How To Create A Home-Based Work Culture

What is with this topic? It seems odd to talk about a workplace culture when you are running a homebased business with few if any employees. Lets talk about this.

Workplace culture usually means a collection of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are found within a regular work environment and is normally found in workplaces outside the home.  Healthy workplace cultures align employee behaviors with the vision, mission values, and goals of the company, while considering the overall wellbeing of individuals. 

Thriving companies have work cultures that recognize employees successes and provide rewards when they do well. This suggests that they are led by leaders and managers who continually look for positive attributes of everyone within the organization and foster the use of their talents. When the work culture is positive everyone pulls together, collaborates, coordinates work, and has positive relationships.

Workplace culture is often described as the personality and character of the company. It is what makes the company unique in the eyes of the employees, those looking to join it, and the people it serves.

So how does this apply to a homebased solopreneur enterprise? Solopreneurs operate out of their home, often without employees, and are self-managed.  Well there is more to this then initially meets the eye. 

These days we have two major shifts taking place in our workplace communities as a result of the recent pandemic. First, we are seeing a more flexible workplace where employees split their work between home and the outside workplace; and secondly, there are a number of people who have left the corporate world and have started their own business from home.  This article concentrates on  the latter situation, the solopreneur homebased business. How do they create a homebased culture?

The Homebased Business Culture

For those who are operating a homebased business my personal research as led me to believe that the owners of these businesses need to take a hard look at how they approach their business from a business perspective. By that I mean they need to be clear about their own business vision, mission, goals and values. Many do not take the time to sort this out. They jump right into starting a business without clearly identifying where they want to take the business and how the business should operate. They lack systems, processes and strong time management skills. 

Homebased Business Culture Problems

Here are six problem areas I have found when working with solopreneurs: 

• They didn’t distinguish themselves from their business and consequently quickly found that they were out of balance and were approaching burnout. 
• They were busy working IN their business and not ON their business. They were essentially doers within their own business and given to the urgency of the day and forgetting many of their most important matters. 
• They were chasing products and programs without understanding how they fit within their business.
• They had a huge number of products but didn’t know how to organize and market them.
• They were anxious and fearful for their future.
• They hadn’t clearly enunciated their own personal values and how they connected to their business values. 

So if solopreneurs are unsure about where they are going, are unclear about how to get there and haven’t sorted out their personal and business values, then the question that this conjures up is: What kind of business culture are they creating for themselves?  One, I suspect, that leads to crash and burn. After all we know that there is a high rate of failure of those that get into business, for instance we know that in the ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses less than 50% succeed after five years; and those who get into the internet marketing world less than 10% succeed. Most of these people are solopreneurs when starting out. 

What is this saying to solopreneurs? It seems they are caught on a treadmill. They are busy but going nowhere. Not only that they are burning themselves out. 

A Way Out For You

The only employee of a homebased business is most often you. You are the owner and the doer in the business. So if you are the only employee what are you doing to yourself? What kind of environmental culture are you creating so that you not only survive but more importantly thrive in your business? 

We know that the solopreneur failure rate can be reduced when owners have effective training, coaches and mentors. This has been proven time and time again. Our firm has also proved this. Our experience showed that 80% of those who started a business were still in business after five years when they had access to business training, coaches and mentors.

It is clear that if you as a solopreneurs want to build a personal business culture where you don’t crash and burn then you need to carefully consider:

• Having a clear understanding of your vision, mission, goals and action plans
• Following a set of principles that balance personal and business values
• Continuously learn new skills in the areas of time management, marketing, business development, and different ways to build relationships
• Finding ways to collaborate and coordinate with others both far and near
• Making sure you have a coach or mentor to assist you along the way
• Discovering ways to organize your products, programs and resources
• Operating with integrity, effective communications, and respect for self and for others within your network

In conclusion

yes, solopreneurs can create an environment where they are driven by purpose and strategic direction based on meaningful principles and values. As they do, they will be seen by their colleagues and customers as leaders in their field of expertise and will travel on a path that points in the direction of success. And, they will have a more balanced lifestyle giving time for those things that are most important to them. They will be building a satisfying culture for themselves. If you find you and your homebased business is not progressing in the direction you would like then contact me for a free personal consultation to determine the best course of action for you. Just click the button below.

Thank you for reading and as always stay safe, keep well and continue becoming the best version of yourself.

Richard Fontanie

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