"Putting more eggs in your basket" is a term that many of us who work from home use as our way of saying that you need to have more than one company that you work from home for. By doing this, when work is slow at one company you can concentrate more of your efforts on one of your other sources of income.
One thing that you might want to do is diversify, so that when one type of work, say customer service, is slow, you can supplement your income with some work from companies that mainly do transcriptions or you might want to establish yourself as an article writer for one of the services that specialize in articles for the Internet. Some people enjoy the change of pace and enjoy doing mystery shopping for different companies. One of the advantages of diversifying is that you are able to work more of a variety into your scheduled work time which will also help you stay interested in all of the types of work that you do.
Often, working from home by ourselves, we become bored with what we do. There is little interaction on a personal level with other people, since our work is conducted over the Internet and from our homes. Taking time to just get outside and either visit with friends or family, to take an afternoon to go to the mall or any type of store just to get out of the house is important. Perhaps a trip to the local library to pick up some new books or take part in one of their social or craft activities is what is needed to bring new interests and renewal into your life. Stir up the intellectual modules of your brain, don't become stagnant, you will find your work performance will increase as well as your personal energy. You have heard of couch potatoes? Well when you work at home and the furthest you travel is into your home office, you are neglecting many parts of your life.
Why do I share this advice with you? Because I have found myself doing this very thing, becoming stagnant! I have been spending way too much time sequestered in my office working, attempting to increase my income. I had to do some self-evaluation the other day and I didn't like what I saw. The reality of the situation was that I was working more and enjoying it less. I needed to take some time to look at the types of work I am doing and plan on some restructuring so that I am doing more of the things that I truly enjoy doing. I personally also need to get out into the sunshine more and soak up some of that Vitamin D, intermingle with some people and enjoy a few laughs and conversations with people that I can actually make eye contact with.
Since Mondays are usually a slow day at my primary work at home position, I am going to take the best part of the day hours to go outside and putter around in my garden for a couple of hours and also paint that shelf unit on the back porch that has been neglected. Then I am going to come inside, enjoy a nice lunch and then sit down and make out a new goals list of where I want my home business direction to go. I am putting some new "eggs in my basket" and step out into some new areas of endeavor.
I am pulling out my copy of "What Color Is Your Parachute" once again. I am going to retake the quizzes in the book and see where it leads me. It has been several years since I've done that evaluation and as you all know you evolve over time and what were once your interests and priorities change as you get older.
I am also going to make myself out a new "wish list" of what I feel would be my ideal career position. As you go through your working career, no matter where you work, it is important that you take time to put together a written evaluation of where you want to be 5 years from now and 10 years from now. You are free to review this list as often as you want. Perhaps you need to do it yearly instead of making out your New Year's Resolutions, which most of us never keep anyway. Researchers have found that by writing out your goals you are much more likely to obtain them rather than if you just verbalize them. Some people will actually put up a Goals Board on their wall stating what their goals are. Others will make a picture montage of their goals. Whatever works for you is what you need to do but keep those out where you can see them often. If you need to change them, which hopefully you will because you are obtaining your goals, then make the corrections on your goal board. It is sort of like your "to do list" and the accomplishment you feel as you cross it off your list!
So I will be back here on Monday evening to give you all an update on my personal accomplishments for the day. I will share with you the results of my reevaluation quiz taking from the book, my personal wish list and some of the companies that I will be taking a look at to apply with.
Until then, enjoy the weekend and may you have some sunshine and blue skies to enjoy!
