I was not prepared when I started my home business.  I had taken into account that this was a real business and it needed my full attention.  I was even prepared that it was going to take some time for the business to really start producing income.  What I was not prepared for was the level of distractions that existed in my own home.  Kids, chores minor emergencies such as leaking pipes never entered my mind when I started.  Every morning I would go to my office, a converted guest room, go to work.  No sooner would I get started that a knock on the door would come.  It was one of my three boys, “Daddy, will you fix my toy?”.  What father can refuse such a request.  So I would stop, fix the toy, or try too then go back to work.  Then something else would require my attention.  This is how the day would go.  A little work and a lot of interruptions.  This went on until my wife and I set up some ground rules.  Unless there was an emergency that required an evacuation of the house or a trip to the emergency room, certain times of the day daddy was not available.  I think this was harder for me than anyone else, but it worked an I became more productive.

I was disillusioned to think that I had the ability to run my home business while attending to things that needed to be done around the house.  I like to work with my hands although I lack the skills to do things right the first time.  As I worked I found that in the back of my mind I was constantly thinking of the dripping facet or the uncut crass that needed my attention.  Here again I would stop what I was doing and start working around the house.  I was no longer running a home business but a business of my home.  I would spend the majority of my time doing this and that around the house only to be frustrated an guilty at the end of the day because I had neglected my online business.  This issue I had to tackle on my own.  I started filling out a time sheet every day of the number of hours I spent with my internet business.  Wow, was that I eye opener.  I resolved to treat my online marketing as if I were working for some one else.  A couple of breaks with lunch in the middle of the day.  Did this always work?  You guessed it.  But it did provide me with a framework to be more productive.

Let’s face it the main reason I started my home based business was to spend more time with my family.  My family was accustomed to me working long hours and working on the weekends as well.  But that was going to change now that I had fired my boss.  Sometimes my need to succeed in online marketing overwhelms my desire to spend quality time with my family.  So what do you do?  I decided that I would work very hard during the day at my internet business, devoting my evenings with my family.  I would reward myself for reaching goals during the week by giving myself a long weekend to be with the ones I love.  This served several purposes.  I demonstrate to my children a strong work ethic while at the same time spending quality time with my children.

It is a balancing act to work at a home business while maintaining a healthy relationship with ones family.  It took me some time to realize that distractions in my home were killing my dream of owning a top online business.  I also discovered that I needed to be disciplined enough to treat my internet business as a business and not a hobby.  Never loose site of why you started a home based business, quality time with your family.  Keep these things in mind and you will be on the fast track to a successful home business.