Don't Come In Now, Because I'm Not Here
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LIMIT DISTRACTION WHILE WORKING FROM HOME
I may be at home now, but I'm not HOME, I'm working FROM home, and unless there is an emergency, please go away.
Harsh words? Well haven't you been there? You're working in your home office and someone walks in, someone else calls, and suddenly you're off task and expected to set everything aside and sit down and talk. It's frustrating. Hey, just because my car is in the driveway and I'm sitting here at the computer with a telephone on my desk, don't think for a minute that I'm ready to take your calls or visits -- I'm working here.
All of this reminds me of a comment a man made when I first went into business. "Good for you. Now you can work your own hours," he said. "Now I can be as successful as I am willing to work hard," I replied. Some people never get it!
As home-based businesses, we work as many and often more hours than other business owners. We just have chosen to work in non-traditional surroundings. People don't always understand that, so it's our responsibility to educate them and set parameters, otherwise life will come at us from all directions - just because we're here.
Well, I'm learning and from now on, I'm not home until I'm home, which is generally sometime after 5:00.
I should have learned this earlier, after all, I started my business in my home 22 years ago, but then it was because it was cost-effective. What I really wanted and needed at the time was what was called a real office. So, two years later, I bit the bullet and moved into a glitzy office building in Beachwood. Suddenly I felt more legitimate. At that time, it was important to have an office and the location did enhance my image, but I still did much of my writing in the evening -- at home.
Fortunately for me, times changed and small business, which is constantly changing, took an even greater U-turn, and after 16 years of high rent, driving on 271 five days a week, and fighting the congestion of Chagrin Boulevard, I decided to move my business back into my home. This time, however, it was for another reason - it was more convenient and enabled me to work the long hours necessary to meet the needs of my clients. Now I am home-based because I want to be, and it helps that home businesses have become more acceptable. My clients don't care where my office is, they just care about the quality of my work and my responsiveness to their needs.
Although I have come what seems to be full circle, I can tell you this time it's different. I am part of a huge trend. Home businesses are the fastest growing segment of small business. Hooray for us.
I have worked from home for six years now and I still believe it to be a good decision, but I have failed in one instance. I am still trying to educate the people in my life to honor my work hours. That came home to roost, as they say, when I met a man at a lunch meeting last week. When I told him I work from home and chair COSE's Home Business Network of more than 4,000 businesses he became excited. He started his business in his home some 20 years ago and grew, grew, grew. But, since he liked working from home, he kept his home office for 15 years, although by that time, he had a showroom and lots of employees and a big business setting. "How did you manage that," I asked him and the answer was so obvious. "I closed the door and people knew I was working." How simple and how perfect. I loved it. Talk about taking control.
Well, I'm going to work now, so I'm closing my door and screening my calls until I come home. That will be around 5:00 or so. I'll talk to you after that.
Jeanne Bluffstone
Bluffstone Public Relations
COSE Home Business Network Chair
