5 ways to stay sane when starting a business from home

businesswoman

If you are bootstrapping your start-up, more than likely you are doing all the work from home. Yes, you will get an office soon, but meanwhile you need to stay sane and let the people around you enjoy their space in the house.

Here are 5 tips to starting your business from home, work successfully and let live:

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1. Have a room for yourself

Claim the family office room or the guest bedroom for yourself for some months. Nobody but you is allowed in there. Make it your fort and do not share it. Keep the rest of the house “start-up free”, no sticky notes on the kitchen, no computer on the sofa. This will help you and your family’s mental health.

2. Set a schedule

You are probably working ten or twelve hour days, ok, we all do when we are starting but do not let those ten hours turn into sixteen! When you are done with your work day, spend ten minutes cleaning up your desk, throw away post-its, write down the notes in their proper place, and plan the hours you will work on the following day and a list of the tasks you will do. Try to stick to that schedule. This will help you stay concentrated on the important tasks and will give you a sense of achievement every time you mark off a task.

3. Exercise

The most important thing for an entrepreneur is to take care of herself. You might think that you want to put all your hours and energy into your business but the only way to keep the energy flowing is if you are physically active. Spend at least 45 minutes every day moving around, go for a walk, get on a bike or get your gym membership back. Your business will appreciate it! You will be more productive, energetic and happy.

4. Sleep well

Do all the ideas and to-do lists come to your mind when you lay down to go to sleep? Write them down in a little notebook next to your bed, develop them as much as you need and afterwards feel the peace of having it all in writing and go back to your ideas the next day.

5. Talking about business

You probably want to share your ideas with your partner or friends. My advice is not to do that at home while wearing your comfy clothes. Make it a special date; meet at a cocktail bar downtown or in the restaurant of a trendy hotel, dress up and feel like the real business woman you are!. Bring your computer or tablet to show them your achievements and take notes while they give you their advice or opinion. This will get you out of the house, give you a boost of energy and make you feel like your dream is becoming a reality!

Starting a business from home is not easy, are there other problems you are facing? Any other tips that work for you? Leave your comments below.

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Anna Danés
Anna worked in the web sector before founding Ricaris have a nice day (www.ricaris.com) in 2009, a successful services company providing distributed solutions for companies in the web sector. Managing Virtual Teams (www.managing-virtual-teams.com) is a new consulting product bringing together all of the experience across the distributed teams of Ricaris, and putting it into bite-sized courses, virtual team activities, and consulting packages. Follow Anna @virtualteams