It’s been about 7 years since we have seen something like this occur and with it comes (the usual doom and gloom) predicable reports of corporate downsizing, freezes on income, and the rise of inflation, etc. What’s different this time around is that we have unprecedented events occurring in the Real Estate and Financial markets. How far down all this will drive the economy nobody really knows for sure.

In addition to the current economic conditions, company to employee and employee to company loyalty has greatly diminished. The corporate environment resembles a battlefield where warfare is a daily reality for many of us. We find people acting in ways and doing things at the office towards others that for many seem very uncharacteristic of the person they are outside of the job (when with their family and friends). Yes, corporate politics aren’t anything new and have always been a reality of the workplace.

What kind of pressure and stress does living this type of duality on a daily basis really put on a person? Driving the freeways in most of the major U.S. cities during rush hour traffic should give you a clue. People are tense out there. It’s no mystery why healthcare premiums are sky high. Living this way day in and day out couldn’t help but have a drastic effect on the general health and well being (both mentally and physically) of our society as a whole. What if there’s another way to live?

Could the employment model for the American Dream, as we’ve known it for the past 60 years be gradually changing? Could a shift or evolution towards a new living and earning model be in process right now (both in consciousness and technology)?

Today ordinary people from all over the world are transcending from working for an employer to self-employment. Many of these start-up businesses are succeeding due to the wide range of opportunities that are now made available by the continued advances in Technology and the World Wide Web. As a result, many have been able to create a living and even wealth for themselves from home. They dictate when, how and even where they work. According to a U.S. Census Bureau News article (released September 27, 2006), Almost half (49 percent) of the nation’s businesses are operated from home, and more than 6-in-10 owners used their own money to start the business, according to new U.S. Census Bureau reports on characteristics of businesses and business owners.

The challenge of taking on this new mindset is that you’ll be up against a mass consensus and infrastructure created from our societies’ major belief systems set in place over 60 years ago as to how one earns a living – Get educated, go to work for a good company for 30 years and then retire. We’ve known for the past two decades that working for one company for 30 years is in most cases extinct. Many people these days can’t even afford to retire.

“True entrepreneurship is both internal and external. It’s a dual path of development (many times from the inside out). Some believe it’s possible to dismantle the old core belief systems and rebuild new ones to accommodate and propel us into creating the vehicle to fulfill this new model of living for ourselves”… The teacher will appear when the student is ready.

We must be prepared internally for this reality to take place externally. Again, this involves changing our core belief systems and preparing our minds for this transition from the old to the new while building the external vehicle to achieve it. The two must go hand in hand.

The reality is for many business owners that there is a lot to do and a lot to think about. Some of these thoughts may be keeping you awake at night. These thoughts may be worries about problems in your business or just simply just things that need to be though through. If they’re keeping you awake at night, your health will suffer and your ability work effectively and do what needs to be done is diminished.

The first thing you need is a little time. Allow yourself a little time in your day, say about 10 minutes, so that you have the opportunity to think through some of these things. When you give yourself this time every day you’re more likely to leave your mind free for sleeping at night.

If the day to day running of your business keeps you very busy during the day, any concerns may temporarily be put to one side, then at night your mind kicks in with the problems, keeping you awake. If you want to sleep better at night these concerns and problems need to be faced head on. Although this can feel scary at times, keep focused on how much better you’ll feel once the worries are out of the way. The first step is to identify your concerns, then brainstorm some possible solutions and come up with an action plan to handle them.

Taking actions to handle your worries is proactive, so not only do you feel better but you’re taking some necessary steps to work through the problems. Then if these problems keep you awake at night, just remind yourself that you have a plan and the worries are being handled.

Ideally having someone to support you through facing any problems, brainstorm ideas with and devise an action plan is often very beneficial especially if they see your business with fresh eyes. Find out how business coaching can help you with this.

Wendy works with business owners to be more effective and successful, achieving a more profitable business in less time with business coaching Sign up for her FREE newsletter.

People want to get away from their jobs. They hate their boss. They don’t like the daily commute. They hate the static hours and in most cases, the limitation it places on the amount of time they can spend with their families. Yes, we’ve heard all this stuff before so when they bite the bullet and take on a home business more than 95% of them fail.

Yet despite this alarming statistic, thousands still start at home businesses every day. And the biggest reason is they want to get away from their J.O.B. Now this is where the irony comes in because the secret to succeeding in work from home businesses is the very reason most want to start one – you’ve got to treat it like a job.

Get A Job Working From Home

The growing number of at home businesses occurs mainly through lack of focus. People get the impression that because it’s their business they can work the hours they want and that’s one of the driving elements behind them tossing in their job.

Yes, but that doesn’t mean you can relax. There is the underlying problem. People go into self employment opportunities with the right intentions but lack the mental staying power to make it work. You need to treat it like a job. Here’s what we mean.

In a job, you’re tied to a set number of hours. For most it’s 9-5 and they are required to output a certain amount of work each day and their reward is a paycheck. Think about this, what’s the difference between that concept and being self employed. There really is no difference. If you don’t put the work in then you won’t get the reward.

But the benefit with work at home businesses is your reward is determined by just how much sweat equity you put into it and that’s one of the secrets behind the big income earners. They treat their businesses as a job especially in the building stage and their actions get rewarded in large numbers in time.

Here are some steps to beating paralysis analysis working from home and how you can get productivity levels moving in the right direction:

1. Set yourself a specific work window each day. This can be 9-5, 8-5, 8-12noon…it doesn’t matter, as long as you have a designated number of hours where you will fully commit to your business each day.

2. Get rid of all distractions. This can be achieved bysetting a designated work area, turning off the television, avoid checking emails and taking the phone off the hook when you’re not using it.

3. Set short term goals during the day. Reward yourself in some minor way each time a task is completed.

4. Start with the most difficult and pending tasks first. This is a great way to increase your work productivity because you’ll be tackling them when you’re fresh and you’ll gain satisfaction when they’re finished making the remaining tasks look mere formalities.

5. Appoint yourself a mentor who will act as your supervisor. You will report to this person on a daily basis, twice a day for the first month and then once a day for a period of at least six months. Make sure this person is someone you both respect and fear but most of all, hate to let down. This is one of the most powerful motivators in succeeding with work at home businesses.

To start a home business on the Internet is not nearly as difficult as many people who just don’t understand will try to tell you it is (even though they’ve probably never even tried). Internet home business opportunities can be found all over the place: you can become a freelance blogger or SEO writer; you can write and sell e-books; you can run a store on e-Bay; you can become an affiliate marketer and choose from over 10,000 and growing products to sell; and on and on.

One of the great things about a home business on the Internet is it’s easy to get started. You don’t need very much money and you can find all kinds of ways to get very low cost or free advertising. Another great thing is you do it on your own time and, as long as you have a computer and an Internet connection, you do it wherever you are–from your home, from a Starbucks, from a deck overlooking the ocean while you’re on vacation from you j-o-b.

And finally, with proper strategies used and plenty of diligence, your Internet home business allows you to use the power of leveraging and work smarter instead of harder. When you leverage, you cause a small action to bring in giant results. This is the secret of all rich people: they know how to make a little effort go a very, very long way.

Eventually, working smarter instead of harder and not needing worry about huge marketing budgets or taking out business loans, you see your Internet home business begin paying for itself and then, soon after, you’ve got real profits streaming in, even while you sleep. Before you know it, you don’t need to work for some other company any longer and you fire your boss and become your own.

But none of this will happen by itself. If you are going to take advantage of Internet home business opportunities, you have to be a real self-starter. You have to be able to motivate yourself, make key decisions for yourself, and effectively manage your own time (especially for at least the first six months). You have to take your business very seriously (even though it’s fun) and set high goals that you then go all out for.

Say to yourself: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” With that attitude in mind at all time, start a home business on the Internet and fire your boss.

Before you business suffers from this, checking out your competitors is a worthwhile activity. You’ll see what they’re up to and it gives you an opportunity to step up your game
and do what needs to be done to compete well with them.

What do I mean by stepping up your game? Its about making improvements to your business. For example, are they offering a combination of products or services that you had considered but not committed the time to getting it done.

This isn’t about following exactly what they’ve done, its about taking a closer look at your competitors and using this information to decide what you want to change. Ultimately I want for you to come up with ideas so that you beat your competitors and gain any extra business thats available.

I suggest that you pick say your top 3 competitors and first of all decide what it is specifically that you want to learn about them. Then go and start researching.

Here’s some areas that you may want to consider: