Challenges Of A Home Business Owner
May 13th, 2008 by Monika MundellWhile many dream of a life spent working from home, most people will never make it. Partially this is because most don’t put in the elbow grease that is needed to build a successful home based business and others fail because they chase the wrong dreams.
It happens everywhere you look. It even happened to me too. In the past I wasted months with the classic “show stoppers” like procrastination, chasing the wrong dream and feeling sorry for myself. I think to some extent we all experience this at some stage during our business building cycle and there really isn’t much wrong with this.
It’s called being human.
We all make mistakes. After all, making mistakes is part of our life and helps us to move ahead. You might have heard the saying “the more mistakes we make, the more successful we will be”. If I take this as some measurement of my future success then I shall be very happy indeed.
Hoping alone won’t get me there and neither will this work for you. While hope is great for the health of our mind, it is another attribute that help us to step out into the fresh air.
Success is the result of our ability to learn from our mistakes and act
I know, this is a very strong statement to make, but look around you. How many successful people do you know? I bet all of them have a pretty powerful story to tell.
A story of failure, sadness and defeat eventually lead them to success.
Pretty much all successful people in business have taken what they learned from their failures and turned it into success.
We all deal with our own little demons day by day. Whether they are related to the way we’d like to run our business, customers, family, colleagues, business partners or last but not least ourselves, we can choose to learn from negative events and use them to our advantage in the future.
You are not dumb
If you understand this concept, but still struggle to make a dime with your business you might want to look at your patterns of behavior.
Often we tend to repeat mistakes, because we are in a habit of doing things a certain way. As you might already know, it takes 21 days to change a habit and really, this is the only thing that stands between you and your bad habit right now.
Take baby steps
The problem for most is that we try to change too many things at once. We are sick of our habit to check email ten times a day which stops us from working effectively. Then we remember that while we are at it (changing things for the better), we could also clean up our messy office.
Soon enough we have a list of twenty things we want to change and give up before we even start.
We fall prey to the classic signs of over commitment and that is the end of that exercise.
Less is more
Instead of pushing too hard, we should aim to work with a conscience at changing things for the better. Some issues can be resolved within hours, while others take days.
Don’t worry about the time. As long as you are moving in the right direction, all is well.
I used to try to take big chunks out of my “negative patterns of behavior”. I resolved to be good by the end of the week and set out to become the next success story…
…Only to give up half way down the road because I tried to take on too many things at once. Countless times I stood up again, only to trip over my own feet the next minute.
I only learned to stand strong once I allowed myself to take things easy, naturally and from that day forward my business magically improved. Well, actually it wasn’t magic. It was hard work, passion and resolve to be successful once and for all that did it in the end.
I gave myself permission to become successful and started implementing steps to move ahead, one step at the time.
It worked!
Are you keen to try, or have you already experienced this amazing feeling of getting closer to your goals every single day?
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May 13th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Thanks for the motivational post! I look forward to being a successful, full-time home business owner one day, and I think these tips will be very helpful.
Taking baby steps is definitely a good piece of advice. Too often we try to change too much, too fast, and it usually ends in failure. If we take our time and make calculated decisions, the result is normally much better!
I look forward to your future posts!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:56 am
@ Tony: you know, success can be seen in many different ways too. For all you know you might already be successful right now. Success also doesn’t always need to be related to money.
It is what you make it and I wish you all the best.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am
When I got into internet marketing, I flew by the seat of my pants. That only took me so far in income. And I tried the fast change to make my time more valuable. Not good. Got be back where I started. One thing at a time. It sucks a little. Real life kicks in. No rush of doubling income in three months. But it is much more stable now. It’s the lesson they don’t teach you in all the “make quick cash” ebooks. Great post.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:58 am
@ Stephan: exactly, you obviously understand this now and even though your pace is slower, you will go much further.
The reason they don’t teach this in make quick cash books is because they want your cash quick. They don’t care about your real success at all as long as it makes them some fast money.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Nice post - thanks Monika. I think a turning point for me was after 4 months full-time online and making nothing I all but gave up. I couldn’t work out what to do, in the end one the big deals for me was not earning a living while my partner was working f/time: I’ve always earned about the same as him. So I went out and got a p/time job - not earning as much as him but giving me enough $ to ease the conscience and still the time to pursue my dream. The other thing too was realising this stuff is not easy: I spent 3 years learning to be a geologist: why should I be able to become an Internet Marketer in 4 months ROTFL I decided the first year was going to be my “learn a trade year” and that took the pressure right off : the money is a bonus now not a must have!
May 14th, 2008 at 2:03 am
@ lissie: thank you for raising an important point.
[quote]I spent 3 years learning to be a geologist: why should I be able to become an Internet Marketer in 4 months[end quote]
What you said there is often under looked by most wanna be marketers online. I found this to be a common problem in my MLM business. People wanted to replace their full time income within 3 months in MLM. Then when I was honest enough to tell them it won’t happen I lost them, never to return.
I guess that was also part of my failure, being too honest.
You put common sense before wishes and hopes and that is what makes all the difference doesn’t it? If there were more people who are as realistic, then maybe, just maybe more would survive in the long term.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Thanks Monica. My aim is to earn my living from blogging, so I understand you very well. Taking baby steps everyday is a good motive, It makes you feel good even after you did not meet your daily goals. Learning from our mistakes is a good approach. The mistakes that do not kill us make us more powerful, I believe in this.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:05 am
@ Mert Erkal: your comment made me laugh, since my first head chef (I’m a fully qualified and retired chef of 22 years) always said this to me in the first years of my apprenticeship.
“If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger”.
Today I certainly know how right he was.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Great discussion here, Monika. I’m especially fond of your “less is more” approach. Many new entrepreneurs do give up because they push way too hard when getting started and see very little results for their huge efforts.
-Jason
May 14th, 2008 at 2:09 am
@ Jason: yes that is very true. I made the same mistake in my first business but due to my nature I persisted and eventually this lead me to what I do now.
The less is more is what eventually led me to my own success. The great thing is, that this is only the beginning.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hi Monika,
If this is a taste of the quality of the articles you’ll be posting, all I have to say is welcome aboard! I LOVED this post. I think it encapsulated what we all feel, from time to time. I think we all need a reminder that it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s part of being human. I’m looking forward to your next post.
- Dave
May 14th, 2008 at 2:12 am
@ David: Thank you so much for those lovely words. I admit that I was a little worried about whether I get eaten alive or not with my first post. LOL. So far so good and I promise to do my best at all times.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
[…] http://courtneytuttle.com/2008/05/13/challenges-of-a-home-business-owner/ […]
May 13th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I’ve only been subscribed for a week but I do love the posts. I almost feel guilty for not leaving a longer comment.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:13 am
@ BlogTalks: don’t worry, I appreciate every single comment, good or bad and am happy you commented at all.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Great post, Monika. I see so many articles about how people should push themselves mercilessly to do this and that to be successful. It’s nice to see someone advocate swimming against that tide.
It’s fine to work hard if that’s what feels right at the moment. But IMHO, relentless pushing without regard for the other aspects of life has the potential to produce more heart attacks than income. And even if all that pushing works, being the richest blogger in the graveyard isn’t much of a prize. Keeping a balance makes all the difference in the world.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:16 am
@ Carla: I so agree with you. Sometimes it isn’t easy to stop though, even though we know we should. Then along comes a problem that throws us out of our orbit and suddenly we realize that it was meant to be that way.
It gives us time to realign our targets, health and life. It just happened to me last week and I’m thankful for it. In the end we all need to do what is right for each one of us at the time we act or not.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
This post has been featured in FullTiltBlogging.com’s Daily Blog Summary today. Great post!
May 14th, 2008 at 2:18 am
@ David: wow, I’m honored. BTW, your concept is really cool for busy people (as we all are anyway).
Thanks for including me.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
This is a GREAT “reality check” post!!!!
When I tell people that I work from home, 9 out of 10 will say, “Lucky!”
Luck has nothing to do with it. I think everyone who works from home can attest to the truths you’ve outlined here.
By the way, I didn’t realize this wasn’t Mark or Court’s post until I read the comments…. and I’m a reader of your other blog! NICE JOB of capturing the “tone” of Court’s Internet Marketing School!!!
May 14th, 2008 at 2:23 am
@ Kathy: Wooohooo, looks like I scored a home run.
But kidding aside, I know what you mean. When I tell people that I work from home as a freelance writer and pro-blogger they go “ahem, WHAT exactly do you do”. I get questions like “do you actually earn money doing this” and “who pays for that” all the time.
I guess it is hard to imagine for those who have never been exposed to this market at all. Kind of like me trying to understand what exactly a Diesel Fitter does.
The thing is that those very same people then turn around and say “gosh, wouldn’t I love to work from home myself”.
Beats me.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
It does sounds great to work from home. I do work from home. An ex banker, but when i got into internet marketing i decided to quit my job. At first it really hard to make the decision. But I don’t know if it’s lucky or what, now I earn more than my previous jobs. One thing for sure is to know exactly what to do, how to do it and most of you must be serious about it.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:26 am
@ exfatguy: I don’t think it was luck that got you to success. You would have worked hard no doubt and applied what you had to do in order to move ahead in your business.
Like you said, being serious about a business is really a must.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:51 am
You have hit the nature of running an internet business right on the head. Take small steps, get the hard stuff done when you are most productive, and don’t expect to get rich over night.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Some very valid points there. In addition to that, managing goals and expectations is a continuous process and they should evolve as your business changes and grows. If you’re not meeting your goals, you need to work out why, and possibly adjust them a bit.
Great work!
Dan
May 24th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Thank you Monica,
I have worked from home on two different occasions the first time I used to really procrastinate and was not disciplined at all, but this time ALL I do is work, and the difference is that THIS time I am doing something I really really like as opposed to before where I had to force myself at every step.
Olga
June 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am
[…] isn’t bad as it instills a healthy respect into our conscience. When we are aware of certain challenges in business, we can prepare against them and increase our chances of […]