Search Results for: blog do you know what youre hoping to accomplish

Watch Out for Just Getting By

We may start out in our home businesses with big plans and optimistic ideas of how we expect things will go. As time passes, we might let some of those expectations go, or at least modify our expectations to meet reality. This can be a mode of survival, of course, but it can also be one of the ways we sell ourselves short and fall into a mediocre rut with our businesses. Periodically, it helps to take a look at our energy and motivation and find out if we are just barely surviving and just getting by–and if we need … Continue reading →

Keeping Money In Perspective

Alright, money IS important. It is one of the main reasons (if not THE main reason) that we are working so hard and have started and are running our own home businesses. But, while money is definitely important, it isn’t necessary everything and we can lose ourselves in striving for money and actually hurt our home businesses in the process. Some of the best business advice I have ever received is to make sure that I have a mission and a focus for my business that is NOT ruled by money. By focusing on what gifts I can share with … Continue reading →

Understanding the “Why” of Your Business

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out what we are going to do in our home businesses, and the how of what we do–but to really stay motivated and feel strong and secure in our business operations, we do need to know WHY. Why are we in business? Why do we do things the way we do and what is really, deeply motivating us? I have written before about my background in nonprofit management. While the use of the “mission statement” has seeped over into all sorts of businesses, nonprofit organizations are very obviously “mission-based”. This means … Continue reading →

Plow Through or Ease Up?

Recently, a friend of mine was trying to finish up a PhD dissertation that had been in the works for several years. As the end date neared, she was finding it harder and harder to stay focused and do brilliant work. We were chatting over how to stay motivated at the end of a long project and I suggested that at some point, a person just has to plow through, do her best, and get to the end. We can always go back and make corrections or adjustments after the fact—but sometimes, finishing is what it is all about. There … Continue reading →

Make Things a Little Better Every Day

Keeping things moving in your home-based business can seem daunting. When you look ahead to your goals or work over your short and long-term plan for your business, you might be wondering how on earth you will ever muster the energy and excitement to get from point A to point B–let alone point C or D. In order to keep things moving in the right direction, it might help to bite things off in manageable amounts. Just do a little bit to make improvements to your business every day…and soon those little steps will all add up. It may seem … Continue reading →

Are You Living Up to Your Own Expectations?

I know that the title for this blog seems like an invitation to self-loathing, but it’s not going to be that sort of an article I promise! Of course we can’t always be everything and do everything we hope and intend—especially as home business owners, BUT, since we don’t have traditional annual evaluations in our home businesses, it can’t hurt to do a little evaluation and ask ourselves if we are living up to our own expectations. It is so easy to let the day-to-day realities get us down and we start to let go of things. Maybe it’s just … Continue reading →

Holding Yourself Accountable

Accountability is one of those buzz words from the land of business that has been overused in the past decade or so. Many of us may have gotten quite tired of hearing about accountability and may even think that since we are running our own home businesses we’re not really accountable to anyone. In fact, we still need to hold ourselves accountable–even if there is no boss or board of directors to check up on us on a regular basis. I know, one of the appealing things about a home-based business is the idea that there isn’t a boss or … Continue reading →

Getting it Out of Your Head and Into Your Business

I don’t know about you, but I have more ideas than I ever get down on paper or get implemented. Of course, there are certainly dry spells, but there are other times when I come up with all sorts of innovative ideas for my home-based business–but few ever actually make it into practice. Possibly because I work alone and don’t have weekly staff meetings or other group brainstorming sessions to keep me motivated, many of the ideas I come up with never see the light of day. I imagine that is how it is for many home business owners who … Continue reading →