Home Business Isolation for Entrepreneurs

How one home based entrepreneur deals with feeling isolated.

One of the hardest things for me to deal with as an entrepreneur is the isolation factor. Sure, I can work from almost anywhere - a fact I proved while traveling around the West Kootenay region of BC, Canada all summer. (Although I must admit that WiFi in the bush would have been REALLY helpful).

Even so, when I get down to it (copywriting) I find I work best with some outside distractions to help me focus more inwardly. Television works really well, as does a crowded coffee shop or library common area. Quiet, out-of-the-way places just make me feel out of touch with myself.

I realize I'm a bit of a weirdo in this respect; most people need peace, quiet and some zone-out tunes to get stuff done. Either way, when the times comes to focus, it's time to tune out. And tune out I do. For hours. Days, even.

So how do I make sure I'm not completely isolated from the world while working on a project, a goal, a stubborn issue, etc.?

I'll be honest: I'm still learning. Most work from home days are spent taking frequent walks and chat breaks. Some of the more seriously stressful days need heavy-duty results, and for those days I try my hand at:

EFT

EFT, or Emotional Freedom Techniques, is a form of acupressure and hypnosis rolled into one. Anyone can do it, anytime, and it only takes a couple of seconds once you've mastered the technique. A couple of, "Even though I am fighting isolation, I still love myself completely"-'s and I feel much better. Take a peek at the link above for a free online course on how-to.

Smile at Everyone You See

Gleaned from research I did for an eBook (How to Get 'That' Guy), I learned a great, easy trick to feel more connected to the people around me, even if I wasn't able to spend any time getting to know them or chatting about my day. All I had to do was smile. Lots. At everyone I saw, no matter what. And it couldn't be just a little, half smile. No, no. It had to be a beamer.

By smiling at everyone, I learned a lot about myself. The most striking lesson learned was about judgments. Who was I to determine if someone 'deserved' a smile or not? Just because the man was married, the woman looked homeless, or the family was trying to give me religious paraphernalia shouldn't matter. Should it? And yet, I was doing just that. Well, at first anyway. After a swift kick to the butt (figuratively of course), I started smiling again. Without judgment. Amazingly enough, people responded positively. I even had an attractive young man ask me out for a drink!

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