8 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Business From Home

8 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Business From Home

Launching a business from home can provide tremendous flexibility and the kind of work-life balancethat we all crave. But the reality is that home businesses bring their own set of challenges, says Caroline Daniels, lecturer for entrepreneurship and technology at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. For example, "doing your business on your own from home can get stale. It's hard to keep feeding the imagination all on your own."

Here are eight mistakes to avoid when starting a business from home:

1. Spending Too Much Time at Home: Loneliness is the number one complaint from people who work at home, says Anne Alexander, a small-business coach in Brevard, N.C. "Many people are not prepared for the isolated working environment." While it may seem easier to do everything virtually, that isn't the best approach. Instead, take time away from your home office for face-to-face meetings that will help build your business. Plan lunch dates, attend networking groups or work from coffee shops to build a social element into your day, Alexander says
2. Keeping a 24-7 Work Schedule: When Leon Oks co-founded iCanvasART, an online seller of custom canvases, he and several employees spent day and night working from his dining room. It's a recipe for burnout. "You're feeling guilty that you're not working, and there's no disconnect," Oks says. Eventually, he asked employees to leave by 6 p.m. and made sure to schedule free time into his day. But this year, he moved his Niles, Ill.-based company to an office space because the growing business was becoming difficult to manage at home.
3. Allowing Interruptions: Without a boss breathing down your neck, it's easy to take a phone call or two from family and friends. But when you're constantly in "interrupt mode," it hurts your business focus, Daniels says. To combat disruptions, she recommends setting aside blocks of quiet time throughout the day when you don't allow phone calls or email alerts. You also need to be careful about getting pulled too often into distracting chores like laundry or childcare. Remind family members and babysitters of your work hours and explain you'll be answering only urgent requests.
4. Depending Too Much on Loved Ones: Without coworkers around, you can easily fall into a habit of talking out your business problems with your spouse or friends. But loved ones may get weary of talking about your business. What's more, they may not provide the best advice because they don't always understand your business, Alexander says. So, try to connect with others in your field to develop an informal network of advisors. "Build a mastermind group of others with home-based businesses," Alexander suggests.
5. Failing to Create a Separate Work Area: Even if you don't live in a huge home, set aside a space reserved almost entirely for work. Opt for a little-used room or even an empty corner of your living area to create a physical divide between work and home. If you must work in a common area of the house like the dining room or kitchen, put away personal objects to set a professional tone for the day, Daniels says. "Even if you don't have a separate space, you can create it."
6. Letting Employees Abuse Your Home: You risk damage to your home if you don't establish rules for how employees should behave there. For example, Oks got stressed out over how his workers would eat lunch in his living room, walk on his light-colored carpet with their shoes on, and tack notes onto the walls. Instead of scolding employees later, it's better to set expectations from the get go, Oks says. "Set up rules you're comfortable with." Oks began asking employees to take off their shoes and clean off their workspace at the end of the day so he could use his dining room table each evening.
7. Getting too Busy to Stay Organized: As work piles up, it's easy to let organization slide, says Tata Harper, who started an eponymous skincare line at her home in Shoreham, Vt. "It is easy to succumb to disorganization when you are working in the same place that you live since it is a private space that you don't often share with" coworkers or other visitors, she says. Harper files papers away before they pile up and stores only business-related items there. In addition, she finds that decorating and brightly lighting her office motivates her to keep it clean.
8. Starting the Day Without a Plan: "Without conscious decisions about how to spend your time, your day can slip away without much to show for it," says Elaine Quinn, Chicago-based author of There's No Place Like Working From Home (Calloran Publishing, July 2011). Instead, give time to both short-term actions and long-term goals so you run your business in a more balanced manner. Create a schedule and stick to it. "Rather than making to-do lists, enter tasks directly into your [daily] planner," which allows you to set a specific deadline for completing each task, Quinn says. Also, make sure you leave unscheduled time in the day to deal with important but unexpected issues that crop up.

BY ALINA DIZIK 

5 Ways to Cope With Working From Home

5 Ways to Cope With Working From Home

With millions of people still unable to make it to their offices in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, many entrepreneurs are likely spending this week working from home. While working from home is a reality for many, it can be a difficult adjustment for those who are used to the collaborative environment of an office. Toronto-based psychologist Amanda Beaman, who specializes in anxiety disorders, says natural disasters and events that are out of our control tend to heighten uncertainty, causing us to feel anxious and can negatively affect our productivity.

Use these tips to ensure your workday at home remains productive:

1. Be conscious of unproductive worry. During times of stress, you may find yourself forecasting into the future and worrying about hypothetical situations. Beaman says focusing on "what if" situations is unproductive worry. "It’s unproductive because there’s no real problem yet that can actually be solved," she says.

Be conscious of your thoughts and focus only on the concerns that are within your control. "When you notice yourself engaging in that pattern of thinking where it’s really unproductive, say to yourself: 'this is not a problem I can solve right now, so I’m going to delay thinking about this for now and return to what I was doing',"says Beaman.

2. Make a plan. "Human beings respond well to structure," says Beaman, who argues most anxiety issues are caused by interruptions in routines. Making a plan for your day can help you to regain structure. "Break up your day into small chunks and set some specific goals for yourself," says Beaman.

Goals not only help to provide structure to your day, they also help assess your accomplishments. Take care when setting your goals that they’re attainable, especially if you’re dealing with technology shortages. "Recognize that you may not be able to accomplish what you normally would when you’re in your office," says Beaman, and set realistic goals accordingly.

3. Reward yourself. "Having things to look forward to at various points of the day can be helpful [in combating feelings of uncertainty]," says Beaman. Schedule rewards into your day. Whether that means enjoying a cup of tea or watching a television program you normally don’t get to watch during the workday, these rewards can help you feel calm about the situation.

4. Communicate with your family. Working from home changes the family dynamic, especially if children are home from school. Create a plan for your family and discuss it together at the beginning of the day. "Be assertive enough to communicate what your needs are," says Beaman. Plan how you can get your quiet work time and offer kids rewards for being good participants.

Offering a pizza night or a family game night if kids play quietly, allowing mom and dad to work, not only gives them something to look forward to but can help calm their own anxiety about the situation.

5. Fight feelings of isolation through relaxation techniques. In addition to the change in your routine, you may also be feeling cooped up and anxious about not being able to leave your home. Make use of relaxation and meditation techniques such as yoga and deep breathing exercises to calm your nerves during times of heightened insecurity.

BY LISA EVANS

The Future of Jobs

The Future of Jobs

We need jobs in America, which means we need to unleash our entrepreneurs. Companies less than five years old have accounted for all of the net job growth in our country between 1980 and 2005. Our job creators aren't corporations, or government, or even small businesses. They are the founders of high growth startups. Creating millions of jobs means having thousands and thousands of new entrepreneurs taking risks and persevering past obstacles to create many more successful startups.

The formula seems simple. And yet there's a paradox. The jobs these startups are creating aren't like the jobs they're replacing. The single greatest challenge facing startups across America today is that they cannot find enough talent fast enough to grow to their potential. We have tens of millions of Americans unemployed and underemployed and yet the most vibrant businesses in our economy are starving for people to hire. What is going on?

The entrepreneurs building our high growth startups aren't looking to hire workers. Instead, these entrepreneurs want to build their companies with more entrepreneurs. They need team members who are motivated more by upside than salary, who are continuously learning new skills without being sent to training, who have sophisticated knowledge of the latest technologies, and who identify fuzzy, unstructured problems on their own and then solve them without being told what to do. In short, they need people who can get shit done.

The paradox is this. We need entrepreneurs to create the jobs our country needs. And yet the faster this occurs, the faster we shift from industrial economy jobs to these new entrepreneurial jobs, which many American are unprepared to fill. Whether we like it or not, in some elemental way, we're all going to have to become entrepreneurs.

Or perhaps I should say we're all going to have to become entrepreneurs again. Our revolutionary founding fathers built the greatest startup in the world. The pioneers who conquered the land set out, took risks, and wagered their prosperity and lives on their ability to produce. Entrepreneurship is central to the arc of American history.

For the last six or seven decades though, we've lived through this historical anomaly, where we were all told that we could simply be workers. If we developed a specific expertise, followed the rules, and did what we were told, then corporations and government would insulate us from risk and ensure our prosperity.

Being a country of workers isn't working anymore. I don't believe in that compact and I think more and more Americans are becoming disillusioned as well.

Change is scary, but regardless of what any politician or pundit tells you, we can't go back. The industrial economy is gone, we've already blasted through the knowledge economy, and we're building the networked economy as we speak. And yet we have an education system structured around an agrarian calendar that's teaching industrial era skills. Our children are taught to memorize facts and rewarded for their ability to fill in bubbles on a numbing array of multiple choice exams. What do standardized tests have to do with the skills that our startups are desperately looking for?

Startups need people who are constantly figuring things out on their own, learning from their peers, and reaching out to mentors for guidance rather than rote instruction. It's not about whatthey know, it's how they learn, think, and communicate. And despite what many pundits say, it's not simply about STEM skills. Someone who has learned to code but cannot think is less useful to a startup than an English major who can hustle and make things happen.

As I've shared in this blog, I had a unique education, getting expelled from two public schools before high school, graduating from the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology with remarkably bad grades, and then passing up college to build two startups before I was 25. The final element of my formal education as an entrepreneur, however, didn't occur in some super cool technology hub. It occurred at an 800-year-old institution.

After leaving my startup in 2001, then watching America go through 9/11, I had something of a quarter life crisis. I had a deep sense that our country was moving in dangerous directions, but I lacked the tools to explain and defend those positions. I began studying the big ideas of prior generations. While I was surfing the web at 3 a.m. one night, I wandered to the Oxford University website. In September 2002, I packed up and headed to England to study philosophy, politics, and economics at St. Catherine's College, Oxford.

Oxford was an intellectual revelation. There were no classes. Lectures were more a suggestion than a requirement. Each week for the next three years, I'd receive a paradoxical question and a list of books longer than I could ever read in a month. I'd absorb as much as I could and sit around in the pub debating the ideas with my friends. Then I'd show up for a one on one meeting with my tutor with a 2,000 word essay in answer to the question. My tutor would beat the snot out of my argument for an hour and send me off with another question and another list of books.

At Oxford, my tutors were upfront about the fact that they considered it irrelevant what facts I knew when I left. Rather, their job was to teach me how to learn rapidly, how to think critically, and how to communicate effectively -- and then leave me to spend the rest of my life filling my mind with knowledge. I had no meaningful exams until the end of my three years. At that point, I sat with a paper and pencil for eight three-hour essay exams that tested my ability to think in the areas I studied. The irony of Oxford is that by spending less time in the classroom with less exams, I rounded out the skills necessary to excel in the emerging economy. Several weeks after I put my pencil down on my last exam I found out that I finished with a First Class degree.

The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology gave me a tremendous foundation in technology, but delivered through a numbing array of standardized tests that were the antithesis of critical thinking. Rowing taught me discipline, the endurance of discomfort, and how to lead a team, but it was only a sport. Raising $1 million at 19 and building a startup taught me how to hustle and get shit done, but not how to really impact the world.

It was Oxford, though, which brought it all together and taught me to synthesize, analyze, think in a structured manner, and share the results with others in a compelling way. Of course, there's a reason that Oxford produces more academics than startup founders. The fact that exams still occur with paper and pencil is an indication of how much innovation has pervaded the culture.

To really build a strong foundation for America, it's not about jobs per se. As we unleash our entrepreneurs, we can create plenty of awesome jobs. The real challenge is to educate our children for these jobs. A strong America requires teaching children to challenge authority. It requires making technology central to everything they do. It requires emphasizing the ability to learn, to think, and to communicate rather than regurgitating facts and algorithms on standardized exams. It requires STEM and liberal arts and social sciences and fine arts taught holistically rather than forcing our children into industrial era silos. We need to borrow the best ideas from around the world--from ancient universities to modern charter schools to Khan Academy -- mix them together with strong emphasis on letting students learn by doing and then experiment until we find the models that work for our emerging economy.

We have no time to waste reinventing how we educate our children, but we also have to help those already in the workforce, who are struggling to adapt to the rapid changes in our economy.

Luckily you can already see what the future looks like. The really interesting institutions preparing people for the jobs of the networked economy aren't schools or universities or even community colleges. Instead, entrepreneurs themselves are stepping into the void. If you want to see the future of learning, go to 500 Startups, TechStars, Udemy, General Assembly, Code Academy,Hungry Academy, or the Boston Startup School. None of these existed a few years ago. None of them require you to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt. And all of them teach you not only skills, but more importantly how to get shit done.

5 Steps for Managing Disaster Recovery for Your Business

5 Steps for Managing Disaster Recovery for Your Business

Once the worst of a natural disaster is passed, the struggle for survival may have just begun for your business if your operations have sustained damage. From filing insurance claims to keeping customers informed, here are five steps to take after you count your blessings.

1. Contact your insurer immediately. Inform yourinsurance company before cleaning up any damage so you can get an accurate estimate. After a disaster, many insurers have a quick-response team that will come out to survey the situation. If your business cleanup includes removal of items such as water-damaged merchandise, flooring or insulation, keep it all. The damaged materials are all evidence of the impact of the disaster on your business.

2. Seek assistance. The Small Business Administration may be able to provide some financial help. Through the agency's Office of Disaster Assistance, any business, regardless of size, that is located in a declared disaster area can apply for low-rate, long-term loans to help recover from physical damage. Even if your property was not damaged, you can apply for a working capital loan from the SBA to relieve the economic injury caused by the disaster.

Eligible businesses may borrow up to $2 million for up to 30 years to repair and replace property, machinery and inventory at a 4 percent interest rate. For uninsured or under-insured losses, the loan may be increased by as much as 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to protect the property against future disasters of the same type.

The SBA can also help you repair your home – renters and homeowners can borrow up to $40,000, also at 4 percent for up to 30 years to repair or replace personal property damaged or destroyed in a disaster, and up to $200,000 for home repairs.

More information about these loans is available on the SBA website. 

3. Stay on top of communication. Once the worst is over, let your customers and clients know what’s happening. Update the home page of your company’s website to let customers know if your ordering, shipping or inventory is affected, and if or when you expect to be open for business, also consider sending a message of well wishes and concern with a status update on your company’s Facebook or Twitter pages.

Be honest about what is happening, how long you except it to be before you are running at full capacity, and give a detailed as possible operating plan for your recovery period. People will realize that yours is a company that knows how to deal with its problems, and then you will have their trust.

4. Don’t count on FEMA for quick help. If your business is in a federally declared disaster area, federal aid will be available, but it can move slowly, especially when many claims are being filed. It might provide homeowners with temporary shelter and eventual money to rebuild. But for a business owner, your private insurance or an SBA loan will be your best chance at receiving money fast.

5. Create a backup plan. Your company should have a business continuity plan in place already, but if not, now is a good time to get ready for the next time a disaster of any kind affects your business. A business continuity plan outlines how your company will respond to a disaster, including such crucial questions as: How will we keep filling and tracking orders? If vendors aren't operating, do we have a backup? What if employees can't make it to work? To get started, or update your current plan, check out this Business Continuity template.

If you don’t already, also consider putting a data recovery plan in place for your most important files. Research data recovery vendors, and cloud services now, while the topic is fresh in your mind, so you’ll be prepared the next time disaster strikes.

5. Beef up your insurance coverage for the future. Many businesses aren't protected in the event of an earthquakes or flood -- especially if they aren't located near fault lines or floodplains. Businesses should note that many standard policies don't even cover wind damage from a hurricane or utility disruptions from a storm, so review your policy's fine print to understand your coverage.

You may want to consider adding a rider or a separate policy to cover losses from severe weather that aren't included in your existing insurance policy.

BY KATHLEEN DAVIS

10 Tips When Making Quick Business Decisions

10 Tips When Making Quick Business Decisions

Making a decision based on gut feel alone is not only lazy but also likely to be a dud. However, recent books like the best seller “Blink” give the impression that you just have to rely on your instincts. For most business decisions, this approach will get you fired or drive your company into bankruptcy.

However, there are many times when you have to make a business decision quickly and when there is no more time to do a thorough study, you must be ready with an abridged but reliable process that you can depend on to come up with a sound decision. I have come up with a short list of steps to improve the chances of getting it right even if there is little time:


1. Think first how you will approach the problem. This involves several things starting with problem definition, the time frame and budget within it must be solved. Consider too what will happen if you take no action. There are some problems that are best left ignored – they may be trivial or resolve themselves in time.


2. Research the problem. Most problems have already been encountered in the past. It would be more economical to first learn what was tried in similar situations. Even if you find out that a particular approach did not work then you have one less alternative to consider.


3. Get the opinion of key people from affected departments. In your haste to make the decision you may forget the consequences on other aspects of your company’s operations. More minds on the matter may bring better alternatives. Another good consequence of getting more opinions is that you will get stronger support. You will also bear less blame if things didnot work out well!


4. Consider out-of-the-box ideas. In a crisis or if we are in a hurry, we usually fall back on just the old solutions. This may be a prudent decision since it is already tried and tested. However, this should not prevent you from exploring unconventional ideas that may be far better. In fact, if it is a crisis situation, it is usually easier to institute radical changes since it will be clear to everyone that there is no other choice to survive.
5. List down the viable options. Some people just go through the motions of listing the alternatives but neglect the effort to provide truly feasible alternatives. Usually there is only one serious option provided. This is a waste of time and will not enhance your efforts to obtain the best solution. Genuine alternatives must be brought to the table.


6. Evaluate both the pros and the cons. Very often we are so excited by an idea that we forget to examine its negative aspects. If all the people around you are “yes men”, this is very dangerous for it blinds you to the potential dangers. If it all seems one-sided, get one capable person to play devil’s advocate to balance the discussion.


7. Counteract the tendency to be loss-averse. Studies have shown that people will strongly prefer the safety and comfort of not losing 1000 pesos rather than gaining 2000 pesos. In actual practice people usually chose not losing rather than gaining double! People prefer avoiding losses than making gains; this puts the timid at a great disadvantage. Be bold enough to be objective in computing the most advantageous option.


8. Do not consider sunk costs. Sunk costs are expenses that have already been incurred and can no longer be recovered. Unfortunately, while most managers know that this is the rational thing to do, there are two major factors that hinder this logical course. The first is the emotional barrier of admitting to oneself that the previous investment which he approved was a blunder and the second, if the decision maker is an employee, is the career damage caused by having wasted company resources. Nevertheless, the best policy is to cut your losses.


9. Quantify the peso value of your alternatives. When there is little time there is a tendency to be swayed more by the number of arguments rather than its peso value. There may be only be one argument in favor and ten arguments against but if the one argument is bigger in value than all the ten combined, then it should prevail.


10. Select a decision that will be good for the long term. There are many decisions that are profitable for now but may bring on irrevocable harm later on. Examples of these are reducing the quality of products to save on costs, cutting the marketing budget, neglecting safety procedures, etc. Such acts risks destroying the company’s brands and reputation.


The steps mentioned above are just a guide to stimulate you to design your own system that is appropriate for your business and position. You should develop your own professional approach. Making a quick business decision must not mean guessing the answer.