By Evan Vitale
Working from home definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are some tips to help keep you focused; avoid distractions and help your home-based company grow.
- Set specific goals for sales and expenses. Set a budget and follow it.
- Ignore things that will cause you to become unproductive. For example, turn off the television and radio so you can focus on getting important tasks accomplished. Avoid running personal errands or doing yard work.
- Dress for success. Even if you’re working at home and you’re not planning on seeing customers or clients, by following a “get started” morning routine that includes “getting ready for work” puts you in a professional frame of mind.
- Know your customers. Understand exactly what your customers/clients want and need from your company. What do they want/need? How can you help them?
- Have a great marketing strategy. You don’t need to spend a lot of money in order to successfully market your home-based business. Your marketing plan can include e-mails, social media posts (in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), brochures, newsletters, blogs and much more.
Don’t put yourself or your home-based business down. Stay sharp and professional. One of my clients told me once that whenever a potential customer or client would ask him where is his office located, he would answer “I work out of my home. It helps me keep overhead down and my fees low.”