When you work online and you work for yourself,
you can find that life lacks some of the structure that it has for your friends
and your family. It has none of the routine for one as you don't need to be 'in
the office' for a certain time, but more to the point it lacks the rules and
the authority. You have no boss, and you can work the way you best see fit.
This is all good and
well, and in many ways it's one of the biggest selling points of being
self-employed. But then it does also have its downsides, and it kind of puts
the responsibility back on you to make sure that you're working well and your
business is a success. With no obvious structure already in place, it falls to
you to create your own. Here we will look at how you can go about doing that
and thus avoid your life and your work falling into complete chaos…
Go to Bed at a Reasonable Time
All of us if we're being honest have at some point allowed our body clock to go completely haywire because we work for ourselves. When you don't have to be up at any particular time, the temptation is always going to be there to stay in bed and relax in the mornings. In turn, this then means that we're less likely to have finished our work on time, and that means we'll think 'never mind, I can sit up all night doing it'.
But you know and I know that this is a horrible lifestyle. You'll be constantly exhausted, never free when everyone else is, and you'll waste most of your day. And it only gets worse. A strict rule you should make for yourself then is to work 9-5 religiously and not to let yourself sit up until all hours. Get a friend to send you to bed even if necessary.
Take Some Down Time
After 5 you are now 'off work' and that means you need to relax and do something other than staring at the computer. This is absolutely crucial if you are going to be efficient the next day. Even if you love what you do and your idea of a good time is building links, you still need to force yourself to do something else so that you can come back to it fresh-faced tomorrow.
The same goes for the weekend. Get a hobby for heaven's sake!
Rest Your Eyes
Also important is to make sure that you rest your eyes occasionally and that means taking breaks every hour or so to make tea/go to the toilet/look out the window. It's easy to forget this when you're 'in the zone', but it's important for your health that you do it.
Treat Your Job Like a Real Job
A problem that many webmasters have is that they don't genuinely view their jobs as being of any real importance. When asked by friends, they tend to underplay what they do, and they'd never even think of picking up the phone to speak to a company's advertising manager.
If you're serious about working online and working for yourself though, then you need to treat it like a real job and you need to think about it that way. If you don't, no one else will…
Keith Terrell is the owner of Orp Media, which is an Internet marketing agency that offers services to avoid unnatural links penalties. Whenever he gets the time, he likes to play table tennis with his university friends.