Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

    There are many challenges when running a business from home. One of them is the balance of time between work & family. This article I discovered at The Repozitory offers a few suggestions on drawing the line between work & leisure.

Protecting Family Time by Melissa Khalinsky

 For many home based businesses, the line between business time and family time can be blurred. It is easy for clients for demand attention at all hours. As parents, it is more important than ever to protect your family time, drawing a line between work and leisure.

Here a few ways you can protect your family time.

1. Set office hours – even if your set hours are erratic, fitting around your children, set office hours when you will be working. Outside these hours, be un-contactable, by phone and email. Answer emails and phone messages during office hours.

2. Schedule family time – you put all your business meetings in your diary, to ensure you keep your appointments. Do the same with your family time – and ensure you keep your appointments!

3. Use voicemail – during family time, turn your mobile phone off and unplug your phone or screen your calls. If it is an important matter, your clients will leave a message or call back later. You may even want to change your voicemail message to let callers know when you will be back in the office.

4. Have a separate work area – if possible, keep your work area separate from your living area. If a separate room is unavailable, set yourself up in a corner that is designated as your office. Set yourself up so that your work can be put away during family time, so you are not tempted to start working while you are with your family.

Remember, if you were working for someone else, and working nine to five, your clients wouldn’t expect you to be available after hours, on weekends or when you are on holiday. Your family time is precious – protect it.

Melissa Khalinsky is a work at home mother of 2 boys. She runs
Business Mums Network, a support and information network for parents.

Article Source: The RepOZitory – FREE reprint articles from Australia for WAHMs and Business Mums

I hope you have enjoyed this article. Please take some time to rate this article, Here.

Ciao for now,

Elena

~ 

This is the theme for the Business Mums Network annual conference. Running a business takes many skills, but new business people need help to learn many skills.

The second annual Business Mums Conference is a fantastic weekend for all small business people. Brilliant Business and Beyond will give you:

• practical information and solutions you can apply
• networking opportunities
• inspiration to build a strong business
• perspective on your business

The keynote speaker, Kathie Thomas, will get you started on the theme of Brilliant Business and Beyond.

Selected speakers will then present workshops on exciting and informative topics such as email marketing, intellectual property, trademarking, and online promotions.

Theme: Brilliant Business & Beyond

Date: Saturday 12 – Sunday 13 July 2008

Time: 8.30am – 5pm

Venue: Holmesglen Conference Centre, Chadstone, Victoria
 

You can download a copy of the timetable, read about the presenters and find out more about registration details at the BMN web site.

This is also a fantastic opportunity to network with other business people keen to build their future.

Ciao, Elena

This may not sound like business talk but one of those things most home based small business owners tend to forget to do is to take time out. This fact in particular has surfaced lately & is close to my heart because of my own experience. Health problems could have been avoided by simply taking time out. It’s easy to get caught up in the flow of work & business management where you just keep going, & before you know it, it creeps up on you and ‘bang’ the time-out factor is forced upon you because your health breaks down or you break down. Then you start thinking about how you could have avoided it all if only you had taken care of yourself. I don’t think we allow this to happen on purpose and there is usually more than one contributing factor which can lead to this. But it does creep up on you like the frog in the pot of water – the water begins nice & cool for the frog & the frog is nice & secure in it’s familiar surroundings that it doesn’t realise the heat under the pot is also heating up the water, ever so slowly, that it may be too late when the frog realises it’s in hot water. 

I’ve been like that little frog and I thank my God that the water didn’t reach boiling point for me. I’ve had to stop, pause my business (only keeping it going slowly) & try regain my health. Slowly but surely I’m now getting back on track with my health, taking things a day at a time, and doing jobs one small step at a time. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m back to my usual self….. well, minus the crazy overwork. Although for me it was a culmination of personal circumstances as well as business that brought me to a halt, temporarily, I realise the importance of taking time out. We all know about it but usually continue to ‘soldier on’ believing ‘we can manage ok’ because we have to. Something as simple as going out for a short walk, meeting someone for coffee, browsing through non-business related web sites, or remembering what your hobbies are & get stuck into them again are amongst some of the things you can do to help keep yourself healthy.

It’s those Little things that will help fend off those mind & body break downs which will ultimately force you to stop whether you like it or not, whether you want to or not. We feed our children, take care family, we help out friends, we work, we pay our bills …… but the do we knock off at a reasonable appointed time to end the working day? Do we rest when we’re tired? Eat when we’re hungry? Drink when thirsty? No? This is not good and only adds to the recipe for disaster. It’s best not to wait before something happens but do it now. If you find that things are starting to get out of hand, then slow down, look after yourself, take time out without feeling guilty, before it’s too late, because you are important.

Browsing through Heart Harmony’s blog Small Business Ideas got me thinking about small business and how some of them come into being. In her post Give a cheer for small-medium business…, Ingrid Cliff talks about the difference small businesses can make to their community. She also writes – “Many times small business doesn’t realise the impact it makes on the community. One employee here, another there all adds up to a significant total. We are the powerhouse behind our local communities and the economy.”

There are many diverse small businesses and I’m always aware of the countless creative hobby-turned-businesses there are. I’m constantly stumbling across web sites showcasing their creative abilities. I do enjoy browsing through their sites even if theirs is a different art or craft to mine.

Recently I clicked on one Google Ad that brought me to three creative sites – the first being Bear Essence. It caught my eye because of recent posts on my EP’s Treasures blog about teddy bears. It turns out that Bear Essence is only approx a 30 minute drive from where I run my business.

From Bear Essence I was led to two more sites Monica’s Attic Treasures - another delightful bear site; and Jacquie Lawson’s E-Cards. Jacquie’s animated e-cards are gorgeously creative.

I do enjoy taking time out to see what other creative people are doing. Some may think theirs is simply a small little drop in the business world, but, as Ingrid from Heart Harmony states in her Small Business Ideas tag line – There are no small businesses – only small ideas.

So, cheers to all small businesses out there.

Ciao for now, Elena

It’s probably something we all go through in life at some point. We have big hopes and dreams about something you’re passionate about but there are those who ‘steal’ those dreams from you. Meaning well and offering ‘helpful’ information and ‘advice’, they don’t realise how destructive their words can be. They usually offer no encouragement & can cause you to lose all hope on fulfilling your dream. Donna-Marie from Jacaranda Business Support Services calls these people Dreamtakers.  She has written a wonderful post on this topic and includes an inspirational video titled Follow Your Dreams.

There are some lovely quotes in the video & I quite like this one -

“Don’t let today’s disappointments

cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.

Twenty years form now you will be more disappointed

by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe Harbour.

Catch the tradewinds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

During the year the Business Mums Network holds a series of workshops on various topics related to business. On the 17th November last year they held one titled “Blogging For Beginners”, presented by Lucie Battaini – MultimediARTand Tash Hugh – Word Constructions.I’ve been to some of the previous workshops (& highly recommend them) but unfortunately I was unable to attend this one. BMN now makes available for purchase transcripts of these workshops. I must say that for someone like me who is not very technically minded, I found these notes very helpful. This guide includes information on the technical side of having a blog (Lucie Battaini) and on content – what to write (Tash Hughes). They speak about the usefulness of blogging for business, search engines, using Word Press, writing posts, filling your blog & a number of other blog related information.

You can spend a great deal of time on your business & there are always going to be areas where you are an absolute ‘genius’ at, some areas where you are ‘OK’ and other areas where you need lots of help with. Understanding blogs & whether or not they are useful for business in any way, was one of those areas I needed ‘a lot of help’ with. Thanks to being able to go through this guide I have been able to understand more and I even managed to do a few technical ‘things’ that I never thought I’d ever understand enough to be able to do them.

Anyhow, take a look at what’s available from Business Mums Guides under Workshop Notes. They are very reasonably priced & I do recommend them.

Ciao for now

Elena Perrotta :)