Working at Home on the Internet

The Learning Curve When Working at Home

New Here? You may want to Subscribe to my RSS feed for daily updates. Or if you prefer, Subscribe by Email What is RSS? Thanks for visiting!

We all go through it.

When we first start working at home, we feel free. So much so that we sometimes almost forget that we ARE Working. But, we have to remember, this is how we make a living.

Neighbors come calling

Neighbors know that you are home. You work at home. They have the day off, or may even be retired, so they might just stop by or call on the phone. They have the time, with nothing to do and since you are home all the time, they may think that it’s Ok to knock on the door or call you to “shoot the bull”. They probably don’t think you could possibly be too busy to talk, you work at home.

The Learning Curve

You have to learn to tell them that you are working. Let them know in a friendly way that you need to get your work done, get back to the office, were on the computer, or are in the middle of something important. These are not excuses, they hopefully are the truth. The neighbors aren’t going to pay your bills, you are. You have to remember, this is how you make a living.

Friends want a Freebee

If your friends know what your expertise is and they have a need for a service that you provide, they might ask for a “little” favor. They will probably not take into consideration that this is how you make your money. You work at home, therefore you have the time to do this “little” thing for them since you don’t have a real job. And since it’s such a small favor, they won’t expect you to charge them. And Don’t expect them to offer to pay.

The Learning Curve 

Everybody wants something for nothing. If a friend or neighbor needs your service, go ahead and do the first and/or second thing gratis. But, you need to let them know there will be a charge for subsequent services. Tell them that it is customary to charge X amount of money for this particular service. Let them know… This how you make your living.

Family matters

Sis, Mom or Pop calls and wants you to stop by during business hours to talk about what color to paint the living room (You are not a painter) or they ran out of milk, so they want you to get it for them for their morning coffee. It is like they think you don’t have a real job, so you have the time to spend doing menial things for the family. Everyone else works in an office or a shop and works regular hours. You work at home. So you are the one they call any time of the day, especially during business hours, because everyone else is “busy”.

The Learning Curve

Family is probably the most difficult to deal with when you Work at Home. They don’t believe that you have a real job. They think you have all the time in the world. It’s family, so you feel guilty if you don’t do what they expect. The family thinks since you work at home, you can break away at a moments notice and you probably can for the Important things. But you have to draw a line, even with them, that when you are working, you are Working. Let them know… This is how you make a living.

Moral

When you have any Business Working at Home, it is your Job. If you worked for someone else, you most likely wouldn’t be able to take the time off to do some of the things people ask of you. There would be no time off for doing favors, and there would definitely be no Freebees. Treat your Home Business the same as you would working for a big company. When you are at work, you are working.

Just remember… This is how you make your living.

Technorati Tags: Working at Home, Home Business, Learning Curve, Time Management

January 31st, 2007 at 05:56am | Posted by Joe | Attitude, Management, Tips, Work at Home | 3 reader remarks | Print This Post

Liz Had My Idea Before Me

What is that supposed to mean? Well, let me tell ya.

 I was sitting here staring at my blank screen when I decided to write a post on writers block. I had already started when I thought why not peruse my Feed Reader and maybe come up with something more interesting than my lack of inspiration.

What was one of the First Posts I come across? Writer’s Block: Unblanking the Blank Screen by Liz Strauss. She gives us 10 questions (I think she likes the number 10) to ask ourselves in order to unblank that scary blank screen.

Even when she has nothing to write about and writes about a blank screen, she does it better than I do on my best day.

So, go read Liz’s post if you are feeling less than inspired to write, you might find the right question to ask yourself to get the creative juices flowing again.

 Here are a couple of posts I had written on the subject a while back if you want a little more on the subject:

Handling Nothing

Writing to Fight Apathy

Now I have to got look in the refrigerator to see if I can find some inspiration there.

Technorati Tags: Liz Strauss, Writers Block, Inspiration, Writing

January 30th, 2007 at 12:31pm | Posted by Joe | Attitude, Blogging, Management, Organization, Work at Home | 5 reader remarks | Print This Post

This Weeks Helpful Reads… Week 41

                                                                         

This is an ongoing series of interesting and helpful reads that I have come across on the Internet. I try to include the most helpful articles and links each week to provide the widest range of information for the home business entrepreneur.

10 Things You should Know About WordPress 2.1 by Aaron Brazell… Aaron gives some good insight into what to expect from the latest upgrade from WordPress, but I think he (they) missed some of the finer points.

How not to be a cultural knucklehead in a global business world by Pamela Slim… If your business includes communication on a global level, you need to know these tips from Pam.

WordPress 2.1: Template Tags and Function Changes by Lorelle… If you know anything about code, you might want to take a look at some of the changes you might need to make the adjustment to 2.1.

I hope you find some of these articles informational and helpful. I think they will be enjoyable reading nonetheless.

~~~ All the above can be considered infected with the Link-Leak Virus ~~~

Access Links to Previous Helpful Reads

Technorati Tags: Work at Home, Home Business, Helpful Reads

January 28th, 2007 at 06:00am | Posted by Joe | Weekly Helpful Reads | reader remarks | Print This Post