Are you a Prisoner in your Home Business?

Are you a prisoner to your home businessPeople running their business from home can sometimes become self imposed prisoners, rarely venturing outside their home office feeling that if they are at work they must be in their office.

Working in total isolation like this is not good for you or your business. And here’s the point – it is totally unnecessary. Running a business from home doesn’t mean being a prisoner in it or that you have to do all your work from it – being home based gives you freedom to chose which should be grasped with both hands and made the most of.

There are many personal and business benefits to working from different locations outside your home. Here are just a few:

  • Reduces feelings of isolation, stagnation and boredom.
  • Can increase your personal effectiveness and time management as you aren’t distracted by the internet, day time TV or the dirty dishes in the sink.
  • Boosts creativity which helps effective decision making and improves quality of work.

So, if you have become a self imposed prisoner in your home office here are some tips to break the habit:

  • Make a list of all business activities that are not dependant on being in your home office
  • Pick a location suitable for that activity. For example, for business reviews, strategy and planning meetings I go to a hotel lounge that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean because it inspires me. A quiet coffee shop is a great alternative venue for writing blog posts. You get the idea.
  • Schedule in your diary times and dates to do those activities. Space them at regular intervals to break up your week/month.
  • When the weather is good, work outdoors. To me that is one of the real luxuries of running a business from home.

I encourage you to make the absolute most of the freedom that running a business from home can offer. Right, I’m off to the beach to do some business planning!

Have you become a home business prisoner? Do you already do some of your business activities outside you home office? If so, how do you feel it benefits you and your business? Please share your thoughts and any tips, ideas and/or experiences you have on this subject below.

Related post:

5 habits that help improve work from home effectiveness


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  • barneyausten

    Hi Ali. Becoming a prisoner with home working is very easy to do. I ensure that I have at least 2 days a week where I go out to meet and greet my contacts – their offices, coffee shop, Bewleys in Leopardstown (the haunt of all small business owners it seems :) ) and others. For thinking – I go for a walk, this works as well. It all helps. When I started first, I stayed in the office 5 days – went mad and wasn't getting anything constructive done!
    Thanks for sharing
    Barney

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    You are so right Barney – sends you demented spending all your time in the home office. It's a bit like putting yourself in solitary confinement. I set an action plan for myself every week now and any tasks not tied to the home office are given a day and time and done out and about at various venues/locations. Like you, I have found that for creative thinking you can't beat a walk along the beach, or along the cliffs.

  • http://www.encouragingexcellence.ie/ Mairéad Kelly

    So very easy to do, which is why I deliberately don't see clients from my home. All the organising is done from here but everything else is off-site.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Mairead, that sounds great. I do similar. I live on the coast so I favour hotel lounges with sea views as my office for planning, writing, strategy sessions and board meetings.

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Great post Ali – thanks for sharing great insights
    I love all the ideas, and do them all myself bar the Atlantic – bit far for me, but the sea is only a 20 min drive from Cork city, so will consider it this summer :)
    I wrote a similar post on Bloggertone a while back but this one quite compliments yours – http://bloggertone.com/management/2009/12/02/sh…
    It's also handy to build up a little database of which hotels have nice working environments, nice coffee, nice staff, free wifi etc etc :)

  • http://twitter.com/coblyn Christine Livingston

    Hi Ali,

    Over the winter, since moving out of the city and into the country, I did have days when I felt a little isolated. It's great to feel that you're connecting with people online, and yet I certainly need human interaction too. One of my challenges in running a solopreneur business is that, whilst I love the freedom and the creativity I can put into it, I'm also an extrovert and need both variety, and other people's energy around me to foster mine.

    Still, I now have the kind of schedule you're talking about here. I have operational and strategy reviews where I go to the coffee shop in a nearby village. Actually, it's far from quiet! But something about the buzz makes me focus down and sometimes I get most clarity that way. Also, if I want to chat, I've now met a lot of the regulars here – a great interlude from what can at times feel like the “seriousness” of running a business. Creative things often find form if I step away from my Mac and indeed my house and go for a walk along the fields. The fresh air, wide open skies and a tonic for the soul. For a complete break away altogether, I might go to the gym or for a swim.

    Since wanting more of the positive experiences of life was a driving force for me quitting the corporate world, spicing things up helps me to keep loving it!

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Elaine, I think it is important to remember that all these little things can give big business benefit as well as personal – this is often overlooked. Thanks for dropping by.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Christine, thanks for sharing your experience. Know what you mean about moving to a new area. I set my current business up in a totally new area and a new country. In addition to the suggestions in this post one of teh thnigs I have found really helpful and supportive is meeting up with a small group of other home based business owners. I am in a small group who meet up once a month in a hotel in Cork. We brainstorm ideas, use each other as sounding boards, share resources and so on. I love this group. Although I don't miss much from the Corporate world, I do miss the team spirit of colleagues. This little group replicates that to a certain extent. This is another example of something that gives as much business benefit as it does personal benefit.

  • http://www.bravuracoaching.com Mandy Lehto

    Ali, I think you've touched a nerve. This implosion happens slowly, doesn't it? Suddenly when you need to go out and interact, it really gets things buzzing. I agree with Christine's comment too – sometimes stepping away from the mac is indeed the best way to get the turbines whirling. Thanks for the reminder!

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Mandy, you are so right. Stepping away really can have a big impact on results. It is an essential really that often gets overlooked. Thanks for dropping by.

  • http://designresumes.com/ juliewalraven

    Hi Ali, I've worked from home for way too many years, seeing clients here too. This is the first year that I don't have the outside contracts though since 1991. Kiwanis took me to weekly meetings for 17 years and Wausau Whitewater had me working under a tent 30 days a year plus outside meetings and meals.

    It hasn't caught up with me yet. Perhaps because there have been so many changes with this transition or because I do have the interaction of some face-to-face clients. Or because I haven't been in one place that much. Gone to Baltimore for Career Thought Leaders for a week and soon leaving for New Orleans for Career Management Alliance conference.

    My huge yard, great view and large house may also play a role… we'll see. I have so much interaction online that I never feel isolated and friends and colleagues are only a phone call, tweet, post, Skype, or e-mail away. I do work outside on the deck though too in the summer months so that adds to the fun.

    I think finding a style that fits your personality and work space and makes you feel creative and professional is important. If you need to get out of your space and it helps, then I think it is great to do that. For me, right now I am happy to have landed.

  • http://designresumes.com/ juliewalraven

    Hi Ali, I've worked from home for way too many years, seeing clients here too. This is the first year that I don't have the outside contracts though since 1991. Kiwanis took me to weekly meetings for 17 years and Wausau Whitewater had me working under a tent 30 days a year plus outside meetings and meals.

    It hasn't caught up with me yet. Perhaps because there have been so many changes with this transition or because I do have the interaction of some face-to-face clients. Or because I haven't been in one place that much. Gone to Baltimore for Career Thought Leaders for a week and soon leaving for New Orleans for Career Management Alliance conference.

    My huge yard, great view and large house may also play a role… we'll see. I have so much interaction online that I never feel isolated and friends and colleagues are only a phone call, tweet, post, Skype, or e-mail away. I do work outside on the deck though too in the summer months so that adds to the fun.

    I think finding a style that fits your personality and work space and makes you feel creative and professional is important. If you need to get out of your space and it helps, then I think it is great to do that. For me, right now I am happy to have landed.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Julie, thanks for sharing your experience and views on this. I agree that each individual person needs to find what works for them. It is equally important to spot (and not ignore) the warning signs when things aren't working so well.

  • http://twitter.com/CrisBuckley Cris Buckley

    Ali, your post is so on target. Isolation is a real issue, and I think more so during the winter when it is easy to succumb to cabin fever. I think your point of putting things on your calendar is especially important when the weather is not beckoning you outside! Planning regular times of getting with others via workshop, seminar, mastermind, coop, or just friendships is important too!

    We do have the opportunity to incorporate in lots of variety into our lives when we work for ourselves–just have to plan it on purpose and schedule it in!

  • http://twitter.com/CrisBuckley Cris Buckley

    Ali, that's awesome! A small group that meets regularly is just the thing! We had a local mastermind that did that for me, but has been on hold because of major life commitments for some of them. Miss it terribly!

  • http://twitter.com/CrisBuckley Cris Buckley

    Ali, that's awesome! A small group that meets regularly is just the thing! We had a local mastermind that did that for me, but has been on hold because of major life commitments for some of them. Miss it terribly!

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Cris, the phrase you use there “on purpose” is very apt. Quite often people get caught in habits and routines that don't serve them. If we do things “on purpose” repeatedly we can create new habits that will serve us better.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Cris, that is such a shame that your mastermind group is on hold. Hope it resumes again soon.

  • http://lisforlatte.squarespace.com Alison Rice

    Too true! Thanks for the timely reminders. :)

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Glad you liked the post Alison. Freedom of choice a big benefit of home based business owners.

  • http://lisforlatte.squarespace.com Alison Rice

    Too true! Thanks for the timely reminders. :)

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Glad you liked the post Alison. Freedom of choice a big benefit of home based business owners.