No means No

After being a work-at-home entrepreneur for over 7 years, I can attest that the toughest item on this list for me, personally, is learning to say no to potential clients or customers. When you work for yourself – especially in the early days – you’re not always sure where that next paycheck is coming from. And even when the customer roster is full this month, you can’t be positive the same will be true next month or the month after, so you tend to take on more work than you can comfortably perform. After all, isn’t a few nights of burning the midnight oil well worth the benefit of having a little more padding in the bank account?

The problem is, working too much to stay ahead causes us stress and job burnout – and it also makes spouses and families a tad angry! So we just exchange one stress point (finances) for another (overwork and family pressure). There is a solution, although you’re not going to like it. Set a limit and stick to it.

I know, I know, this is easier said than done. But I can honestly say that I’ve never had a customer or client disappear into thin air when I told him or her they had to wait a few weeks or months to work with me. In fact, it often shows that you’re in demand and that you can pick and choose who you work with, and when. And that’s a valuable trait, particularly when you want to command top rates for your expertise.

Think about the busiest restaurant you know of: the Hard Rock Cafe, the Cheesecake Factory, etc.  The advance reservations notice these establishments require actually increases their mystique and reputation. Making your customers and clients wait can do the same for you!

Decide how many products you’re going to release, how many interviews you’re going to do, how many coaching clients you’re going to work with, how many articles you’ll write, or how many hours you’re going to work per week, and then stop. That’s it – no more.

One of the best ways to keep your work commitments at a tolerable level is to make a commitment to your family. You can start with committing to attending every softball game, every Scout meeting, and every recital. You can promise dinner each evening, or read out of a chapter book every night to your children.  This will make you accountable to your own scheduled work day. You may feel a momentary pang of regret or anxiety when you tell a potential client “no” or “wait.”  I’m willing to bet it will soon fade when you realize how much less stressed you are on a day-to-day basis, and how much happier your home life is!

You’ve set boundaries for your commitment to your clients. You’ll say the words “no” or “wait” to a client when the time constraints of a new assignment don’t fit within your agenda. You have now become the boss of your time.  Does your family know that?

There you are sitting at your desk in your home office, available to everyone – kids, spouse, neighbors, friends – at a moments notice. You wanted to work at home so you COULD be available to your family, but what are the limits?  We’ll explore the dichotomy of working at home in order to enjoy the flexibility and availability to the ones you love, and working at home in order to create a successful business which requires focused time away from distractions.

I love to hear your comments and join the newsletter while you are here.

Emails, even email blasts, work just fine for ordinary communication, but if the self-employed mom needs her clients to see something she created, for instance, a Web video, then she has two outlets: Youtube and Ustream. Everyone is familiar with Youtube (www.youtube.com), in a lot of cases thanks to Susan Boyle’s Youtube video that went insanely viral. Ustream (www.ustream.com) is slightly different from Youtube because it’s live streaming.

To effectively market a video posted on Youtube is to post it in your blog also. Follow this up with a tweet, a Facebook announcement and an email blast to your blog subscribers and to your alliance partners. Facebook friends can send to their friends and in that way spread the word about your products or services. Since you now have a Youtube account, the site will accumulate all your postings in one place. This means if you post on a regular basis whether weekly, monthly or quarterly, all your posts are in one place.

Ustream is a live feed and so lends itself to something like video conferencing because there’s a section next to the video for people to comment and ask questions. It’s a quick and easy way, pretty much set the camera and go, to brand your services or products and find a global audience. Again, announcements of when you’ll be posting the video are necessary to reach your subscriber base and outreach to others.

Make sure you get the word out there with your video it can make wonders happen for your business. Create and experience that goes viral.

Too many mompreneurs hold a pistol to their heads and give the revolver a good spin when trying to get their businesses started and keep them going. They have what I call shiny object syndrome. Any little thing can pull them away from business job one, starting their entrepreneurial life and making sure it brings in the income and keeps the customer satisfied. Getting distracted will surely harm the business.

Trying to balance family, the most important people in your life, and a business isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes drive and desire and focus and plans. If you feel in your deepest soul and in your head that you must have your own business, then go for it. But don’t go off in every direction at once. Make a business plan and make sure you build in the right amount of work time but also children time and significant partner time. Remember you left the rat race because you didn’t have enough time for the people who make your life worthwhile.

Don’t get sidetracked from your goal. If the home phone rings during business time, don’t pick up even if it’s your best friend. It’s business time now, and you can call her during non-business hours. That’s what answering machines (and even all the gizmos on cellphones) are for. Just because you work at home doesn’t mean you’re available to everyone, and that includes the older kids. Of course, if your son just fell out of a tree (which they seem to do with regularity, well, yeah, you have to take him to the hospital). Otherwise, you’re at work; don’t lose your focus and stay directed.

Keep your eyes on the prize.