Standing Out

Have you ever had one of those days when you just don’t feel like working from home? I’ve only been at this for a little over six months at this point. If you’ve got a lot of experience with this, share some secrets for overcoming the work at home blahs!

I’m thinking trying these. If you have thoughts or advice, please share!

• Changing the scenery? Maybe moving things around might help.
• Taking it outside…or away? I could go work from somewhere with Wi-Fi today just to break up the monotony a bit.

–Tia

This blog is particularly written with virtual assistants in mind.

Anyone reading this blog has probably heard of or read the book Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel. The book highlights some common mistakes women naturally make that may prevent them from breaking through that highly controversial notion of the “glass ceiling.” The book is very good, actually, and if you haven’t read it, you should, particularly if you have been or plan to ever be part of “corporate” America.

But I have another angle on this that I’ve been thinking about recently. What about the home office? Is there a difference when it comes to women’s natural tendencies (to bring cookies and other goodies and leave them at our desk, to bring in our kid’s fundraisers, to put others first, etc) in the home-based business realm, vs corporate America?

I’d love to see some responses and comments to this. Women in home-based businesses tend to be in industries we expect them to be in - virtual assistants (like myself), home/personal products, shopping, etc. Some of the very successful are in more mixed pools - graphic design, coaching/consulting, etc. A lot of men in home-based businesses are found in major money-making MLM businesses, finance (like home-based accounting and tax services), real estate investing, technology and media. Of course, all of this commentary is without research into this - this is just my observation. Click here to read the Good Morning America article on Virtual Assistants written last September.

Case in point: I’ve never been a “brick-and-mortar” administrative assistant professionally (a few times during college temporarily). I have a BA in technical writing and until recently worked in IT as a tech writer, then product manager, and then lead business analyst. But when I decided to work from home, I chose virtual assistance. Why? I don’t really know. I just enjoy it a lot. That’s all I can offer for an explanation.

Women seem to thrive in “helping” businesses like virtual assistance. Does that make us servants? Most definitely not! But if you ever find yourself feeling that way a bit, don’t fret, I’m sure we all do at some point. I recently came into negotiations with a potential client that didn’t go very well. The essence of the conflict was a philosophical one. The potential client (a man) worked from home and probably enjoyed a lifestyle that anyone would - lots of income, low overhead and free time. But he didn’t anticipate that I would be in the same position as he is. When it came to negotiations in terms of my rate and my work schedule, he expected me to work 24/7 for peanuts. That’s ridiculous. Needless to say it didn’t work out between us.

Anyway, the issue I’m really getting at is that it’s obviously possible for women to be very successful in home-based business (many, many women do - just look at Ali Brown and her prodigies), but it isn’t by giving stuff away, acting like a servant, lowering our rates or devaluing our services. It’s by sticking to your guns. Set a price and a schedule that you want and that reflects your desired lifestyle (see my blog about Lifestyle Entrepreneurs) and then don’t waver. Men rarely do that (in business or in life) but as women we’re so good at rationalizing our changes that we talk ourselves into things like “I’ll lower my rate for just this one client” or “It really shouldn’t take 2 hours to do this task so I’ll only charge him for 1 1/2 hours.” Resist the temptation to do this!

Whether or not you believe in “you reap what you sow”, law of attraction, karma, “you get what you ask for” or something similar, the truth is that you will get out of life exactly what you expect to get. So set your expectations high! If you want lots of money and a 2 hour workday, expect that. You will then find yourself researching businesses that allow this sort of lifestyle and the next thing you know it will be yours.

So be nice, but be real. Don’t bend down for clients, reach up for them.

To our success!

Cheers,

Tia

You’ve probably been there. You’re checking your email and see something from a client and you’re sooooo tempted to open it. You tell yourself that you’ll open it, but whatever the need is can wait until you’re “working” again. So you open it, but the request is so simple, right? It’ll just take a second.

So you do it. And instantly, you’re working. Even though it’s 10 PM. On Saturday.

Seriously. Does this sound like you? If so, it’s because you (and I) need to set email answering hours and actually keep them. Not just working hours. Email “answering” hours. Because more often than not, if you answer your email, you’re working. Even just thinking about a client request can technically be classified as working.

In the B2B world, setting email answering hours and informing your client of them should not set off any alarms. In fact, chances are that your client either already has established this practice or deep down, really wants to, so it won’t be a shocker.

So give yourself a break and get organized. Say, yes, I work at home (or on the road with my Blackberry or whatever), but, I answer client email from X AM to Y PM and stick to that. Say to your client, if it’s urgent, give me a call. That way, you’re still accessible in case of an emergency, but you’ve got work boundaries that you would probably have if you worked in an office away from your home, right?

I have a client that actually has an auto-responder that informs you of his email answering hours. I don’t need to adopt that method, but his principle is right on. In order to stay organized and manage your time more effectively, not to mention keeping your sanity, do yourself a favor and set some email hours and stick to them. Do this for two weeks and if it doesn’t work and you don’t feel better, come back and say I told you so!

–Tia