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Section 5 – Personal Development  |
Give yourself more credit
When you are holed up in your home office, working alone or communicating with others via e-mail, fax, or phone, what happens when you do something right? Do you accept the credit for a job well done, or do you brush aside the accomplishment and focus more on the negative aspects of the day?
If there is no one readily available to give you a pat on the back when you've closed the deal of the lifetime or finally secured an appointment with the company president who has eluded you for months, congratulate yourself. Take credit for a job well done and realise that you have more skills than you thought.
When you do the same tasks, or face the same mediocre challenges every day, you may feel your skills sliding or forget that you have particular abilities to tackle tough projects. When a client asks you to do something, you may feel that you are unqualified, or not worthy of the project. Nonsense.
Some home office professionals pay coaches and consultants to help them discover that they already had the skill they were trying to obtain. This is a costly lesson, yet well worth it if it helps you believe in your talents and potential for increased success.
Motivational speakers will tell you to believe in yourself, and that what you believe you can achieve. For some, that's enough to make your spring out of bed each morning and welcome the day with open arms. For others it's enough to make you sick, pull the covers over head, and wait for the day to end.
What sets you apart from others is not how you live your life externally, but what you believe internally.
Give yourself credit for what you have done and look to the future at the endless possibilities before you.
Be focused and have an identity of your own
It's easy to copy what someone else is doing, modify it a bit and present it as your own. That may work for a while, but eventually you will run out of material, lose your identity, and need to search for another specialty.
Bob Vila is known for home improvement and Martha Stewart reigns as the queen of homemaking. What are you known for? When people discuss your area of expertise, do they think of you or someone else?
The old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of the none” can't be ignored. If others perceive you as being able to do everything, they'll ignore those things you do better than others. Those special skills will get lost in the clutter of the other skills you are eager to share.
You have to feel support from the people at home
If you worked in a corporate office before opening your home office, you probably spent more time away from home than at home. If you didn't like your boss, you could take comfort in knowing that your loving family awaited you at home. But when you move your office into your home, you will obviously start spending much more time at home. This makes it crucial for your family to support your efforts.
Any tensions with your family will ultimately affect your productivity at work. Instead of pushing your family away, think of ways to include them in your business by discussing problems with them, asking their opinions, or more importantly, sharing your success with them.
Live what you're saying
Think back to your last doctor's appointment. If you are a smoker (or even if you are not) how much faith would you have placed in your doctor if he or she told you, while puffing on a cigarette, not to smoke? The action would obviously be incongruous with the message, causing you to disregard anything else he or she said.
The same is true in business. Are what you say and what you do the same? You may not notice, but your customers will.
Look for ways to complement and supplement your skills
Do you know what you don't know? And if so, are you willing to admit it? Many people know what they do well but refuse to accept that they have areas of deficiency. It may be a matter of a quick phone call, fax, or e-mail, yet they aren't willing to believe that anyone else possesses the skills they lack.
Live what you teach
Some people do as they say, while others ask that people do as they say, not as they do. Living by example is a key to success. It is difficult to believe what someone says when their actions do not correlate.
If your business helps others improve their communication skills, you need to be an effective communicator. That's just common sense, yet it is so common, you may forget it.
Knowing that others look to you for advice and guidance makes it imperative that you think about what you say before you say it, and if you say you are going to it, do it.
Don't be afraid to be alone
Working within a home office can be lonely. The refrigerator hum, the air conditioner cycling on and off, or the roar of a passing car may be the only sounds you hear all day, aside from the ringing phone. For some, this is the ideal situation, while others need interpersonal contact. Some people need to see other people every day.
Home office professionals can be extremely friendly to mail carriers, sales clerks, and delivery people, because they may be the only people they see all day. You may spend all day on the phone with clients, but it's not the same as a face-to-face meeting.
Ease the loneliness by setting up meetings with other home-office professionals. You could meet on a designated day each week and discuss marketing ideas, promotional plans, and anything else to improve the way you do business. Sometimes having a set place to go will give you the motivation to work alone. Also, as anyone who has had to endure countless interruptions from associates in the workplace can tell you, working alone has its definite benefits. The reduction in interruptions alone often ensures a higher quality of work in less time. |
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