Thinking of starting a business and not sure where to look for funding? Here’s a chance to get all the information you need!
When you think of starting a business at home, there are several factors you have to consider, however, finding the right opportunities come with a price.
You can actually run your business from anywhere, including from the comfort of your home, and successfully too. Indeed you can do it while at home, you think the internet!
Our world has changed from what we knew it to be, and the change is even bigger in the workspace, and now, the concept of working from home, with no iota of doubt has proven to be here to stay.
What we have learned is the way we have worked before now has become even more remote and more accessible than we ever thought of it.
Indeed working from home is now part of our new reality!
The List of Grants for Black Entrepreneurs in 2020
Indeed the internet has revolutionized the way we think of work, the way we work, and the level of our productivity at work. According to Inc, having a plan on how to complete your daily list of the things that need to be completed is key amongst the 18 tips to watch out to have an efficient work from home experience.
Table of Content
1. The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) Growth Grants Program
The National Association for the Self-Employed is one program that assists those who are self-employed. There are several options of grants that are offered, and depending on your project you can apply for the type of grants that fit your business needs.
The criteria needed for this grant are one that requires that you list your business goals, and provide information as to what avenue you hope to build your business including marketing and sustainable business growth strategies to qualify for the grants.
2. Rural Business Development Grants
Just as the name suggests, the Rural Business Development grant is aimed at providing funding options for rural business owners. This program is easily accessible, and the funding can application can be completed in no time at all. If you’re a business owner or thinking of starting one. This is a great option you can consider.
However, depending on your living situation, it can get even more challenging and tedious depending on a number of factors — such as being single, versus partnered, with kids, or the combination of the two.
When people think of working from home, they look at it from an individual’s perspective. Hence everyone’s results coming out differently. This is something that one has to understand before venturing into the work from home space. When you decide it is time to begin to work from home, one thing that I have found to be helpful is that studying what your work schedule and expectations would be can be helpful.
3. USDA Community Connect Grants
This grant from USDA Community Connect is one that is focused on providing financial assistance to businesses. If you already own a business you’re running, then this option is great for you. However, if you are starting a new business and not sure what funding you seek, it is better to go through the information, and understand what grant you are interested in applying for, then proceed to applying.
Furthermore, taking a step back to see things with some refreshed mindset would help you to be more open minded when it comes to the diferent reasons why you decide to make that step from work at the office to working from home. Do not forget that many of these others factors that apply at the office may also apply to you working from home.
What you can do differently to help change the old mindset you had about working from home, is that you have to look at things from the new perspective of you making your own work space in the comfort of your home. However, the change begins with you, and the steps you choose to take to make the work life balance one that you can attest to.
Single mom work at home opportunities
When you are a single mother and have to juggle taking care of the kids and finding and maintaining a work from home setting can come with its many challenges. However, with the right information, tools and resources, you can do this without any issues whatsoever that you are unable to handle.
The first thing to always remember when it comes to working from home is — yes, you guessed right! It’s work! As such, you have to treat it for what it is, forgetting the fact that you are doing it from the comfort of your high-priced, Italian inspired super comfortable sofa, with some jazz music playing in the background.
There are a number of places you can find work at home opportunities. What matters is knowing where to look to find those opportunities. One place that I have always been able to go back to when it counts is African American Grants website. I am able to find the details of what I am looking for, the wages, flexibility and more.
This system is so helpful as it works for me. I am able to go through all of the options that the website has been able to collate, and choose the best options for me. Having a system like this one works great for me, as it also creates a feeling of trust that works both ways.
Choosing the ideal work from home options
One thing that I have come to learn is to understand the difference between the options offered for work at home opportunities. You have to consider a few things such as:
- Schedule – you have to consider your current program
- Flexibility – see how flexible you are with your availability
- Affordaility – know how much time you can afford
- Committment – find out how mucth you can commit to work
- Pay – determine how much your time is worth
All of these are very important when it comes to deciding on what work from home program to settle for. One thing that you have to remember while working is to understand that this is going to be a new development for you. So you would have to do everything you can to prepare yourself to be able to handle what is to come.
When you have done your role at preparing for what is coming when you choose to work from home, then you feel prepared to take on work demands. The different areas that we talked about can definitely make all the needed changes when it comes to knowing exactly what you want from a work from home arrangement.
Learning to work from home
Indeed, it is going to be a learning process. You would have to learn what it feels like to be able to call your home your new office. Things that you have done before now, you would have to make necessary modifications for. You would have to ensure that your living space looks very presentable and can pass for a “work space“.
This is very important to help you make some form of differentiation between work and home life. One thing you do not want is having both blend together. The process sure does involve gradual adjustment on your side, but with time, you get used to the system, and would be able to do much more when you are fully adjusted.
Staying productive working from Home
This is one important area that needs to be touched on. It is important to stay productive while you are working from home for many reasons. One reason is the fact that your productivity would be measured by how much you get done from home.
If this is not a workaround system for you, then it may be time to look into making the necessary adjustment to your lifestyle, so as to accommodate your “new normal”.
This may mean having to look for options when it comes to help you need with the children, it may even mean having to go out of your way to reach out to friends and relatives, or even distant family members to help out.
With time you would find a system that works for you, and one that you are able to extend to become a part of your working routine. When this happens, then things get easier for you. It works in ways that you you yourself would get to appreciate much more with time.
Working from home and expectations
Working from home sure comes with its expectations too. You may have the intiail feeling of not being bound to a desk at work may also exonorate you from work turnovers, expectations, goals, budgeting, meetings and scheduling and what not.
In some cases, it gets even worse with how much you have to do now even though you are clearly working from the comfort of your home.
All of these factors go a long way to show you that indeed all of the things that you did when you went to the office, actually came home with you. So yeah, there would not be any running away from your share of work pilled up for you.
So in this case, what you have to do is hold tight to what you are familiar with. This may mean ensuring that you give the work that you have on your hand all that it requires for you to be successful at working from home.
It sure may sound easier said than done, but it is indeed very feasible. The factors that make up the important areas of your work life is one that you have to focus on, one that you know would bring you some level of productivity when it is all said and done.
Finding Work Balance Working From Home
This area is another important area of your work from home journey. You would have to take care of you and by taking care of you means finding time for some well deserved self-care. This can mean going for a brisk walk on your break, or simply doing things, like talking to someone, listening to the music that help you feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
The process is one that can definitely give you the feeling of having done something productive for the day. SO while you’re trying to finish too many things at the same time, learn to take your time and do the things you consider important to getting your work done and having some form of results to show for it.
Work balance is another big thing to really understand when it comes to checking out all of the different areas of commitment that you need to be able to get the well needed work freedom. This is a big commitment whichever side of the subject you may be at. When you are at. your best, you give your best.
Finding the different areas of your life that you feel could definitely make that needed impact when you work hard. You deserve to get your needed rest, and get things ready for when you decide what step to take in your business. Finding work balance can definitely revolutionize how you work, and the way it affects your mindset when it comes to quality delivery and much more.
Prioritizing Your Work from Your Business experience
Indeed finding time to ensure that the most important aspects of your work has been taken care of can make all the difference. One way this can be done is ensuring you implement and do things in the order of their importance – prioritizing. This can definitely mean getting much done, versus going around in circles.
When you have learned to get around things this way, you would be able to do much more and get things out of the way. This can also help to increase your productivity in many ways, especially when to time management and helping you stay productive in less time.
Choosing what you do first once get to work is vital. When you do not emphasize this process, you lose focus on what should be done first, and that can affect your schedule for the rest of the time you are working. This process can be improved in many ways especially when you take your time to make the needed difference and help change tings for yourself, especially in the area of productivity.
I have also thought about the option of keeping a calendar to help you with dates that you should remember and what needs to be done. This can be either digital or a simple regular calendar. What this would do for you is enormous, however, you have to give it the chance for it to work for you as it is planned for.
When you decide you are taking the plunge and would like to make a difference in the world by working from home, and contributing you own small quota. What makes the difference is how you choose to work from home, and how you would like to make it work in ways than we never thought about.
Conclusion
Now you have an idea of just how important it is to understand what goes into single mothers working from home. It is our hope that this article would help you see things in a different light. Think of what you love to do, what makes your heart happy, and find things that appeal to you that you can take with you and run with it.
At the end of the day, what matters is that you are able to find your ideal place where you can take a break, and breathe a little when it comes to finding your way around working from home as a single mother without all the help in the world, and still have to work from home to be able to pay the bills.
Have you taken the leap to work from home too? What are you doing now to be able to make all the necessary changes you are looking for?
Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!
