The Truth About Loneliness When Running a Business From Home

The Truth About Loneliness When Running a Business from homeWhen you hear people listing out the pros and cons of running a business from home, one of the cons that often comes up is loneliness.

Personally, I don’t subscribe to the point of view that loneliness automatically goes with the territory of running a business from home. Here’s why:

There are some people excruciatingly lonely in their home business. There are other people that loneliness is never an issue for. Now I know some folk will argue that it depends on what you are like as a person. And to some extent that is true.

But here is the truth about loneliness when running a business from home:

It’s a choice.

It’s a result of mindset driving behaviour, choices and actions.

Let me explain:

The start point of being lonely running your business from home is acceptance. Acceptance that it is the norm or “just the way it is” (boy, I hate that phrase).

Acceptance is the killer of creativity

The minute you accept loneliness as inevitable it stops you looking for alternatives or creative solutions. It keeps you stuck where you are.

(Note: there are times acceptance of a situation is a healthy and constructive thing – this isn’t one of them!).

So, if loneliness is a result of mindset driving choices and behaviour patterns, it begs the question “what can we do to eradicate it?”:

5 Tips for Eradicating Loneliness from your Home Business

Stop Accepting it – what you accept you keep. So make the decision that loneliness will no longer be a part of life in your home business.

Schedule your week wisely – don’t block activities that require you to be on your own for days on end all together. Mix your week up. Give it variety in bite size chunks. Not only will it help you eradicate loneliness, it renews your energy, improves focus and gives you a boost.

Abandon your home office – now, those of you who know me well might be surprised by this comment as I am such a big advocate for running a home business and the freedom it can bring. What I mean is stop taking the phrase “home business” so literally. Look at what activities aren’t necessary to do at home and do them elsewhere. For example, a coffee shop or a hotel lounge.

Buddy up – make an arrangement with other home workers to work at the same location. Schedule regular breaks and just chat. Make sure the breaks are time bounded otherwise it just becomes a day long coffee break and no work gets done!!!

Build a support team – having people to bounce ideas around with, share challenges and get another perspective is a great way to kick loneliness into touch. Build this into your weekly schedule. (I will be talking more on this subject in the next blog post)

What is you take on this subject? Do you think loneliness is an inevitable result of running a business from home?


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  • http://www.workfromhomewisdom.com/information/free-report/ Judy Heminsley

    Hi Ali

    I quite agree that loneliness is far from inevitable when you work from home, and believe the biggest advantage of home working is that you are free to arrange your schedule in the way that suits you best. For me, planning to go out and meet people is the top priority – I have learnt thro experience that a week with no commitments might look like an opportunity to get loads done, but in fact ends up very differently, as I run out of motivation. Once I have trips away from home planned, I can settle down to work and use the time productively.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Judy, thanks for sharing your experience on this topic. It is amazing the impact community and support can have on all areas of our business and personal life. Having support and community is such a key element of success, productivty, energy levels, focus and so on that it is a total no brainer and should be considered a pirority in all business planning, action plans and diary scheduling.

  • http://www.theidentitycoach.co.uk Sue Brown

    Good points in this post Ali, and from Judy on the diminishing returns of having acres of empty space in the diary. I think it may be a process of trial and error to find the balance between time alone and time with people: it’s a really individual preference with extroverts drawing energy from other people and introverts re-charging through time on their own to reflect. What an extrovert calls ‘loneliness’ looks very different to an introvert!

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    I think you have hit the nail on the head there Sue – it is all about eradicating loneliness in a way that works for each individual. As you point out we are all very different and should design what works on an individual basis.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    I think you have hit the nail on the head there Sue – it is all about eradicating loneliness in a way that works for each individual. As you point out we are all very different and should design what works on an individual basis.

  • http://twitter.com/KidsAreHeroes Gabe O’Neill

    Hi Ali,
    I have been working from home for the last 16 years and it’s funny that loneliness has never crossed my mind. I have the luxury of having a stay-at-home wife and get to see my daughter a lot more than I would have. As a matter of fact I have been able to watch her grow up and I hope she remembers when she becomes an adult that every day she would come into my office and sit on my lap for a few minutes to visit.

    Where the disadvantage comes in for me is the lack of networking. I do not own my own business – I’m a salaried worker. Because I work from home I don’t get to meet other people to get better opportunities. I finally realized it and started to join some networking groups. This helped and also got me started in Facebook and Twitter. Many people who don’t get social media say it’s another excuse not to meet face to face and that it is impersonal. I won’t argue that point except to say that these “impersonal” meetings are better than nothing and they lead to personal ones. I have gained quite a bit from social media so I would offer that as another resource for your readers.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Hi Gabe, thanks for dropping by and sharing your experience. As Sue already mentioned, different things work for differrent people and as long as you have found something that works for you it doesn’t matter what others think.

  • http://www.businessdinnerclub.co.uk Glenda Shawley

    I think for many the loneliness is not having people to bounce ideas around with so you are right a support network is really important. About 15 months ago I set up a Business Dinner Club to address this issue and it is proving really popular. People like evenings because it doesn’t get in the way of work and it’s just like having a big dinner party so the conversation is wide ranging, sometimes about work, other times any topic goes. It’s about building the relationship then when you want to bounce an idea or a problem around you have someone or even several people to go to. Sometimes people will ask for ideas at dinner and that can prove quite fun.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Hi Glenda,

    Your business dinner club sounds like a great idea.

    I agree with you, having people to bounce ideas with is so important. Because we don’t have it on tap as sole traders, it is vital we proactively make it happen.

    Thanks for dropping by the site.

  • Lorna

    I have to admit that I never get lonely, but then I am a bit anti-social and enjoy my own company. Indeed, I sort of enjoy chatting more on Twitter and facebook than face to face!! Is that sad or strange?! but just to assure you that I am somewhat normal – I also enjoy working at home as I’m here when the kids come in froms chool and as my husband is a farmer, he is around too. I do attend networking meetings and attend as many as I can and have been in a weekly business group too which has been great.

  • http://alidavies.com/ Ali Davies

    Hi Lorna

    Welcome to the site.

    No I don’t think your preference’s are sad or strange. I think it is about each of us working out what works for us as we are all different. If that works for you great. Sounds like you have found a balance that works for you and your family.

    Thanks for dropping by.