Home-based entrepreneurs get their 15 minutes
When you work from home you start to think the world outside doesn’t know you exist anymore.
It can be a thankless and lonely life. Trust me. I spend a lot of time talking to my dog Odysseus.
That’s why I was excited when I found out there was going to be a new listing for the top home-based business in the United States, a la the 'Fortune 500'.
Turns out someone thinks we matter.
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| Eve Tahmincioglu |
The two brothers that run StartupNation.com, an entrepreneur information site, decided to start an annual top 100 list for home-based businesses, and the contest to pick the winners kicked off this month.
Jeff and Rich Sloan are the founders, and since they started out as home-based warriors they understand our plight.
They worked in a windowless basement for eight years. That’s why they decided to create the Home-Based 100 List.
“We believe that more spotlight needs to be put on the home-based entrepreneur,” Rich Sloan says. “With the vast majority of media attention focusing on big name companies in the Fortune 500 or fast-growth high-fliers in the Inc. 500, we thought it was about time that attention be given to the heroes running 50 percent of all businesses – based at home.”
“We want to celebrate the spirit, creativity, determination and economic contribution of home-based entrepreneurs. Over $500 billion is contributed to the U.S. economy annually by these blue jeans-wearing home-preneurs.”
Ugh, home-preneurs. Don’t like that. (See my mompreneur post.)
Anyway, I won’t let his language faux pas derail my enthusiasm for the list.
If you want to throw your hat into the ring and be considered for the StartupNation list check out this link.
“When we publish the stories of the triumphs and tribulations of the winners in mid-October, it’s going to raise significant awareness of home-based business,” Sloan explains. “Hopefully it will inspire many more people to take steps to open their own home-based business.”
If it does inspire you, though, think long and hard before you join the ranks of the lonely and underappreciated.
Working at home isn’t for everyone. I’ve known many people who tried and failed miserably. One colleague couldn’t keep her head out of the fridge and had to quit or end up not fitting into her desk chair. Another was so lonely he would spend too much time hanging in coffee shops hoping for strangers to talk to him.
Keep in mind, you’ll never be off the clock. I’m often working past 7 p.m., much to the chagrin of my husband who has vowed to padlock my office door.
And the biggest problem is self-motivation. You’re on your own, buddy. No bosses hanging in the wings helping you keep on the straight and narrow work path.
Summer is the hardest for me, especially when I hear the birds singing outside my window -- I really want to head out to the garden and dig something up.
But no, the cold, hard computer is beckoning.
How do you guys cope, or not cope with working from home?
