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17 Ways to Brighten Your Spouse’s Day

It’s the little things that brighten our day, like the person who rings just to check how you are because they haven’t seen you for a while. Like the friend who rings to cheer you on and encourage you when you’re feeling down after bad news. It’s the little things in marriage that are important too. What things? Here’s a check list of little ways you can encourage your spouse and let them know you love them. See how many you can add to your marriage this week. 1. Encourage your spouse when they take on something new. 2. You … Continue reading →

Let Your Personality Shine Through

We talk a great deal here in the Home Business blog about various ways to go about “doing business.” Many of us get it into our heads that the “business person” in us is somehow a completely different entity than the “real” person that we are in every other aspect of our lives. In reality, we need to be ourselves even when we are working at our home businesses and it is important to let our true personality shine through as we network and build our business’ reputation. In my old life, working in nonprofit management and fundraising, I used … Continue reading →

Afraid of Using the Phone?

E-mail has become the preferred means of communication in the business world these days. So much so, I think that some people have developed a fear or phobia for actually picking up the telephone and calling someone—or returning a phone call. Of course this is all conjecture and opinion, but in the world I move in, I am running into more and more people who avoid using the telephone… I do not want to appear judgmental, but I do have issues with folks who seem afraid to use the phone for business. First, the phone can be much quicker than … Continue reading →

What Should Your Voice Mail Say?

For those of us with home businesses, our first “telephone” decision is whether to have a separate line or simply share our phone service with our home or cell phone service. Once the decision has been made, we also have to deal with the “voice mail” issue—what should our voice mail say? If we share our voice mail with the family phone, we will need to be both professional and incorporate personal messages. If we choose to go the business only route, we still have to decide what sort of image we want to present with our voice mail… I … Continue reading →

Encourage Participation

It is one thing to garner feedback from our customers and clients and encourage them to tell us what they think of our business operations. It is quite another to get our customers and clients involved with our businesses on a participation level. The more engaged individuals are, however, the more likely they are to be good, loyal customers and help us build our business where we want to take them. What does it mean to encourage participation? It is going to depend on the exact sort of business that you are operating as to what sort of participation can … Continue reading →

Please…Speak Up?

Several times a week, I answer the phone and hear a faint, soft, stumbling voice on the other end. Sometimes it is due to a poor cell phone connection (that is a whole different blog article!) but often it is just poor phone skills. It reminds me that as business owners, we need to have confident, clear, and concise telephone voices. Getting ourselves organized prior to making a call and making sure that we talk neither too quickly nor too slowly can also help. I always feel like a bossy brute asking people to “please speak up.” Often, I will … Continue reading →

I am Not So Good at Pampering and Stroking Egos

I think a little self-awareness can be a good thing. I have definitely learned some things about myself since embarking on this home business adventure and the more I learn about myself, the more I can work out some of the kinks in my work. One thing I have learned is that I am not particularly gifted when it comes to stroking big egos or pampering and making accommodations for difficult, egotistical people… I have written about coping with difficult people and challenging customers, but I also wanted to confess that it doesn’t always come easily for me. Like anyone … Continue reading →

Outgoing Family Answering Machine Messages

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Do you record everyone’s name on your answering machine’s outgoing message? I don’t, but I know of families who do. It never occurred to me how kind of silly this was until reading a rant in the current issue of, Cookie. In the short piece, the writer pleads with families not to include everyone on the outgoing message. It was partly tongue-in-cheek but it also made a lot of sense. I suppose the families who do it think it’s cute but it’s really kind of silly to include young kids on the message, who as the author points out, “don’t … Continue reading →

Because Nice Matters

The other day, I went into my favorite bagel shop with my son. A disheveled young man in his twenties was working behind the counter. As he was helping the customers in the line ahead of me I remember laughing inside. He sounded just like a caveman. I pictured him with a large club and loincloth. “Hum? Ug? Huh? Wa? Ya…” While it was cheap entertainment when he was helping the other customers, it wasn’t so funny when it my turn. “Can I get a toasted everything bagel with veggie cream cheese?” I asked. “Huh…”. I repeated myself. “…and a … Continue reading →

What About Cold Calls?

Does the thought of making cold calls make your palms sweat and your stomach bounce? Just the abrasive sound of the term “cold call” can make many a home businessperson cringe. However, if you are determined to build your sales business and grow your prospects and contents, it may pay off to have cold calling strategy and develop some skills for reaching out and making contacts. Cold calling doesn’t mean that you have to pick up the phone book and start calling random people. In fact, this would be an incredible waste of time and your ego and efforts would … Continue reading →