Whether it’s marketing, poker games, website development, or widget creation, a home-based business is so much more. much harder than all these “make $9000 a month!” the schematics let you know. It takes an enormous amount of self-discipline to be able to support yourself from home, and in more ways than you might think.
You can wake up whenever you want. Work as long as you want. Eat, sleep and play when you feel like it. For most people, this freedom can be overwhelming. Many are unable to fully balance all their necessary daily activities simply because of how easy it is to slack off.
“Wow, I won $1000 yesterday! That calls for a day off!” – WRONG!
This type of thinking is short term and will eventually put you in a much more difficult financial situation if these thoughts are left unchecked.
Developing a daily routine is key to any successful home business, and often overlooked in business blogs or get-rich-quick books.
Below I will quickly highlight and explain the 5 key ingredients to maintaining a healthy and successful income at home.
1) Regular sleep schedule- This is pretty self explanatory. Waking up and falling asleep at regular times helps keep your mind balanced, you think more clearly, and you can focus on your profession much better than with sporadic sleep patterns. Save your late-night trips to the bar for the weekends. Just because your boss isn’t going to scold you for waking up 2 hours later than normal, doesn’t mean there won’t be negative effects if you do.
2) Exercise and Diet – This is EXTREMELY important and often overlooked by home-based professionals. Eating right and exercising are a very important part of a balanced day. Your mind is much faster and more efficient after a workout, and your body is directly affected by the things you consume throughout the day. When I played poker professionally, I would spend 1-2 hours at the tables and then take 15 minutes to do floor exercises between poker sessions. This kept me alert, focused and calm while playing the game. I made decisions faster and more accurately. Exercise plays an important role in every person’s life.
3) Maintain a social life – This aspect of your day must be controlled at both ends. You definitely want to get out and socialize regularly. It will help you develop connections for your business, it’s nice to be around people you like, and it will keep you from losing your sanity to loneliness. On the other hand, don’t overdo it or spend too much time with your friends. If you let them, your friends will consume too much of your personal time. Time you could spend earning more money or maintaining a balanced lifestyle. As is the case with all things in life, a balance is needed.
4) Avoid excess alcohol/recreational drugs – Poker players should be especially wary of this, as many will find themselves with much more money than ever before. A recreational smoker can become a full-blown smoker very quickly. I’m not going to try to claim that any of these things will do you much harm if used in moderation. We’ve all experienced it in our time, and there’s nothing wrong with having fun once in a while, but the amount of money home-based businesses make can quickly turn an enjoyable pastime into a daily habit. You can’t work when you’re drunk. You can work, but maybe at 50% productivity, when you’re stoned. These are things that will deeply reduce your profits if you allow them, and in more ways than one.
5) WORK YOUR ASS – When it’s time to sit down and work, do it as efficiently as you can. This is the income on which you (and perhaps your family) live. This is your profession. Be the best every day and work hard every day. Spend those hours at the poker table. Write all those articles to drive traffic to your website. Create and promote those widgets as much as you can. If the television is on in the same room where you are working, you are wasting time, attention and essentially money.
It took me a good year and a half before I really understood the responsibilities that come with working from home. Now that I have my routine, I rarely break it. I’m in great shape, I’m healthy, and I can focus on work for the 8+ hours a day that I need to. I am confident that I will be able to continue doing this for as long as I please.
Hope this helps the rest of you aspiring self-made millionaires.