Being your own boss – whether as a freelancer or a solo entrepreneur – comes with all kinds of perks. You get to set your own price, work from wherever you want and control your work schedule entirely. However, it’s also a lot of responsibility to take on. You’re in charge of personal and business finances. You might find it difficult to work from home without distraction. Perhaps your work life bleeds into your personal time too much. Whatever your woes, these tips should help make being your own boss a much better experience.
The home office
Working from home is a great luxury that isn’t afforded to many people. The benefits of working at home are easy to spot when compared to working at a desk in a busy office. But it can make it difficult to get productive with all those distractions. Adding structure to your home office can help, from positioning yourself near plants to the colours you choose. It’s important you avoid distraction, too. Seating away from the window can help so your attention isn’t caught by everything that passes by.
Get away from the office occasionally
A home office can work perfectly for you but sometimes you need a change of scene. Maybe you don’t want to spend all day indoors or maybe you just need to feel like others are around you. Coworking spaces could be the place for you.
Tracking your accounts
Being in charge of all your finances can be a heavy burden. Especially if you need to start putting back into the business. Tracking your expenses is helpful for a lot of reasons. You can save on tax you pay, for a start. But most importantly it keeps you safe from a poor money situation spreading from your life to your business or vice versa.
Keep an eye on your taxes
As we stated above, taxes are another thing you need to be keeping track of. As well as taking evidence of your expenses so you might get rebates, it’s important to keep money aside for your taxes. It’s recommended you save about ten or twenty percent of each invoice you take. Saving up for your taxes sooner than later will stop you from having to make big pay outs later.
Finding work-life balance
There’s no real way to separate your work and home life. They will always play on your mind when you don’t want them to. The key is to achieve balance by setting strict schedules on when you allow yourself to do one or the other. Don’t fret about the emails you get for work in the middle of the night. Leave it until the next day. Make sure the people you do business with don’t think they can call you up any time just because you don’t have a conventional opening hours.
Destressing
Being your own boss comes with a lot of responsibilities. That also means it can come with a lot of stress. Make sure you take the time after every work day to let go of all that work stress. Keeping away from your office for the rest of the day can help.