The world-wide web is full of distractions, online communities and interesting facts and news that can keep you occupied for hours. It is a wonderful place where you can play, unwind and learn intriguing things about yourself and the world around you. You can make friends, celebrate life, send presents and e-cards to friends, and even do all of your shopping online. It’s just a great place to be.

That is unless you’re one of the many who use your computer to make a living from home. In these cases, the online community can be a place full of activities and diversions that can prove detrimental to your home-based business.

Most of us, at one time or another, have ventured into an online forum or chat room to enhance our knowledge of a particular subject or to share thoughts and ideas with a like-minded group of people. The truth is; a forum can be a great place to meet people, share ideas and improve your self image and business know how.  

But, all too often, online forums and communities become a distraction and siphon away precious minutes and hours that could be spent working. For the work at home entrepreneur, these wasted minutes could mean the difference between their business’ success and failure, and they can be the deciding factor in whether their business makes a great deal of money or barely scrapes by.  

So, if you are one of the many people that spend a great deal of time connecting with the online community instead of connecting with your business, you need to break away from the addiction of online forums and communities and change your routine to realize your maximum earnings potential and success level. Here’s how: 

• Have a set time, once or twice a day, to read and respond to emails and work-related online messages. Ignore personal messages until the end of the work day.
• Keep business and personal online accounts separate so that you cannot be distracted by an interesting message or tidbit of gossip spied while checking for work-related messages.
• Stay offline unless you need to conduct company business. Also try to schedule your online business into organized blocks of time throughout the day. Avoid logging on intermittently throughout the day, instead get all of your online work done in one go.
• Treat your home-business like a real job. Set goals and guidelines for yourself just like you would receive from an employer.
• Avoid personal phone conversations and instant messages. If you worked for someone else, responding to these personal messages could get you fired. Treat them just as seriously while you are conducting work for your business. No, they won’t get you fired, but they may get you broke, which is worse than being fired.