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So many people dream of being able to work for themselves and being able to do that is one of the things that draws people into this industry ... and I bet it's one of the things that brought you to this industry.

The dream of being able to work for yourself, do things at your own pace, and not have to put up with hassles from your boss ... it's all just so irresistible. We don't stop to think of anything that could possibly go wrong ... what could possibly go wrong with such a perfect way to work and make money?

Sadly there are lots of things that can go wrong when you quite your day job and withdraw to your home to work for yourself. The moment you step away from being employed by someone else is the moment that you are on your own and there is no one to carry you when things don't quite go as you planned.

But perhaps the problem that you need to be most aware of isn't anything obvious. It doesn't have anything to do with money, it doesn't have anything to do with keeping up a steady work flow and it's not something that you will even notice ... but the people you live with will notice.

They will spot the problem and when they try to talk to you about it, the chances are that you'll laugh at them. You will tell them that they are imagining things; that they don't know what they're talking about and there's nothing wrong with you ... but there is.

If the people you share your life with have noticed it then you should listen to them because they know you far better than you know yourself and they are far more likely to see the problem as it creeps up on you than you are.

So what is this terrible problem? I'm sure that it has a clinical name but that won't mean much to you. Names can be a convenient label; what you need to know is what it does to you and the best way I can explain that is by telling you about a potential client who contacted me by phone last week.

This guy is a currency trader. He buys and sells foreign currency online and he makes money by buying it when the exchange rate is low and selling it when it's high. Of course, the changes in the exchange rate can be quite small if you're thinking in single dollar terms so, to make a profit, he has to buy and sell large amounts of money.

Of course that's risky and he has to spend large amounts of his time in front of his monitors to make sure that he doesn't lose money on any trade. Just like us, he's stuck at his desk in his home office for long periods of time every day.

So when he wanted to talk to me about building a website for him he had to ring me. He couldn't call in and see me because he has spent so long working from home and never going out that now, when he wants to go out, he just can't bring himself to walk out the front door.

He admitted that his family had told him quite some time ago that he was becoming a recluse but he didn't listen ... he couldn't go out because, if he did, he might miss a trade and lose money. He also didn't listen because he didn't think that he had a problem but now he knows that he does and he doesn't know how to fix it.

I understand where he's coming from because the same thing has been, and still is, an issue for my partner. When Steve does go out he tries to avoid places like the shopping malls in town because lots of people make him feel very uncomfortable, he has trouble breathing and you can see that he is really on edge.

He hasn't always been like that ... he's been worse. There have been times when he hasn't been out of the house for many days and he would look for any excuse not to go out. But unlike that potential client, this is a problem that Steve has been dealing with for years and sometimes he does get the better of it.

At times like that you wouldn't know he has a problem but then it comes back ... usually at those times when we are very busy and he is stuck in front of the computer ... and it disrupts his life once again.

So if you have just started working from home make sure that you set aside time every day to get out and mingle with large groups of people. Don't use the excuse that you're too busy to get away from the house for an hour or so and don't think that this problem could ever happen to you.

It can ... and does ... happen to anyone who works from home and doesn't have to leave home to get their work done. And when the problem does hit you it impacts everyone around you in ways you would not wish on anyone.