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When to Say When

admin Posted in Snippets of Success, Work at Home Comments Off on When to Say When

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want http://tinyurl.com/lj6k8kg

stressed out woman

When to Say When

Do you know when to say "When"? Not to stereotype our gender, but it does seem that women seem to have a problem with being able to say "no" to the requests for our time, services and money. When friends and colleagues come to us for our expertise in what we do, we gladly give away our knowledge and insight. Many times though, this can also lead into using your skills and services. If this goes on without keeping it in check, soon you find that what you typically get paid for from your clients, you are now doing free for those close to you, which in turn, uses up too much of your time.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that we never offer our help and services, but you need to know where to draw the line. All of us home based business owners are trying to create an income for ourselves and that is not going to be possible if you spend most of your time giving away your services.


I mention services here because this is the area where it seems to be most common. (Those who sell products have also had many people approach them wanting a discount on the products which cuts into what their income could be.) When people give away their services for free – this cuts into their time where they could be either doing work for paying customers or actively pursuing some new customers.

This is something that I personally have struggled with most of my life. I tend to be the type that loves to give and has a hard time receiving, and I hope I never change in that aspect. But during the first several years after leaving my full-time job to run a home based business, I was required to change in the way I think and feel when I do need to say no to someone. I needed to do this because I no longer had the luxury of a steady guaranteed income that came from my job outside the home. After becoming a full time work at home mom, it was a necessity to create a new steady income. I still feel very guilty at times when saying no. But I found, for the first couple years of running my home based business, there were times where literally well over half the time I spent each week "working", I was giving my services away. Again – nothing wrong with helping others and contributing our time and talents to others IS something we all should do. Many times this is an excellent way to build alliances or barter for other products/services that you need. But you need to get to the point where you put a limit on the time you can spend doing this. If we all had the steady income that we desire, and most of the time truly needing to bring in, then we wouldn’t need to worry about any amount of time and energy spent on free services.

Does this mean you shouldn’t help others or offer your services without pay? Absolutely not. But it does mean learning to prioritize and coming to the realization that you cannot do everything for everybody and grant every request coming your way. So, know when to say "when" and try not to feel guilty about setting boundaries and limitations for yourself and your business.

 
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Fine Tune Those Ethics

admin Posted in Doing Business Online, Work at Home Comments Off on Fine Tune Those Ethics


Is there something you are doing in your business endeavors that causes you to pause and wonder, "Should I be doing this?" or "Is this right to do?" If so, then you are more than likely engaged in behavior that is a bit questionable and need to listen carefully to your inner voice.

Many times people will get caught up with the desire of success, whether it is; to have the highest volume in sales, the most traffic to their website, or wanting to look better than a competitor. When these feelings of greed, envy and power take over, beware. It is at this time you need to be the most honest with yourself and take inventory on how you are conducting your business.

 


Remember that old saying "what goes around comes around", and even though things may appear "rosy" now, there may be times ahead where you reap the consequences for your current behavior. Play it smart and always use integrity in your actions and words. Be consistent in doing business the honest way.

Ask yourself the following questions and see how you measure up:

Am I using copyrighted or licensed material without permission? (this includes both large company’s and small company’s material that you may be using)

Am I putting down others and their services to try to gain more business and look better than my competition?

Am I original in my ideas or do I copy what others are doing to get ahead?

Am I truthful to my clients, peers and other companies I do business with?

Am I being responsible and paying my bills?

Am I keeping my word and abiding by written contracts I’ve signed?

Think twice before making a decision, especially if you have questioning thoughts. There are eyes upon you and your business at all times. You never know who is watching and the reach that they may have in the ability to hurt or help your business. You have either everything to gain or everything to lose by the manner in which you do business. The choice is yours.

—-

Cyndi Webb is the Founder and President of
Moms Network – an organization dedicated to the promotion and success of Moms in business. Since 1997 she has promoted and worked with thousands of work at home moms in coaching and guiding them in how to help grow their businesses. Over the years Moms Network has evolved to include more than 20 websites offering free resources to moms from all walks of life.  Cyndi makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and two children.

 
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Don’t be Taken Advantage of Because you Work at Home

admin Posted in Work at Home Comments Off on Don’t be Taken Advantage of Because you Work at Home


When working at home, one of the hard things to do is to make it clear to others that you are actually working. They seem to think that since you are at home, you can come and go as you please or worse yet, as THEY please. This can be extremely frustrating while you are attempting to keep on task and get work done.

I know many work at home moms and dads who let themselves get taken advantage of by people wanting them to drop what they are doing and come to the need of their problem or come join them in what they want to do that day just on a whim. Whether it is someone wanting to chat endlessly on the phone, needing someone to watch their kids, drive them to a destination or simply just wanting the home business owner to run out to go shopping or have lunch. This is when a work at home mom or dad needs to put their foot down, if they are serious about trying to take care of their business.

  


Don’t get me wrong, working at home DOES give you flexibility, and that is one of the perks. But you also need to have the discipline to be able to follow through and commit to your own goals and have the commitment to your business. Some people have a really hard time being able to stay focused and keeping on top of the deadlines they have created for themselves. And when friends or family call on them during their specific work time they have set in place for themselves, it is hard for them to say no. But if you want to truly succeed in running a home based business, you need to build a backbone, stand up for yourself and your business, and put your own work guidelines into full action.

If you are a work at home mom or dad who is serious about working at home and needing that income flow, you need to speak up and let people know, in a gentle but firm way, that you do work during the day and that your business is important to you. You need to let the people in your life know that you need them to understand that you are "at your job" during certain hours of the day and that while you’d love to be able to drop and run, sometimes you just can’t. There have been many times that I have had to do this with people, and over a period of time, they have "gotten" it. If someone calls and wants to take 3 hours to go shopping that day, most likely I can’t. But that doesn’t mean I can’t the following week. Being able to plan ahead with people, and getting them to understand that you NEED to plan ahead, causes less stress and misunderstandings.

Just think of it, if you were working in a regular job, would these same people call you there and expect you can just leave or come to their aid anytime you wanted to? No, they wouldn’t think that, and home based business owners sometimes need to retrain their own thought process along with gently retraining those in their lives and letting them know that they have a schedule that they need to stick to.

 
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