Starting your own business is easier than ever. You don’t need to pay for a big office building and loads of employees, you can just do it on your own from home. Running your own business from home has so many benefits. The overheads are minimal so even if you don’t have much start-up capital, you can still get the company up and running. It’s ideal for people with other responsibilities like family as well because you can run the business when you’ve got the time and you don’t need to worry about being out of the house all day.

However, it’s not all positive. Running a business of any kind has its challenges but a home based business is a different thing entirely. There are a lot of specific hurdles that you might not have anticipated and if you don’t know how to deal with those problems, you might struggle to make the business a success. If you’re thinking about starting your own home based business, these are some of the challenges that you’re going to face.

Motivation

Motivation is a big problem for people that are running their business at home. When you’re in an office, you’re in a working mindset and there isn’t too much to distract you. But when you’re at home, it’s so easy to decide that you’re going to watch an episode of your favourite TV show or busy yourself with housework instead of getting on with running the business. If you can’t manage yourself properly and find the motivation that you need, you’re not going to get this business off the ground.

A clear schedule is one of the best ways to do this. Split your day up into small portions and decide exactly what tasks you need to do that day. Having a better idea of what you need to do and when you need to do it makes it a lot easier to stay on track. You’ll be able to see clearly if you haven’t met your goals for the day and that will motivate you to work harder the following day. Start and finish at the same time every day and treat it like a normal work day. Having that structure makes it a lot easier to be productive.

Rewarding yourself works as well, as long as you get it right. If you allocate yourself a 15 minute break every few hours where you can go for a walk or have a snack etc. you’ll find that you get more done in between. But if you sit down and decide that you’re going to work for 8 hours straight, you’ll get distracted and start slacking off pretty soon.

A lot of customers will be put off by a home based business because they think that it means you won’t be able to offer the same service that your larger competitors can. That’s why it’s important to sort out your image. Companies like Your Virtual Office London offer a service which gives you your own office address and phone number that customers can contact you on. They never have to know that you’re a home based business as long as you present yourself as a big company. If you can make customers think that you’re bigger than you actually are, they’ll have a lot more trust in you.

Branding is also very important when it comes to image. The big companies put so much time and money into creating a strong brand that customers can identify with and put their trust in. If you’re going to compete, you need to be doing the same. Social media is one of the most cost effective ways for smaller businesses to do this. Try to be a bit fun with your posts and create a personality that consumers will relate to.

Separating Business And Personal Expenses

If you don’t separate your personal finances from your business finances, you can easily end up overspending and you might have some issues when it comes to filing taxes. This is a lot harder to do when you’re running the business from home because it can be tough to work out what is a personal expense and what is a business expense. In order to avoid any confusion, it’s important that you keep good records of your business expenses and, most importantly, always use a separate bank account for them. If you’re out shopping and you need to pick something up for the business, make sure that you do 2 separate transactions instead of putting it all on the business account or the personal one. This will help to avoid any confusion so you know exactly how much you’re spending on the company.

If you can overcome these specific challenges, your new home based business will thrive.