JG> I'm new to this echo but would love to correspond 
 JG> with those of you that
 JG> are running a business out of your home.  I run a non profit
 JG> organization out of my home that has become quite successful.  I think
 JG> the biggest problems that I am having right now is figuring out how to
 JG> determine when it's quitting time.  I get so involved in the
 JG> organization that it seems to overflow into my home life and after big
 JG> projects or during a busy time I find myself in need of being able to
 JG> seperate home and business.
I run a successful telecommunications brokerage out of my home.  I set the 
office hours at 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.  I resist taking work out of the 
office to do in front of the TV - work stays in the office, and the door is 
shut when the work day is over.  Personal things are not taken into the 
office to be done on the nice big desk. Keeping a rigid separation between 
business space and personal space is important in teaching your own mind when 
you're "off work" so that you do take proper breaks - but it's equally 
important in teaching your own mind, your family, neighbours and friends that 
you are "at work" during office hours.  ONce you let work leak over into the 
house, it's too easy to let home stuff leak over into the office, and then 
it's ever so much harder to pursuade your nearest and dearest that it's a 
"real job" and you really can't stop and chat or fix cars or babysit any old 
time.
 
Be just as rigid and inflexible in keeping a separation between household 
accounts and business money (even non-profit societies handle money) for the 
same reasons.  Once a little bit of leaking happens in one direction, it also 
starts in the other direction, and once it starts (even "just this once") 
it's really, really hard to get it back under control.
 
Of course there are times when I work late, work on weekends, start early, 
have meetings after work, and so forth - but all that happened when I 
commuted to an office downtown, too, and then I had to commute home after 
extra work.  Now I'm already home when I finally lock that !@%*&%$! door.  It 
is important to have a lock on the door - not only because I have valuable 
equipment in there, but also for the sheer psychological effect.
 
Everyone will squawk at you at first about being so rigid, and think you're 
being silly (after all, the office used to be my daughter's bedroom and is 
right in the middle of the hallway where all traffic goes past it every day) 
but if you stick to your guns you'll get them all trained (including 
yourself) and once that's achieved the division between work and home won't 
blurr so much.  You'll work harder and faster with more focus when you are at 
work, and relax more completely when you're not at work.
 
Or at least, that's a place to start from.  What works for me won't 
necessarily work for you.  As they say YMMV  (your mileage may vary)
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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