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Becoming Self Employed #1 ~ Working From Home…

Occasionally, I like to veer off the wedded track and write about something a little bit different.

I've been under a lot of pressure lately. Pressure that I wasn't expecting but that I am fast learning is all part of the package of becoming self employed.

Becoming self-employed changes everything.  Fundamentally. It's like having a baby – nothing is ever the same again and so much more effort is required.

Forget the lie-ins. Forget the luxury hour-long baths every evening and definitely forget the chance to sit down and zone out in front of the TV every once in a while!

Working for someone else is has it's benefits.  Once you've returned home at the end of a long working day, you can, to a large degree, forget about your job.  NOT SO if you are self-employed.  Every waking hour is invariably spent planning, worrying, working out what you need to do for your business.  Even if you do agree to balance your work/family time, you never really let go of thinking about your business during the times you agree you won't.  It's always there.  Mostly because the pressure to ensure your business stays healthy and viable and that it brings in enough money to pay the bills is like a constant voice. One that is occasionally like hearing someone stood right next to you SHOUTING THROUGH A TANNOY.

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, beforethecoffee on Flickr

Working from home - it needn't be a disorganised mess...

Becoming self-employed also means you have to rapidly build up a skill set in areas you may not excel in naturally.  Like Finance.  And book keeping.   *groooooooaaan*.   I can't ruddy stand it. My poor P.A. {Hi Mum!!} has a mountain of receipts to go through before I can get my tax return in. I'm shamed to say I haven't even kept them in any kind of loose order either.  They're just kind of 'stuffed' into a folder.  I know, if I had only taken a moment to….

And there in lies one of the first lessons I have learned in how to set up and manage a small business. YOU NEED TO BE AS ORGANISED AS POSSIBLE. Especially if you are working on your own, from home.

Becoming self-employed is turning out to be one huge big learning curve for me.  And despite me truly loving what I do and finding reward in my efforts every single day, it is hard, hard work.

I've been reflecting a lot about the finer aspects of establishing a small business of late, and so I thought it would be good fun, and an interesting personal project to document my first year in business and share my experiences online. 


So, working from home.

Sounds GREAT doesn't it?

And it is!  I mean, my commute has gone from an hour long, stress inducing, traffic jam hell of a morning, to a joyous skip {step?} along the landing in my bath robe to the Study.

Hmmm. 'The Study'.

The Study, come storage room, come workshop, come……..spare room?!?

No doubt, other 'home workers' out there will know what I'm getting at here. 

As a blogger, technically, I can pick up my Macbook Pro and work from anywhere I can get a web connection.  Great! I could blog from my bed all day long!  WRONG! I am also self-employed and this means I have to be as organised as possible, remember, and that I need structure at home, to help me differentiate my work time from my personal time which in turn will help me maintain a healthy work/personal balance.

And THAT means finding a dedicated space I can treat as my office.  For me, that's the spare room.  I'm working on 'officing' it up a bit more. I'm getting there 🙂

The other biggest lesson I have learned since becoming self-employed and working from home is, it is so important to get up, and ready, before beginning to tackle your working day.  What I mean is, if I ever do venture into the study whilst still in my PJ's, you can bet Bob's your Uncle that by 4pm, I'll still be in my PJs.  I'm so sorry to those readers who have visions of Lady Love My Dress sat reclined on her chaise longue typing with one hand whilst delicately balancing a vintage china cup of chamomile tea in the other. But this is the real world and once you get sucked in by your inbox, there is usually no getting away from it until the day has physically beaten you and you are too tired to hit the reply button anymore.  ALWAYS get up and showered and if possible get your coffee/tea/cup of water and breakfast BEFORE you start your day working from home.  That sense of 'getting ready to go to work' makes ALL the difference.  Trust me.

I want to keep this blog post relatively short because I intend on posting regularly on the subject of my experience of setting up a small business, but if I could choose one more item to squeeze in before I finish – just one more pearl of wisdom I have gathered along my blogging for business journey, it would be to say SLEEP IS YOUR FRIEND.  The basic matter of the fact is, if you are tired, you are better downing tools and coming back to tackle the job once you are rested. I have wasted so many hours trying to complete a task whilst feeling exhausted and my productivity and output have been exceptionally low.  I figured not so long ago, it makes way more sense to sleep off the fatigue and come back to things when you're feeling brighter. Productivity is SO important when you work for yourself. The phrase 'time is money' has never been more true when you are self-employed.

To recap, my Top Tips for working from home when you're self employed:-

1. Set up an office or dedicated work space. Keep it clean and tidy.

2. Get washed and ready before you tackle your working day. Approach the day as if you were going OUT to work.

3. Try to get at least 6-7 hours sleep at night. Every night. I learned the hard way that this is the only way.

 

♥   ♥   ♥

 

Over the next few months, I will be sharing my experiences of setting up a small business and successful blog online.  From establishing and building on a brand, to tackling PR and marketing, to working form home {with a baby!}, to online social media and how to make it work for you, to setting up my first major networking event and more.  I'll also be talking about the emotional aspects of becoming self employed, from the highs to the lows and everything in between.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear about your experiences?  I see lots of newlywed Brides setting up in business – what are your experiences? And if any readers have a few years experience on me, I'd love to hear from you too 🙂

Much love,

Annabel xXx

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