It’s very easy to become overwhelmed when you’re starting your own business, even more so if you’re your only employee and are fully responsible for all the things that happen and don’t happen within your business. You can drive yourself crazy as you contemplate the things that you must do as well as all the other things that you need to do but can’t find the time for. How do you solve this dilemma? You need to learn how to breathe and take your time.

As a business begins and starts to grow it experiences a lot of growing pains. You must decide how you’re going to handle your bookkeeping, taxes, your marketing, everything. And it’s easy to become depressed and struggle to find the right balance. When embarking on my home business I was anxious for work. I was determined to do as many projects as I could in order to bring in some money. Sure, I earned money but it was not at all near the amount of money I needed in order to make a living.

I’m still finding my way. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities. I now have two recurring clients and another pet project. However, as I’m still in my full-time home business infancy, I’m finding that it’s easy to get caught up in the pitfalls of working for yourself. It’s easy for your worse habits to worsen. If you’re a workaholic then you’ll take that to a whole new level. If you love to be on the computer, days can begin to blend.

Here are six things to keep in mind when working for yourself:

• When you work for yourself, you become even more critical of yourself, your talents and skills. Be sure not to dwell on this. Make every day a new one and don’t be so hard on yourself.
• You have to accept that starting out, you’re going to work longer and harder than you’ve ever worked before.
• You have to take on almost any and every client at the start so that you can build up your experience and street credibility (reputation).
• You may not make the type of money you hope to. At least not at first. It’s like most things, once you learn the tricks of the trade, you’ll be in a better position to prioritize and make it work for you.
• Your family may not take your work seriously. Sure, it’s most people’s dream to work from home. However, when you make it happen don’t be completely put out by friends and family thinking that you’re just playing online everyday.
• All the money in the world will not give you back the time you should be spending with your friends and family. Yes, money buys some really great things but while you toil away life is happening. Make a conscious effort not to miss it.

The most important thing, as I mentioned earlier, is to breathe. This could also mean that there are moments where you’ll need to go and take a walk or simply be away from the desk for a while. Unlike being in a traditional office, working at home can sometimes be lonely. There’s no one there to tell you to take a break from it all. Just remember that you need to. After all, in the case of home businesses, that’s part of the reason why you’re at home in the first place.