be beneficial to the relationship to plan work hours during the day so that evening hours can be reserved for time to be together. If a family has young children who are home during the day, it is most productive if the work hours revolve around children’s sleeping hours.

This might mean getting up early to work a few hours before the children wake up. Working an hour or two during a morning or afternoon nap is also a great way to balance work time. And working more at night after the children have been put to bed works well for many families. If children are in school full time during the day, that is an optimal time to get work completed.

If teenaged children are in the home and need rides to work or to be picked up after sports practices, the home based business owner can work those obligations into their schedule. Because teen schedules often change throughout a week, the home business parent must be flexible in order to meet the needs of the children as well as the business. It is best for them to make a day to day schedule the night before, or first thing each morning.

Delegate Family Commitments
Learning to delegate the pickup responsibility to a spouse, or asking the teenager to try to find transportation home on days it is virtually impossible for the work at home parent to transport can also be helpful in the home business balancing act. It’s often beneficial if family members are shown the value of the work at home parent’s business through the financial benefits if brings to the family as a whole.

This might include a vacation the money from the business paid for, music lessons or sports equipment. It can include the money to purchase weekly groceries, or a cable or internet bill.

Once they see how the business positively impacts the family, children and spouses will be much more likely to cooperate with the home based business owner in the family and understand the need to pitch in with transportation issues, cooperate with work hours, help around the house and help with the business when needed.