Working At Home Interview With Jane Pollak

CNN ran the following interview with work at home entrepreneur Jane Pollak. Here’s one salient quote I thought you’d like.

Q: As an expert on home businesses, what would you say are the qualities of a successful home business?

A: I think you have to have personal drive. Nobody is there saying “time to get up, time to do this,” so there has to be a tremendous sense of motivation individually. Persistence goes along with that, so personal characteristics of discipline, persistence, motivation are key. I’ve heard this term recently, it’s called a “forcing mechanism.” In a home-based business there’s no forcing mechanism cause you’re not on payroll and you don’t have a boss so you have to create your own forcing mechanism.

I think a vital thing is creating support for yourself, because it’s very isolating, nobody knows what I’m doing, nobody’s around saying “did you finish that job, what’s exciting in your life,” so I’ve spent probably a decade and a half creating fabulous support for myself. Tonight I’ll go to something called a master mind group that I’ve been participating in for 15 years, where we’ve all set goals a month ago, and of course I’m doing it this morning so I can be accountable for it tonight, but that’s one forcing mechanism, one of many. I’m meeting somebody for coffee at 11 today, there’s structure all over my day that’s outside of my home that keeps me really supported and joyous.

Image courtesy CNN and Kate Eisenhard