Do You Have What it Takes to Be Your Own Boss?

Working for yourself is a dream come true for most people. There's no boss and you can do it your own way. But the truth is that there is a boss, and it just might be the worst boss you've ever worked for – yourself! Are you going to be an organized and merciful manager or a total pain to be around? That's the question that determines whether your work-at-home career is a dream or a nightmare.

Are You Passionate?

The great determiner is passion. Are you passionate about what you're doing? Every good boss or company owner has passion and vision. Without these, you’re going to snap whenever the going gets tough. Your work-at-home career has to be truly your dream. That's the only way you're going to be able to keep pushing yourself.

Create a Personal Development Plan

Bosses manage people. They spend a large proportion of their time working on developing their employees so that the company can grow and reach its goals. You have to do this yourself when you work at home. Take a pen and paper and write down your purpose. Take time out of your busy schedule to periodically ask yourself whether you're happy with how things are going and where you need to improve. Set clear and measurable goals for your own development, with the end result being a better and more efficient you.

A Vision for Your Business

Another important job of the boss is to handle the company's overall plan. Even if you're just a freelancer working on the dining room table, you have to have a business plan. Some questions to ask yourself include:

l  What are you offering?

l  Who will it help?

l  How will it help them?

l  What is your promise to your customers or clients and how are you going to deliver it?

Unfortunately, developing a business plan also means creating a financial plan. This is difficult because most of us aren't good at financial planning, but it's essential that you learn this skill and learn it well.

A Realistic Assessment

Nobody can do everything. When you're your own boss, you have to realistically assess your abilities. Write down all the skills you need to run your business. How good are you at them? Which of them do you know how to do, and which ones do you lack? Should you hire somebody else to handle some of your tasks? Don't try to do everything if you’ll have to spend an unrealistic amount of time learning.

Review Your Progress

Create a plan for reviewing your progress. There are plenty of ways you can do this, but what's most important is simply to have a plan in place. For example, you can measure progress by how many tasks you get done each day. Set milestones where you check to see how your business is coming along and give yourself a performance check. This will show you areas that need improvement.

Give Yourself a Break

All good bosses are forgiving. Be firm and disciplined, but don't be too hard on yourself. Remember that you're only human and you need a day off sometimes. This is a very important part of sustaining a business for the long term.

Tonika

Image is from Pinterest