One of the motivators that may very well be missing from a home-based business is recognition. Without others around for us to compare our work to, or benchmarks or goals for us to reach in order to be recognized and celebrated—there may be some who start home businesses who actually miss all the accolades.
We may toil away in the isolation and quiet of our little home offices or workshops—many of us working with clients and customers who we seldom, if ever see. Working from a home business can mean giving up being recognized at the company picnic or having your work appreciated during a monthly staff meeting. Just because we appreciate this sort of recognition for a job well done, doesn’t mean that we are shallow or too focused on external gratification. BUT, it can be a problem if we are truly missing the recognition and trying to stay motivated in our home business.
Some types of home businesses do have some opportunities for recognition—if you are doing direct sales for a parent company, you may be able set goals and compete with other sales people. There may also be ways to garner recognition from your customers and clients if your business lends itself to such things.
If not, you will likely need to find other ways to feed your need for recognition—doing volunteer work or taking on a more public project might be the key. Getting involved with a fundraising event or community improvement project can give you the chance to do good, network for your business, and receive a little recognition—all at the same time. You may also need to do a little self exploration to see if you can let some of that need for recognition go, and replace it with other pleasures and joys that come from operating a successful and challenging home business.
See Also: Personal Growth and Lessons From Our Work