There are two risks when working at home: One, that you will blur the boundaries between home and work life and in effect over-work yourself, and two, which is the other extreme, that you will constantly push off work since after all, deadlines don’t really matter that much anymore and you won’t get very much work done.

In a sense, a self employed home worker is luckier than all. He has countless advantages, including no transportation or office space expenses, completely flexible hours, and no moody bosses. On the other hand when things are too good to be true, usually they need a deeper look.

A person who works from home needs to be completely self motivated and pace himself at a reasonable level. It is far too easy to just give in to the multiple tasks that suddenly are super urgent and put working on the back burner. One way to deal with this is to give yourself tasks and deadlines which you respect and will maintain.

The other extreme, as mentioned above, is that in a real sense the entire house turns into an office. Papers overflow from the office area and abound into the living room, dining room, and kitchen areas. Even if you are OK with this type of behavior, if you share a house-hold, you can bet no one else is.

The ultimate quest is to find the perfect balance. Make time for yourself, your business, your friends, and your family. Don’t let the risks weigh you down. The advantages of working at home are far too good to damage with an over-zealous or lazy schedule.