Daily Archives: October 14, 2019

Making The Most Of Being A “Homepreneur”

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As a way to express ourselves, it can seem that so many people out there are thinking about setting up a freelance business and following that trend of being a “homepreneur” where you set up a business from home. But is this a truly effective way to acquire professional and personal freedom? Let’s break down the trend and see what it can really do for us personally and professionally.

Getting Out More

Working at home means that you are, in one respect, operating with the blinders on. You may not be able to get a proper sense of the industry as a whole at home. In one respect, it’s helpful to stay away from bad influences, but conversely, you need to find the right ways to harness business help wherever possible. Because we can fly blind, especially at the outset, we need to make sure that we are protecting our business as much as possible. Minimizing naivety is crucial. And whether this is through IT protection like Safebit Solutions, or actually getting out there and networking with other entrepreneurs to capture a true sense of what is going on, we certainly need to get out more than we would stay in.

Understanding The Difference Between Your Work Life And Home Life 

One of the most agonizing aspects of working at home is that your work life and your home life are under the same roof. You need to understand the difference between the two, not just for the benefit of how you work but also how the people that live with you can fare better under the constraints. In one respect, you are better off setting up a home office far away from proceedings, but also, you’ve got to learn how to avoid checking those emails at 11 at night. It’s a very hard thing to get right, but one of the key components is all about discipline, in work and outside of it…

Bringing A Sense Of Discipline To Your Work 

Because being at home comes with a plethora of distractions, you’ve got to learn how to focus on the task at hand. It all depends on the time of day in which you work, as well as how many people are at home at the same time. A lot of people fare better by working a more twilight shift. But once you decide how you work best, that is when you will learn how to focus more. It’s always worth setting up some ground rules, especially if you have children.

Minimizing Loneliness

In an emotional sense, working at home by yourself means that you are, for a lot of the time, by yourself. Minimizing loneliness may not be a problem, especially if you’ve got a million things to do and plenty of people to speak to. But also, you’ve got to be aware of how isolating it can be. If you feel yourself getting like this, you work from home with a remote internet connection, so you can shake it up a bit and go somewhere else!

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Must-Have Tools To Improve Freelance Life 100%

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The working world has been changing, and there are more people than ever that work from home, or that work as a freelancer. There are rising number of people that are skilled in what they do, but are choosing to work from home with a freelance career. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that when you work from home, you could actually be more productive and efficient, as well as saving time and money. But because things have changed in the way that we work, we need to give ourselves some time to equip ourselves with the kinds of skills and tools that are going to improve freelance life, especially if you’re new to it all. So with that in mind, here are some essential online tools that can help digital nomads improve and be the best that they can be.

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Organization 

If you are someone who tends to have quite a few tabs open on your computer, but can’t get away from it all, because you want to keep them for some point down the line, then you need some tools that are going to help to keep things really organized. You could use a tool like OneTab as a way to declutter, which is a browser extension tool that puts tabs all into a list. You could also use boards on a site like Pinterest, as it means you can bookmark things for later. Can be handy when you need to save client pages, and so on. 

Sharing of files

If you have often been sharing files with clients, for example, graphic artists or photographers will have large files to send to others, then you will want to use a platform that is going to make a massive difference and speed things up a little. You could use a VPN to help you to file share with other clients, as it can mean that you can send things much more quickly as you are using a private network. A VPN can also help to keep data and files secure, which, depending on what kind of freelance work you do, could be of paramount importance for your clients. There are different providers of VPNs to choose from, so make sure you look up something like an Opera free VPN review to see what the pros and cons are. It can be simple to do but it does make a difference.

Time Management

If you are someone who has to balance work and life, as well as someone who does things by the hour, then you need to make sure that you are using your time wisely, as well as tracking how long you spend on certain projects. Software like Toggl can let you keep track of your working hours quite easily, and you can assign out the time for the different clients that you are working for. The software can also generate some weekly or monthly reports, which can be a great way to help you keep track.

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Can You Make Your Business Seem Better Established?

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Running a small business is a serious undertaking. Of course, that’s not to say that it isn’t hugely exciting and rewarding because it is, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore just how much work you’ll need to put in. This is especially true for a startup where you a) don’t have that much experience in the business world, and b) are usually working with a pretty small team, perhaps even on your own. This means that it’s pretty easy for mistakes to slip through the cracks. Mistakes that get made in the early stages of a business’s life can have some serious and long-reaching consequences in the future. Fortunately, a lot of them are relatively common and, once you know what they are, they’re pretty easy to avoid. With that in mind here are some of the most common startup mistakes and how you can make sure that you don’t make them.

Overdoing your marketing

Now, this is not to say that marketing isn’t a massively important part of any business because of course, it is. The issue that a lot of startups run into however is that they assume that by throwing out at much marketing as possible then they’re definitely going to bring in the maximum number of customer. This is not only incorrect but ends up being a serious waste of time, energy, and money. Instead, what you should do is to make sure that you’re marketing precisely and effectively. The only way to make sure that you’re doing this is to do your research. Figure out who your target customer and what the most effective marketing methods are to connect with them.

Neglecting your IT

This one is especially true for smaller startups who assume that a well-managed IT infrastructure isn’t something that their business really needs. In the age of DIY online businesses, it’s easy to assume that you don’t need any support to get by but that’s simply not true. Without well-managed IT solutions, you’re going to end up hitting roadblock after roadblock. Ironically if your IT isn’t up to scratch, then the issues will only get more pronounced as the business grows and the strain on your infrastructure increases. By setting up your IT services early on, you avoid any delays or problems further down the road.

Getting too ambitious

It’s important to look to the future, and it’s just as important to think about growing your business, but that doesn’t mean you should let your reach exceed your grasp. Far too many startups end up getting into trouble because they try to grow too fast in a way that ends up being unsustainable. They simply can’t handle the increased expectations and responsibility that comes with running a larger business. Instead, make sure that you’re always working at a level that your business can actually sustain, otherwise you could end up in some serious trouble.

Looking amateurish

It’s surprisingly common for a lot of people to pass over smaller businesses in favor of better-established ones simply because they assume that it’s going to be a safer bet. People tend to see bigger businesses as more reliable and imagine that they would offer higher quality work. It’s your job to try and prove those expectations wrong. As well as improving your web design and overall branding, there are plenty of things that you can do in order to make your business seem bigger and more well established. A virtual office and answering service like VHQ answering services, complete with well-trained receptionists, can make even the smallest home business look well established and professional. It might seem odd to need to do something like this but customer perception is an essential part of business success.

One of the most common mistakes that a lot of people make is that they assume that it’s going to be easy if their business is small. After all, there’s certainly something to be said for how much easier it is to run a smaller business than a larger corporation. However, it’s also important to remember that your business often grows alongside you which means that you’re going to be far more capable as your business expands. In the early days, your business might be small, but you may be inexperienced and unable to fully handle all of the challenges that come with running any kind of business. Understanding this and being able to adjust the way that you do things in order to really make the most of your business is an essential step that you simply cannot ignore.

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