There was a time when the main challenge to an entrepreneur’s day was a neighbor who knew you worked at home and asked you to take in a UPS package while the neighbor worked at outside employment.
Such requests have taken a back seat to what I face today and what might also challenge you.
The big concern today is time. Many of life’s challenges compete with the time I need to market my business, and I began to think it would be difficult to succeed with my plans. Then, I decided to turn the personal challenges into business triumphs. Here’s what currently impacts my life.
- My mom isn’t ill, but she does prefer me to accompany her to doctors’ offices. Right now that means I’m out of the office for two hours three times a week.
- Pepi, one of my Yorkshire Terriers, recently experienced a seizure which I believe (hope) will never again occur. However, this situation uncovered a hypothyroid condition that requires medication and additional (though not excessive) trips to the veterinarian.
- My daughter uses my car to get to work, which means the vehicle is now her car unless it needs maintenance. I also monitor my mother’s car and use her car (with mom often in tow) for transportation purposes.
While all of this is necessary to sustain good health and quality of life, it takes a chunk of time away from my duties within the time frame I prefer to complete tasks.
This may not be the type of schedule that challenges your time, but it may happen sooner than you realize.
How can you continue to market when your day is disrupted by personal activities? Here’s how to meet the challenge.
- Recognize that working at home gives you the flexibility to attend to family matters. Can you imagine what a boss would say about taking time off? The stress level alone would send you to the hospital or confine you to indefinite bed rest.
- Reorganize your priorities to fit within time and schedule parameters. I do what’s most important in the early morning hours so as the day wears on, I can look at my Daily Task List and be pleased with what I’ve accomplished.
- Fill your outside time with education. I’m reading more on my Kindle or reading a traditional book, and I’m also listening to podcasts or educational CDs that once seemed to not fit into my schedule. From that, I incorporate what I learn into my marketing plan.
There is a reason for everything, including personal challenges that you face now or will soon experience. Try to not see it all as negative. You have the ability to coordinate your day in a way that suits your lifestyle, something that’s impossible to do when working for outside employment.
You can successfully market your business even when personal circumstances seem to throw things out of line. Work with the changes. You’ll still be successful without anyone knowing what’s happening on the inside.
