Discouragement in an occupational hazard of any business endeavor, but starting and operating an internet business from home has a particular risk for becoming demoralized. This risk can extend even to the point of causing your better half to comment on the signs and symptoms of depression that you are showing. What are the characteristics of internet marketing or working from home that are conducive to the sprouting of the full array of signs and symptoms of depression? There are actually more than a few ways that working at home raises the risk for depression for most people, but there are at least 3 major factors that deserve attention because they allow the signs and symptoms of depression or discouragement to grow like weeds:
- “You don’t get out much, do you?“ The first aspect of a work-at-home internet business that naturally leads to depression is the social isolation. We are social creatures and simply function better and are happier if we have more time staring at two human eyes than we do staring at the big eye of our computer monitor.
- Work hard, feel like a failure. The second aspect has to do with the difficulty of measuring progress. Yes, I know that you can watch the numbers: traffic statistics, the money in your paypal account, or number of sales. But in the earlier stages of your amazing career as an internet entrepreneur, there may not be a lot of numbers to look at. This means that on numerous occasions you work hard all day long, but have no way of knowing if you really accomplished anything. Sure, you set up another blog today, but we all know that the old adage, “If you build it they will come,” just ain’t so.
- “I love working at home and being my own boss. Now I can work 24-7!“ The third aspect of a work-at-home internet business that nudges you toward depression is something shared with other enterprises in which a sole proprietor is self-employed. When is the work ever done? Now I am a psychologist and I see patients at my office a few miles from my home. I am self-employed, but at least I can leave the physical location of my office and say to myself, “Greg, the day is over. Give it a rest…” But my internet business is something I do from home. Consider this: it’s 8:30pm on a Tuesday evening. My wife is watching TV and I’m, well, uh…, well, uh….sitting here writing an article! See what I mean? The line between work and home life can easily become blurred.
So, what can be done about this? Well, I plan to write more about that very question. In the meantime, the first step is to learn some basic facts about depression so that you can recognize the signs and symptoms of depression in yourself.
