Today’s AWAP* question comes from a fellow ChronicBabe, who joins a chorus of voices asking me how I make a go of running a business even though I’m a sicko:
“How do you stay motivated? I know there are lots of forums for people who are self employed/work from home, and that they have great tips.
“But having a chronic illness adds an extra dimension of complexity to setting up and running your own business.
“So I would really appreciate hearing about your own experiences.”
I’ve got five tips for y’all to consider today, which I think offer a nice little primer for anyone considering working from home:
*AWAP = As Well As Possible
Now it’s your turn:
Do you work from home? Are you considering starting your own business? I would love to hear about your experience! Join the conversation in the comments below, and share your experience.
Want to watch more videos like this? Check out our AWAP Wednesday video playlist, which has almost six hours of guidance, advice, and bloopers.
Is there a question I can answer for YOU? Add it to the comments below, or shoot me an email.
Until we meet again: Be AWAP! Smooches!
(Rough) Transcript:
Babes, I get lots of questions about running a business from my home, because many of you are doing so — or considering doing so — in hopes of better managing your health. And it’s true that running your own business from home affords you more flexibility to handle work and health issues at once.
But working from home is not easier than working anywhere else. It has its pitfalls. I thought today, I’d give you a peek inside my home office, and talk about how to make a home-based business work for YOU.
You need a door.
If you think you can run a business from your dining room table, good luck. Mine is often taken over by crafts, and meals. And while I have a chilled-out, supportive partner who doesn’t mind if the table gets crowded, I think he would not love if I were working there all the time.
You need a separate space that’s just for your work. I’m lucky that we can work work out a shared office arrangement, and I keep my space organized, because clutter makes my head explode.
I love that I get to have my own space! But sometimes I’m bummed that I have to buy all the ergonomic stuff I need to make my desk healthy. That’s something to keep in mind when planning a home business.
You need discipline.
Some folks email to ask what motivates me to run my business, and some days, my answer is fear. When the bills stack up — health, home, business, whatever — if I don’t have enough dough to pay, that’s scary. So unfortunately, it can be pretty stressful and scary to run your own business. You have no one to blame but yourself.
I run a pretty tight ship here at ChronicBabe HQ. I have an employee manual, with policies on vacation time and work time and sick days. That might seem silly, but I LOVE it. It keeps me honest.
And I have a big network of friends and colleagues I touch base with frequently to make sure I’m accountable for folks for getting things done.
And you need boundaries. You’ve absolutely, positively got to turn off your email, phone, internet, shut the office door, whatever it takes to get downtime at night or on weekends. DO IT.
You need creativity.
Some days, you’ll feel terrible and have to work anyway. Those days suck! But get creative. When I feel terrible, I sometimes work from my bed, or from the couch, or from the floor, or my sunroom. I mix it up. I work in 15-minute bursts, and then take 5 minutes of downtime. I schedule a mid-day nap. I get creative and make my work day work for me.
For the most part, my clients are fine with that. Unfortunately, some aren’t — they want me on-call all the time — and those clients, once I spot them, I either re-train them using boundaries, or I politely fire them and refer them to a colleague I know can handle their approach.
It also takes creativity to think about running a business when you’re sick because there will be things you just can’t do at all. You’ll need to find people to outsource to, or find other solutions, and that requires you to do some mental heavy lifting, babe.
You need to do your homework.
When I started as a freelance writer, people said, “All you need is a phone and a computer and you’re all set!” That turned out to be BS. I needed business cards, stationery, a fax line, a fax machine, a scanner, a nice printer, a desk, a chair, tons of office supplies, an ergonomic headset, business insurance, software, hardware… starting a business requires capital, and research. You’ve got to be prepared to do your homework.
I worked for six months at a full-time gig as I planned my own business launch on the side — six months! — and while some folks said I was nuts, I had a client my first day. So I firmly believe in doing your homework.
You need passion.
The last thing: Passion. If you’re not in love with your work, you will resent it on the hardest days. You’ve got to be hugely passionate about something to spend all day doing it. If you choose a career path and a home-based business because it seems easy, you will not be a huge success — sorry. If you choose a home-based business or career because you believe in the product or service you’re selling, then that passion will carry you through the worst days. That passion will keep you working even if you have to be in bed while you do it. That passion will make you a success, no matter how big a sicko you are.
Thanks so much for these rough transcripts, I love them. And I love that you mention the importance of passion – otherwise “you will resent it on the hardest days.” So true, the passion keeps me going too. It gives me the courage to face each next step.
The hardest part for me is the ongoing homework of the tweaks in the background (how to create and edit movies or how to add text to images, working with SEO etc). The passion helps me overcome the reluctance and to ask for help from consultants to overcome some of these hurdles; to take the time to find folks who are the right fit for me to hire to do the stuff I like doing the least and that could otherwise be immobilizing. I love using Lynda.com for tutorials and I keep practicing Chronic Babe principles of being okay with not knowing it all NOW, not having it all figured out already, and giving myself the time and space to learn as I go and keep the fun in it.
oh, bless you veronique, i’m happy to do it when i can (which is most times).
as for getting help, if you’re on a mac, i highly recommend their one-to-one service. you can go in frequently to a store and get training for an all-year flat rate. that’s how i’ve learned to do so much with my videos and other projects. and i also ask my social network for friends who are willing to help, or even to barter services. there are lots of generous people out there who are often willing to assist! 😀
thanks for these extra tips Jenni (I love my mac!) and thanks for the extra effort you put in for these transcripts – I completely understand that you can’t always do it. I’d say that’s simply great ongoing role modelling 🙂
Thanks Jenny! I’m hoping to teach less, and craft/write more in the near future. I appreciate the tips.
One thing: The jiggly-ness of the camera is hard for my migraine-brain so I like to just listen 🙂
aw, i’m sorry about the jiggliness. that’s atypical for me; i couldn’t use my tripod for this and i wasn’t sure if it would be tolerable or not. from now on, tripod it is, for sure. hugs!
setting boundaries can be hard when your hubby figures that since you are home all day, you can…..fill in the blank. he used to think i could go to the post office or bank or other errands.
it took awhile but he finally got the message.
but i really hated it when he would stand in front of my display. or when he would say you did not talk to that person.
although i do have to say he would talk to anyone he knew or met about my work. he would often walk around showing photos of outfits i made.
sorry about no capitalization.
1. don’t worry about capitalization, i don’t. 🙂
2. i’m glad he is getting the picture more and more.
our partners have so much to deal with when we get sick. they have to re-learn stuff just like we do, and that is so hard for them. (and for us!) i’m glad you’re being patient and compassionate, just like we wish people would be to us. keep at it! i believe in y’all. xo
Jenni, I love your tips & thank you for the home office tour!
To the ChronicBabe who asked this week’s question I want to say that I totally relate to what you are saying! I stay motivated by engaging with other business owners. I might jump on a webinar, make a phone call, send someone an email, schedule a “work date” with a fellow entrepreneur, go to a networking event, etc. Ideally, I would like to have a coach but I can’t afford one. Instead, I would love to find an accountability partner or “buddy coach.” When starting out in my business I quickly realized that I couldn’t work the same way as a healthy person. I experienced the same frustration with the finding forums for people who are self-employed, but not sick. That led me to start a website/community for us chronically-ill entrepreneurs. (www.IWGNconnect.com –we’re still new & haven’t gotten any members yet but that should be launching soon…stay tuned.)
For anyone who is interested I share 10 tips (Mistakes to Avoid) for chronically-ill entrepreneurs. You can read them here without signing up for anything: http://iwgnconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/TEN-BUSINESS-MISTAKES.pdf. (If you want a .PDF copy to keep, you can download it for free from the sidebar.)
Color me interested in your group. I had a home based business for 20 plus years before I had to stop because of many issues, chronic illness being one.
I think I can add some useful perspecctive on chronic illness and work. I am still doing some of what I used to do but it is now colored by my chronic illness. Kate
Thanks for that link Norene, it’s very useful! I definitely am keeping in mind all the things I need to do “differently” as I slowly design my business. I’m thinking of ways I can create one product and sell it over and over (like I’ve licensed some of my art to a UK cross stitch pattern company). I’m trying to figure out a way to offer creative consulting services to those who are also gimped or otherwise physically unable to do creative things, and turn that into a “product” that isn’t dependent on me physically interacting with each and every client (although of course I want to do that as much as possible). I’m also steering away from creating one-off art pieces that then sell and I then have to make more of, I’m leaning more towards patterns and digital prints of my work. My blog is going well so far and I’m getting some good feedback from people saying it’s quite inspirational what I’ve managed to do despite my injury and my pain. I want to keep going in that direction without putting too much on my own shoulders. For now I’m legitimately enjoying learning how to put together my own videos and website and SEO and newsletter, but I do pace myself and I know that at a certain point some of those tasks will need to be outsourced. I just want to learn about them at this stage so that I do know all the aspects of my business to a certain extent, I don’t want to be one of those business owners who lets staff completely manage their money or their website or whatever and the owner has no clue what’s actually going on or what they’re doing.
thanks for sharing so much about your business, dana! so helpful to read that. 😀
Thanks Jenni! It’s at handylittlegadget.ca if anyone wants to check it out or give me feedback. I’m always open to ideas and such. 🙂
Dana, LOVE your art…it’s just beautiful! I’m glad the list was helpful for you. I put it together when I first tried to start my business as a sick chick & quickly realized it couldn’t possibly be “business as usual” for me anymore. Sounds to me like you’re thinking of all the right things/angles to make the business work for you. By the way, I really enjoyed your story.
Thanks so much Norene, that means a lot to me! I’m glad you like my story, it’s not been easy but I am trying to make the best of it. Art and making things is something I’ve always done, so I figured it was best for me to go in that general direction as it takes less out of me than doing something else. 🙂
I know this is an older post but I can’t tell you how happy I am to read it. I’m happy to have found this blog actually. I asked friends online if they’d ever come across any entrepreneurial books for women with chronic illnesses and someone suggested your site. I’m blown away. It’s exactly what I needed. Not a book, but a whole community!
I’m a former university comp instructor who had to leave due to my illness. It’s been difficult. I’ve been told I’m rather Type A and I feel like my drive and ambition took a backseat for a while and let my illness drive. Now I’ve started an Etsy business selling my illustrations as stickers for planners, specifically for “curvy girls” (that’s the name actually, Curvy Girl Sticker Co) and for spoonies. It’s been great but as I found myself in a loooong flare recently, I’ve once again fell into what feels like a pit. I fear that I am not capable of being a steady enough worker to be successful. But that’s bananas, right? I sure hope so. Anyway, I’m just so happy to have found you and I look forward to reading your past posts. Thank you for existing.
yay! so happy to be here for you. and congratulations on starting a business! it’s intense. good luck!
Hi Janah, you mentioned looking for entrepreneurial books for women with chronic illnesses. You may want to check out “Business from Bed” by Joan Friedlander (http://iwgnconnect.com/2014/01/20/inspiring-woman-spotlight-joan-friedlander/).
Oh wow, Norene, thank you!! That looks great!!!!
You’re very welcome! If I can help you with anything please don’t hesitate. I’m also an entrepreneur living with chronic illness and I’ve come across lots of useful information and resources.
Yes, please! I just purchased the book you recommended on iBooks and I’m very open to any resources you could offer. Could we perhaps trade email addresses or social media profiles?
Sure, that would be great! My email address is norene@consultant.com. If you send me an email I will respond with all my contact info. I look forward to hearing from you.