Everyone knows the old saying, “when it rains, it pours”. When you have a home-based business, rain is a good thing. As the owner and operator of your home based business, you are also the one responsible for attracting clients and customers. This is known in the business world as being a rainmaker. Sometimes, your rainmaking activities produce a deluge of work. That is a beautiful thing – if you have a plan in place for handling a sudden increase in interest in your products or services. Here are a few tips for making sure that you do not get … Continue reading →

If you are a home-based professional parent, chances are that you are always on the lookout for new ways to make things a little easier for yourself and your family. Household duties such as meal planning and preparation are often a part of the daily responsibilities of home-based professional parents. Fortunately there are a few ways that you can make things a little easier in this area – and no, I’m not talking about picking up takeout every night. Cooking nutritious meals for a family does take time and effort. With a little creative thinking and planning ahead, though, you … Continue reading →

I have talked before about the importance of planning some wiggle room into your work schedule. At least in my life, examples keep coming up that show me just how important it is to plan my schedule this way. Whenever I am tempted to cram my schedule as full as I can, all I have to do is think back a few days or a few weeks to find a good reason not to. My latest example of a not-packed schedule saving the day happened yesterday. A friend of mine called me around lunch time and asked whether I could … Continue reading →

Home-based professionals, like all professionals, must master certain basic skills no matter what their profession of choice. Business communication is one of these essential skills, and it is something that if done well can have a very positive effect on your business. Conversely, if your business communications are poor, the effect on your business can be very negative. Business communications come in many forms, including phone calls, emails, faxes, letters, and even more casual interactions like introducing yourself to someone new or chatting on Facebook or LinkedIn. Fortunately, learning how to have good business communication is not difficult. A little … Continue reading →

Being a stay at home parent is a full time job in and of itself. Small children have big needs, and making sure that those needs are met takes a great deal of time, effort, and patience. Some home-based professional parents work at home to keep their professional skills sharp or because they do not want to wait until a later date to keep moving towards their career goals. Others work from home out of economic necessity. Whatever your reason or combination of reasons, you definitely want to be successful in both your role as a parent and your role … Continue reading →

When you are running a home-based business, it is natural to want to focus on the business side of things like getting customers, doing work, keeping your books and files in order, and so on. There are other important things to keep in mind though, even during your working hours no matter how precious few those may be. Things like eating and sleeping may seem like they are only tangentially related to the work that you do. Of course, if you have ever tried to power through a work session while you are starving or get just one more thing … Continue reading →