By Stephanie Oaks
Finding Balance
BALANCING
LIFE WITH A HOME BUSINESS
A home-based business can be a true blessing. Home busi- nesses provide flexibility, allow
us to use our gifts and abilities, and can
be used as teaching tools for members
of the family.
Unfortunately, having work and home
exist in the same space can be difficult
to manage. Unending “to-do” lists constantly loom over our heads. Breaking
away to focus on family or others in
need can be difficult if we lack self-discipline. But there are things we can do to
set limits around our home business, to
integrate it into our homes in a healthy,
productive way, so that our home
business is working for us—and not the
other way around.
First and foremost, we must define our
purpose in having a home business. In
our society, we need cash. Some of us
are fortunate enough to live in communities where we are able to trade
goods and services with others, but the
local bank will not take our mortgage
payment in the form of eggs or timber
or lovely homemade goat’s milk soap.
In defining how much income our
home-based business needs to bring in,
though, we must also define our standard of living. How much do we really
need? What do we need to bring in to
live comfortably as a family or individual without living in excess? How do we
define when “enough is enough?”