Is it your dream to work from home?!
Well, on this week’s Podcast, I talk about the realities of starting a business from home, the benefits of working remotely, the downsides you might not have thought about, and how to maintain a work/life balance!
To those who have never done it, working from home seems like a dream…
They imagine sleeping in until the last minute, jumping out of bed, brewing some coffee, throwing on a nice shirt over pajama bottoms, smiling through their Zoom meetings, running some errands, doing some yoga, and maybe even working on their side-hustle during some downtime, and at the end of the day unplugging from the office by simply closing their laptop.
But the problem is that dream is a fantasy. Freedom requires discipline and flexibility.
People forget there’s still a whole lot of work to be done.
And in our ultra-connected world, people that work remotely can often feel like they’re trapped somewhere between always at home and always at work.
Now, there are so many benefits to working from home (and I’m going to cover a lot of them), but downsides do exist. They need to be recognized and discussed so you can adapt to them.
How does this relate to us?
According to the National Association of Small Businesses, 69 percent of U.S. entrepreneurs start their businesses at home.
Before the Pandemic, the Pew Research Center found that only 20% of U.S. workers (with jobs that could be done remotely) were actually working from home.
But in 2022, the PRC found that nearly 60% of U.S. workers (with jobs that can be done remotely) were working from home.
That’s a huge difference. The pandemic changed everything!
That massive cultural shift opened a pandora's box of issues that large companies, small businesses, and individuals suddenly had to adapt to.
Humbly, I have to admit that CRC was ahead of the curve. We’ve been a remote-first company since before the pandemic.
Credit Repair Cloud started in my kitchen! I ran it in my bathrobe until just a few years ago.
And you may be surprised to learn that I love going to the office!
The reason is that when we opened this office here in Venice, California, it finally allowed me to separate my work life from my home life.
Until that moment, I was obsessed with my business. I was eating terribly, and I didn’t really sleep. Or bathe. Or brush my teeth. I just rolled out of bed and worked around the clock.
I was ALWAYS at “the office,” and it wasn’t healthy.
I put on over 100 pounds from the stress of it.
So I knew I desperately needed a place where I could work, focus, and at the end of the day unplug. The new office saved me.
I was finally able to leave my work mindset behind, leave Daniel Rosen, Founder and CEO of Credit Repair Cloud behind, and get back to being Daniel…the guy with a life, a girlfriend, pets, and a Harley. Otherwise, it was going to kill me.
So, I need the office. But that’s just me…
The thing to remember is EVERYONE is different!
We have nearly 50 people who've made over a million dollars in Credit Repair Cloud, and nearly all work from home. Our team here at Credit Repair Cloud is over 100 people, and most of them work from home.
Some people hate working from home, some flourish, and others need help with the transition.
If you’re starting your own business, you’re probably doing it from home, and many of you are probably experiencing the same ups and downs I did.
Building a business from home was a struggle for me, but I did it for many years, and it taught me a lot and prepared me to run a fully remote company.
It also taught me that freedom requires discipline and flexibility.
In other words, you may not have a long commute anymore, but there are still a lot of potholes to avoid.
If you list “The benefits and downsides of working remotely,” the benefits far outweigh the downsides. But you may not be prepared for those downsides.
The number one reason people say they want to work from home is “freedom.”
You can set your schedule, you can work at your own pace, and you don’t have to deal with someone standing over your shoulder micromanaging.
But that freedom can also bring a feeling of isolation. You can feel like you’re not part of a group, and that lack of connection can be linked to depression.
“No commute” and “being able to do your job from anywhere” is also near the top of the list of benefits…
According to a 2021 Bankrate survey, 57% of people said remote working had a positive impact on their finances.
You don’t need to pay for business suits, crazy gas prices, or waste your life in traffic. You might even ditch your vehicle or leave the city altogether and save a fortune.
But that lack of a defined workspace, not traveling to an office, means you may always feel like you’re at work. And the more REMOTE you are, the more you might need to spend on your home office, just to stay connected.
“More time spent with family” is another huge benefit…
You can’t put a price tag on more time with your family. Being more visible, present, and flexible with your time will mean the world to the people you love.
Some believe the downside of being home more means you have less opportunity to network among your colleagues and advance your career.
But I would say, more important than networking, if you’re not disciplined, and you don’t set boundaries, that can lead to poor time management or worse, being overworked, and then you aren’t even enjoying the greatest benefit of working remotely.
Here’s what you need to know…
Working remotely and especially starting a business from home is an incredible experience. It’s the future of business, and the future is now.
But we can’t live the dream without confronting and adapting to reality.
If you’re concerned that freedom will lead to isolation, there are tools and processes to building a strong remote workplace culture.
Here at CRC, we do daily/weekly/and annual check-ins to make sure our team is satisfied and happy and feels connected. We have virtual hangouts, Wellness Training, and guest speakers to keep our team engaged and communicating.
You’re going to need to do this as you start to grow a team.
You have to remember that the more spread out your team is, the more proactive you need to be in order to build a collaborative environment.
When starting a business from home, freedom means you can build whatever you want, whenever you want, but it also means isolation is a serious issue because you need alone time, especially in the beginning.
To the small business owner, freedom and independence also mean you can give up at any time. So you have to be focused.
If you’re going to start a business from home or work from home, you need to be disciplined and flexible.
If you’re concerned that working from home means you won’t have a defined workspace, and you won’t be able to form a work-life balance, then BUILD a designated, separated workspace!
One of our Millionaires Club Members, Ricardo Soto, works from home, and he defined his workspace by turning his apartment coat closet into his office. He said it was just barely big enough for a little desk, a computer, and a chair. But he’d open the closet door, and BOOM. He was at work. Then, when he was done for the day, he left his business inside that closet.
Working From Home can be done! You just need to find a system that works and stick to it. That goes for small business owners, big companies, and individual employees.
Here at CRC, we built a team of people from around the world, finding the best talent wherever they live. But to do this means we all must be flexible and understand people's cultures, schedules, and work styles.
But I’m here to tell you… it works.
There are so many benefits of starting a business from home, running a remote business, and working from home that there’s not enough time to discuss them all.
But it’s also important to learn the downsides – so you can prepare for them. That’s how you truly live the work-from-home dream!
I’ll end by saying…
If you don’t already have a Credit Repair Cloud account, check it out. It’s the software that most Credit Repair businesses in America run on. Just sign up for a 30-Day Free Trial at CreditRepairCloud.com/freetrial
And If you’d like me to hold you by the hand as you launch your own credit repair business, check out our Credit Hero Challenge!
It’s an amazing program where you’ll learn the processes that have made millionaires, and it costs less than you'll spend taking your family to McDonald’s for dinner.
We’ve got another challenge starting in a few days, so grab your spot right now at CreditHeroChallenge.com!
Until then, remember, keep the facts on your side…
And keep changing lives!