Working from home on your own business may be a dream you’ve had for years. While you love what you do and things are going well you may find that excitement has worn off.
Days of work, work and more work may be wearing you down.
There is no one to talk to.
The whole business rests on your shoulders.
Here are a few ways to recharge your battery and help you stay in love with working from home on your own creative business.
1. Find a professional organization for support. There are organizations for all sorts of hobbies, interests and professions – find a group that will help you make the connections and get the support you need.
2. Find a mentor or be a mentor. You’ve heard it a hundred times. The best way to help yourself is to help someone else.
3. Find a balance between your work life and your personal life. Try these articles on for size: The Art of Working from Home, and The Work/Life Balance and Being Organized.
4. Volunteer. Like mentoring, volunteering can provide encouragement as well as a social outlet. Besides, you never know what contacts you might make while you are making positive changes in the world.
5. Find a hobby. Often times creative business owners turn their hobbies into businesses and then they have no distractions. Take up golf, hiking or any other hobby and take your mind off your creative business a while. You might be surprised at the creative energy and/or relaxation that comes from it.
6. Take a class or two. Becoming a beginner at something forces your brain to think differently. Learning new skills will help you to feel more confident and give you new perspective on your work/life.
7. Find a person who understands and can appreciate what you are dealing with. Finding someone you can pour your heart out to (and listen to her pour her heart out in return) can go a long way toward relieving stress. Having a confidant that really “gets it” can make you feel so much better about some of the work you do or the decisions you have to make.
8. Stay positive. It isn’t always easy to keep your mind in a good place but it will make a world of difference. When you feel that you are having “one of those days” take time to make a list of all you are grateful for and treat yourself with extra tender care.
9. Take a day off. If you can’t manage a day then take a couple of hours to plant some plants, take a walk, plan a grown up “play date” or just take yourself out for a cup of coffee. Even grown ups need a time out now and again.
10. Do a search for “work from home success stories” or “small business success stories” and while you read about how other people have succeeded in small business keep in mind that YOU can do it too!
Remember, you started this creative business to have freedom and to do what you love to do. Make sure that you do what you need to do to take care of yourself and keep your spirits up so that the burden of owning your own business doesn’t get the best of you.
And if it does get the best of you today, it’s OK. Tomorrow is a new day and you can start fresh!
Do you have any other tips to boost morale?
By: Vicki O’Dell, The Creative Goddess
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