The Benefits and Dangers of Being a Work from Home Entrepreneur – Part 2 

Earlier this week, we talked about some of the major benefits to choosing to run your small business or entrepreneurial empire from home . These pros soon stack up and make the whole idea look pretty attractive. What should be considered though is that it is very much a lifestyle and an individual scenario. Working from home isn’t a universal solution for all. While there are many benefits, there are some pitfalls as well.

It’s time to look at the potentially downsides to working from home:

Losing Living Space

Working from home will require some kind of home office or organised working area, perhaps even additional storage. This will inevitable eat in to the space in your home used for living. Those with children or other distractions at home will very likely need a dedicated home office space to safeguard productivity – and that means a larger home with an additional room free.

Shutting Off Can be Hard

Working from home and not ever really ‘leaving’ the office provides less on a mental cut off from the start and end of the working day. This leads to a very common issue many entrepreneurs and small business owners will be all too familiar with; the inability to shut off from work and have a fruitful home and social life. This is an ironic con given that for many, working from home is considered a positive step forwards for balancing work and home life.

Loneliness Can Set In

No matter how independent you consider yourself as a person or as a worker, the reality is that lack of genuine human contact can leave you feeling a little blue. Quite simply put, even with all the conference calls in the world in your schedule, sitting and working at home every day can be a very lonely experience. Some manage this better than others so it’s worth considering how social you are before you take the step of basing your new mobile app development business at your home.

Earning Trust and Building Relationships Can Be More Difficult

As with the lack of human contact comes another potential down side. Forming relationships both with clients and partners as well as co-workers can be more difficult without any genuine face-to- face time. While we all have access to powerful tech that can give us real time, high quality video calls, nothing can quite replace a good old-fashioned handshake and offering to pay for a coffee. Some are better at establishing digital relationships than others of course, but none the less it is a little trickier.

All in all while there are many benefits and potential upsides to working from home, there is also a great deal of individual personality at play as to whether or not this can be successful for you. Self-discipline is one of the most necessary attributes required to ensure it’s a successful and productive environment. But you also need to harness the ability to separate work and personal time despite not having a break in scenery. Consider the type of person you are and your living circumstances as they are now before you rush into a work from home decision.