Home-Based Businesses Require Extreme Time Management Skills

As corporate America has downsized, the number of home-based businesses has continued to increase. You can make money from home while enjoying the flexibility and perks a home-based career brings. To earn a decent profit, however, you must be vigilant in protecting your time and reputation.

You can have both money and freedom. Use the following tips to ensure that you don't sacrifice one for the other.

Set Up Space. Laptops make it possible to work anywhere, which means if you have an errand you can still get some work done. You don't have to be chained to your desk, and that's a great benefit.

Nonetheless, set up a permanent workspace for your home business. Portability may be good in most senses but it can also bring chaos and disorganization.

Play out this scenario: You took notes at a meeting with your client, but when you got home, you set up the laptop on the kitchen counter and went right to work on another project. Then a call came in. Then some personal errands called for your attention. At night you tried to work on the initial project but you couldn't find the notes from your meeting.

When you have a set office space you have a better shot of getting your hands on the information you need just because you're narrowing down the places you could have left it. It's all about consistency. Despite the portability of work nowadays, you must have a stable place for files, memos, contracts and the like.

Have a Set Computer Space. If you use your computer for personal use as well as professional use, devise a method for keeping the two worlds separate. Avoid games on a work computer. In terms of email, keep separate accounts if for no other reason than to minimize the junk you have to sort through before you can start your work day.

Devise a Routine. You don't have to work 9-5 or 11-7--which is the beauty of being home based--but you must formulate some sort of consistency. Lack of organization can kill a home business. Routine enhances organization, so take time to figure out what your schedule will be. You may have to take off for doctor appointments or school events, but make up the time just as you would for any outside job.

As you are devising your schedule, take advantage of your natural up times, but keep in mind that you must always have your clients in mind. You are performing a service for, or delivering a product to. someone, so you have to work your schedule to serve someone else. You may find you do your most productive work in the middle of the night, but if you are never available during the day you'll run out of clients quickly.

Stay Professional. Your home-based business may consist of a carved-out nook in your dining room, but it's imperative that you work appears professional to the public and that every product you create comes out looking like it came out of a well-staffed office. Size doesn't equal professionalism and quality. It's all in the approach.

Determine Your Look. While one of the benefits of running a home-based business is the ability to run around in bedroom slippers and sweats, you may not be able to function as a professional that way. Only you know your personality. Some people who work at home find that they can only go into work mode if they shower, dress, put on make up, etc.

Even if you can work in your pajamas successfully, the world reverts back to normal when you walk out the front door. It depends on the industry you're working in, but generally, you should dress professionally for every meeting.

Your client may show up in ripped jeans, but you shouldn't. That person is going to pay you money and may judge you even if he's not following the same rules. Moreover, you don't know when or where you will meet your next client.

Can We Talk? You should invest in a separate phone line for your business as soon as possible. When choosing to go with a landline versus a cell as your regular phone line, quality has to take precedence over convenience. If the calls don't come through or if a client can't understand you, the convenience of a cell must remain an add-on, not your primary mode of communication.

Answer the telephone in a professional manner during business hours, keeping in mind various time zones. Develop a greeting you use each time you answer the phone, even if it's only your company or personal name followed by a greeting.

Aim for consistency. Sound and act professionally if you expect to compete against larger companies.

Keep your time and office space organized and you'll be able to work in an essential element of running your business: creative down time. Take time during your work day to physically stretch and walk to reduce your physical stress. And to combat mental fatigue, feed your silly, creative side by taking time to leaf through a magazine or drink a cup of coffee while you think great thoughts. You chose to work at home so you could control your work life, not the other way around.