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By Laura Koss-Feder When Trish Cetrone, the president of a home-based public-relations-and-marketing firm in Orinda, California, first started her business, she avoided out-of-the-office meetings like the plague. "I was really focused on billable hours. I didn't want to waste work time fighting the crazy Bay-area traffic," she recalls. But after a few clients insisted on some face-to-face sessions, she realized that "efficiency isn't everything," and she began to welcome the break. "When you work from home, you have to force yourself to get out regularly," says Cetrone, who now makes sure to plan meetings with colleagues and clients at least once a month.
According to the National Association for the Self-Employed, an organization based in Washington, D.C., the nation has 17 million home-based entrepreneurs like Cetrone, many of whom are constantly faced with the isolation that comes from being a one-person operation. The same goes for full-time telecommuters, especially long-distance ones. While most home-based workers relish their situations, spending the majority of your workday solo is inevitably draining; virtual contact via email or phone can only go so far. The adjustment is often especially difficult if you've just made the transition from the busy, bustling corporate world to the quiet of your home.
Finding creative ways to beat this loneliness is important if you're going to succeed long-term. "You have to create the right kind of environment and schedule from the beginning," says Rudy Lewis, the president of the National Association of Home Based Businesses. "If you're alone too much, feelings of isolation can worsen as you grow your business."
The only way to beat isolation is to get out and make human contact. But if you're trying to build a business—or please a faraway boss—it may be a struggle for you to walk away from your desk, even for an hour. "It's okay to give yourself permission to be out of your office," assures Ellen Parlapiano, the coauthor of Mompreneurs: A Mother's Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success (Perigee). You may also find it difficult to escape if one of your goals in working at home is to spend more time with your children. "Even though you may be paying for child care, you should still take a break and see others during the day—just as you would if you were working in a big company and went out to lunch with a coworker," says Cetrone, who has two daughters, a six-month-old and a three-year-old.
Time-out Strategies
Replace your chained-to-the-desk habits with these new ones:
Laura Koss-Feder is a business writer based in Oceanside, New York.
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