What to know before going into business for yourself

There you are - sitting on your couch after another day of mindless work for someone else. Pacifying your dreams with The Voice and popcorn, trying to find the reason and will to answer the question: Why should I go in tomorrow? Would they even miss me? And it clicks...you will start a side hustle!! And you turn to the ladies at Home Based Business Casual to determine what to know before going into business for yourself!

It’s 2019 and this is the year of the side-hustle. The year your dream starts to bud and grow out of the seed of desire you planted in 2018. We kept our tips as two lists so you can see how two successful women drive their passion while balancing the demands of life. Put a note in the comments if you have a suggestion for our tribe! Let’s support each other in growing!

Trista’s Top 9 ;-)
1. Even if you work in teams it can get lonely - Keep a list of people you enjoy spending time with and schedule plenty of coffee, lunch, drinks with them. It will keep you social and may even lead to new opportunities.

2. Have dedicated space to work at home - even if it’s a well organized corner, it needs to be just yours so that you can be in work mode when you’re in the space. I recommend a well lit space with a window view and quiet environment. Things that inspire you around (wall art, salt lamp, pretty plant, pic of your family, etc.). I make sure my dog and cat have places to hang out so they can spend the time with me while I work.

3. Take breaks - it’s easy to let the day go by without breaks when you work from home. I make sure to take breaks every couple of hours to keep my brain fresh.

4. That being said - being at home can feel like a day off if you’re not in work mindset - have specific tasks to do for your business/work so you don’t find the day going by with more chores than work being done. Employees that work from home have to log a certain number of hours per day on their computer - you can set that as well with apps that will track your time. If you need accountability, this is a great option to help you with the work habit. I suggest Timely

5. Incorporate team time even if it’s remote - power hours are a great way to work in teams, create accountability and be in action. Zoom is great resource for video calls.

6. Be clear about what it takes to meet your goals and have the action plan and goals handy where you work. Review them to make sure you’re on track. Your efforts today will pay off about 3 months from now so if you aren’t making the money you want today - look back at 3 months ago and see where you could have increased your output...and then put that in place NOW so that 3 months from now you’ll be happy with the results. Measure, Monitor, Adjust.

7. Weekly planning (generally this works great on Sundays) will make sure you are tackling your work on purpose which will result in more work being done.  Long term tasks (events, trainings, books, etc.) require a timeline to ensure you are meeting the milestones necessary to make your deadlines.

8. Set up your schedule so you are spending full days working at home and full days at appointments out of the office - this will give you some consistency in your work day and leave you good chunks of time to get call sessions, projects and administrative stuff done.

9. Alarms and notifications are your friend! These replace the “boss” following up on my work to see how it’s going and where I am with completion. You don’t need to be a slave to your task list. But well placed reminders will keep you on track.


Melissa’s A-H :)

A. Have a dedicated workspace and schedule. Discipline is everything in working for yourself and if you don’t have any, getting work done can be hard. Distractions are everywhere in your home, stick to the plan!

B. Have a good plan/planner/system/visualization - I love seeing my week/month/year ahead so feel free to create vision boards, buy that fancy planner (I love the Best Self group of products) and create your goals for each day/week/quarter/year!

C. Choose your why - why do you want to work for yourself? Why do you want to generate your own income? There are lots of extras that happen when you work for someone else (insurance, benefits, office supplies, a desk!) that you may not even think of when you go to work for yourself. If your why isn’t big enough to sustain the circumstance, you will fail. Be bold and be clear

D. What is your value? What do you add to the conversation/topic/item that no one else does? Be clear what you are worth and don’t ask for less. If you think you are only worth $10/hr that is what you will get. Demand your value, be fair and be yourself. That’s who people are buying anyway.

E. Take risks - working for yourself may seem comfortable (pajamas, dogs at work) but the safety of comfort doesn’t always allow for you to grow. Be willing to fail and learn from your mistakes so you can continue to grow into your best self. No one gets to the top the first try - be messy, be generous, be compassionate, and most importantly, be kind.

F. Set up friends/partners/coaches - when you work for yourself, isolation can be easy. Begin to set up ways to connect with someone every day - a friend who also works from home, build a team (you can work with me!) to check in with and create daily goals to keep you focused.

G. Do what you love. The Danish take over 6 years (avg) to complete college. This gives them the time to figure out what they really love to do and then they go and do it! Doing what you love keeps monotony from taking over and the good news - it never feels like work!

H. Balance - I know this might seem like a weird thing here - if you are working and loving what you do, then doing it all the time wouldn’t be a problem - right? Maybe...but my invitation is to discover what “balance” looks like for you. Don’t isolate yourself, but don’t be so distracted you don’t get anything done either (Facebook, Pinterest, you know what I’m talking about).

So those are our lists - what do you think? Again, share what you have found has created success for you in the comments below. While we have lots of experience, we know we can learn from you too! And as always, thanks for bringing it business and keeping it casual.