I’ve been working from home building my Nikken network marketing business for a few years now. I love network marketing and working from home. I can work when I want and be free to not work when I have other things that I want to or need to do. If it is a nice day I can get out of the house with my family and go for a hike and the grocery store is much easier to shop in when it is nearly empty on Wednesday morning at 9:00. The time freedom and convenience with what I do is fantastic.
Other Things To Do
There are some significant dangers when you work from home as well.
It is easy to get distracted when you are your own boss working from home. The TV is in the living room and nobody is using it. You paid a lot of money for it and you really want to get the best value for your money. And it has a great picture. And you saw a commercial for a new show coming on, was that today? Before you know it, three hours have gone by and you’re still watching TV.
Then you remember you are having dinner at a friends house and you wanted to bake a cake to take with you. You could save yourself a lot of time later if you went ahead and baked the cake now, you know, so that it has plenty of time to cool before you ice it.
Now the whole day has gone by and you haven’t accomplished anything with your business. But that’s okay, right? You deserved a day off and you’ll do better tomorrow. At least that’s what you keep telling yourself.
It can take a lot of discipline to keep yourself on task when you work from home, especially if you are easily distracted by the things around you. For some people it is easier to set aside a specific place and a specific block of time when they work. It is kind of like going to work every day, but you still get to decide when and where work is. You also still have the flexibility to adjust your hours if something comes up. Like I said before, doing the grocery shopping at 9:00 on Wednesday morning is great, so I schedule that into my work day on Wednesdays.
Having specific hours to work every day can help you to schedule in those other things that come up. Maybe you schedule in a couple hours in the morning or afternoon for those things that come up that you have to do during the week, or are easier to do during the week while other people are at work. That may include doing any of your shopping, doctor appointments, and any other errands that you sometimes have to do. When you are self-employed, you don’t have to give up your lunch hour to do those things.
Other People
The second danger, the bigger one for me, when you work from home is other people. Most people that I know are usually playing games or just surfing the web when they use a computer at home. So when they see you on your computer working busily away, they assume that you are just playing and they feel very free to interrupt you. I was visiting my parents for a couple weeks and just about every day they would come in while I was working and want to talk, share a joke that they read online, or ask for help with something.
It can be even worse if you have kids. “Dad! I’m hungry!”, “Dad! I’m bored!” and “Dad! Can you play with me?” are the most common interruptions that I get, usually several times a day.
I just accepted the interruptions from my parents and listened, helped out, or whatever else it was that they wanted. It wasn’t a regular thing for me with my parents, so that wasn’t a big deal. As for my kids, they are a big reason why I decided to do network marketing and work from home so that I can be around more than most dads get to be. Sometimes I have to remind them that I am working and that if they enjoy eating every day then they have to leave me alone for a little bit. Other times I will take a break and do something with them.
This can be a big issue if you are in a situation where there are people around who can interrupt you a lot and you don’t get anything done. Just like you may have to create discipline in yourself by setting a schedule, you may have to get the people around you disciplined to understand that you are working, you have certain tasks that need to get done each day. Make those people aware of your work schedule and that they need to respect it as if you had a “real” job. Then let them know that sometimes you can be more flexible with it and do fun or interesting things.
Working from home in a network marketing business takes a lot of discipline. You have to be able to manage your distractions, whether they are the things around you or the people who know that you are home and and want to interrupt you all the time. Do what you have to do every day to get the job done. Maybe once you have yourself into a regular schedule and have had some success, those people who were interrupting you may want to join your team. Then hopefully your discipline will rub off on them.
Ben
PS. If you think that you can handle the dangers of working from home then I’d like to talk to you about joining my team. You can learn more here, or leave me a comment below and we’ll find a time to talk.
Disclaimer
There is no guarantee that you will make any money in network marketing. I do. I believe anyone can, but you have to do the work and stick with it.
