Can you define the line where your business life ends and your family life begins? Do you have a clear goal in mind, or better yet a series of small goals that lead to an end goal? A very good friend of mine, Sally Kuhlman of Virtual Simplicity and Coach Sally, is very big on goals and boundaries. Here are just a few tidbits I’ve learned from her.

Setting definite boundaries between your home and business life is very important. As crucial as it is to set boundaries for your children or even pets. Boundaries help us to cope with the many “hats” we wear in our day-to-day dealings with family, clients, and business associates.

Boundaries are some of the most difficult things to establish when you work virtually. When you start a home or virtual business, you are no longer restricted to the 9 to 5 daily grind of the corporate world. However, you are also pressed to make enough money to make it worthwhile right away, leaving you with the feeling that you need to be “available” at any given moment. You spend hours every day building your business, prospecting for clients, and creating your marketing tools. In that first year it’s easy to find yourself drifting farther away from your home life and working 12 to 15 hours a day. In the end your family is feeling neglected and you feel discouraged and stressed out.

When speaking with Carrie Lower of CL Consulting and Administrative Services, she emphasizes to her business clients about the importance of scheduling time for work and family. The benefit of working from home is that you can adjust your work hours around your family activities. Carrie shares that her computer screen is turned off, or the laptop is placed in hibernation during key family times. This way she can dedicate these times to her kids. Meanwhile after dinner is served and kids are tucked into bed, she can use that time to put the finishing touches on projects, attend seminars, or returning phone calls and emails.

The first step to relieving some of that stress is to sit down and write out your goals. Include your personal goals with your business goals and try to be as clear as possible. If you have a huge goal, break it down into several definite steps that will lead you to that goal, something that can be measured in your eyes. The next step is to take those goals and set some realistic time values to them. It is important to prove to yourself that you are making progress. It’s all too easy to give into that panicked feeling that you are spinning your wheels and going nowhere fast prompting the urge to work that much harder and longer.

With goals firmly in mind you can start to budget your time. I would do this on a weekly or monthly basis, setting aside a specific number of hours for client time, business time, family time, errands time and “me” time. That last item is very important to your mental health believe me. Leave enough room in there for the unexpected and every month or so review your time budget and revise as necessary.

With clear goals and boundaries well in hand you will find your stress level decreasing, you will appear more professional, and your business will blossom.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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One of the top reasons people decide to work at home is family. You can break that down even further to include; wanting to stay home to care for younger preschool children, wanting to cut down on the cost of daycare, needing flexibility to care for ill family members, or preparing for a new child. There are many more variations on the same theme and as many reasons as there are people staying at home, but for this article we are going to concentrate on spending more time with your family.

Starting and running your own business is a difficult and time-consuming proposition. Starting and running your own HOME business can be even more difficult. What starts out as a great idea to balance the needs of money and family, ends up becoming a headache with long nights, stress, and strained relationships.

The most common question I hear is how do you handle a home business and care for a small child at the same time. The difficulties are obvious. To a small child the world revolves solely around them and they rarely choose to let go of that control on your attention. Add to that the very genuine concern for your child’s safety and you have a no win situation. Budgeting your time and restricting your work hours to when your child is asleep can work, but also can leave you with little or no sleep and a crabby spouse which is a whole other mess we’ll explore at a later date.

The best solution I’ve found is to simply keep the child with you, either in a playpen or at a table within your sight. Now you’re probably thinking, “Oh I could have thought of that,” but there’s a bit more planning involved than just locking yourself and your child in a room for 8 hours. First of all if possible you need a fair sized, well-lit room with limited exits. That way you can divide your attention between your work and your child and be confident that he/she is not going to suddenly fall down the stairs, or get into something dangerous. This room could be a combination office/playroom, your living room, or your kitchen. When you start off on this adventure with your child, go over the room with a fine-tooth comb to make sure it is completely secure for your child and convenient for you. Also plan your room in such a way that your child can’t pull out plugs, mess up your filing system, or generally cause havoc while you are working.

Once you have your room picked out and the layout planned to your satisfaction, you need to stock it. Of course you need all your work materials. That would include your computer, your filing system, a portable phone, as well as anything else that is essential to your particular business. You also need to consider the needs of your child. The key idea here is to save as many steps as humanly possible. Set aside a corner of your chosen room just for your child and include his/her favorite toys, books, games, and craft materials. For younger children, include a playpen for naps. In your part of the room also include non-perishable snacks and juice boxes or ready-made bottles. You may also want to include a coffeemaker or cordless kettle set up somewhere safe to attend to your own needs. One other item I included in my own room was a television and dvd/vcr player along with a large arsenal of educational videos.

Now that you have chosen your room, planned the layout, and stocked it fully, you can start to work right? Wrong. You’ll never get any work done without a little time-management and planning. The next step would be to come up with a flexible schedule for the day, and I emphasise flexible. Estimate how much time you are going to need for work that day and balance your schedule between that and the needs of your child. Plan out your child’s activities, snack breaks, and down time. Remember to add in down time for yourself as well as time at least once a day for some physical activity.

Typically a young child’s average attention span is directly proportional to their age. Meaning, a five year old will have an average attention span of five minutes. This of course is not a hard-fast rule but a guideline, as every child is unique with different needs and temperaments. For the child with a shorter attention span, giving them one activity at a time could drive you crazy. Better to give that child a choice of two or three activities at a time, giving you at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted work time. Longer if his/her attention is recaptured by the choices available. You need to take into account your child’s particular temperament and attention span when creating your schedule. I would not however recommend giving your child too many choices at one time. The end result may well be that your child will run through all the activities at a much faster rate or even worse, create a mess of epic proportions resulting in less work time and more clean up time for you.

While we are on the topic of cleaning, children as young as two are capable of learning basic clean up rules. For instance, a two year old can be taught to put one toy away before taking out another toy. This is a habit you can easily instill, without interrupting your work, with a simple reminder at regular times.

What kind of activities can you plan? Playtime is a given. Encourage your child to use his/her imagination to create various scenarios for their favorite toys. You can schedule story time to coincide with your downtime and just before nap-time (if your child still takes naps).

As a side note to naps and sleep patterns, remember that consistency is the key to happy slumbers. That part of your schedule should be set in stone. Even the most active child can still have nap-time up to five years of age without affecting their nighttime sleep patterns. I know most people stop naps because their child will not sleep properly at night, but I can tell you with experience that, though bedtime may be delayed for a short period of time, if you are consistent in your nap and night rituals it will return to normal before you know it.

Craft time is a popular activity with the preschool and kindergarten set. You can find age appropriate crafts online or at your local library. Coloring is a great craft that takes little preparation and encourages imaginative play. Play dough is also a great way to occupy your child’s attention. You can find recipes for play dough all over the Internet as well as at your library, or you can simply buy it. I buy mine at our local dollar store. Saving ordinary household items for crafts not only sparks your child’s imagination, but also saves your local landfill.

Quite simply, the main benefit of keeping your child in the same room with you while you work is that you have the opportunity to bond and spend time with your child. Planning ahead and keeping your schedule balanced and flexible will help you spend time with your children and get your work done.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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Today, I would like to talk a bit about the industry I belong to.

Hi, my name is Pam Sargant of Delaney Imaging, and I am a Virtual Assistant, VA for short. I know most of you are wondering just what a VA is. A VA is a skilled professional who can assist their clients with a variety of tasks ranging from word processing, bookkeeping and time management to specialized tasks such as imaging and web design, just to name a few. The difference between these professionals and an employee is that a VA can work from virtually anywhere and has a vast network worldwide.

VAs typically work from home, and although some of them prefer to work locally, most of them have clients all over the world. The advantage of hiring a VA can be measured in both time and money. Since a VA is hired to do one specific job, you are charged only for the time required to complete that job, as apposed to paying for a full or part-time employee for not only their time working on that specific job, but also for wasted time. A VA does not require vacation pay, unemployment insurance, tax deductions, or any of the other deductions you would normally spend on an employee. As a contractor, they are responsible for those deductions themselves. A VA also frees up your time, doing the time-consuming mundane tasks you hate doing, so you can better concentrate on; building your business, spending more time with your clients, and spending more time with your family. A VA gives new meaning to the phrase, “The right tool for the right job”.

Pam Sargant
Graphic Artist/Illustrator/Writer/Song-writer
Owner of Delaney Imaging
Author of Mother’s Survival Kit and Christmas Survival Kit (Coming Soon!)

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By Laurie Dart

A couple months ago, I told my husband I was going to revamp my business by defining a niche and a target market. My niche is writing. My target market – well, at the time, it was anyone or anything that needed writing or editing services. “Don’t you think you’ll be limiting yourself by concentrating JUST on writing?” he asked me with obvious concern. “No, not at all” I quickly responded. He looked at me puzzled. My husband loves stories so I knew a fishing analogy would help him see the light.

“You know how when we go fishing you use a lure and I use worms?” I asked him. “Yes,” he replied still visibly confused. “Well, what do I catch and what do you catch?” I asked with some sarcasm. “You catch a lot more fish than I do that’s for sure – but mine are bigger!” he said with a level of confidence reserved only for things he is passionate about – fishing being one of them. I knew he understood immediately. A fisherman always does – perhaps it’s all that time they have to contemplate the meaning of life as they wait for “the big one” to strike. Make no mistake about it – if you want to land a big one, you need the right bait. My husband understood the analogy right away because he knows when I fish with worms I catch all kinds of different fish, but most of them are small and I use a lot of bait.

I’ve always loved fishing with worms and even raised night crawlers when I was a teenager. I never really saw the merits of using a lure and certainly never thought a fish would be interested in a flashy piece of metal. When I fish, I carefully position my worm around the hook and cast everywhere that looks inviting and weed free. Then I sit and wait. The first few nibbles always excite me and I usually try and set the hook too soon. More times than not, the worm and hook are too big for the fish so I can’t catch the fish but I keep the worm for several casts. Sometimes however, when I cast out, the worm breaks free and lops off a few feet from where my hook hits the water and I get aggravated! So I normally spend the day feeding all the little fish in the lake.

Meanwhile, my husband is carefully choosing lures and trying different casting techniques in his quest to catch a fish. When I ask him why he keeps changing lures, why he doesn’t just stick with one and be done with it, he tells me that his choice of lure is dependent upon many factors. “Really” I wonder to myself – although he apparently sees the question in my eyes and feels the need to explain. Apparently the water clarity, time of day, depth, water temperature, type of water, and type of fish desired (among other things) determine the size, color, shape and texture of the appropriate lure. Wow, that seems like so much work! I thought fishing was supposed to be relaxing. Once he finally chooses a lure, he casts out and reels in and casts out and reels in and casts out and reels in. Good grief, I just throw my worm out and wait. Not him, he tries this spot and that spot until suddenly, bam, he hooks into a big ole bass. Then the excitement begins as he really wants to land the fish. It’s usually a big one – enough to feed both of us and make a tasty dinner. It’s hard work and it takes some time, but he almost always lands the fish. Content and proud, my husband displays the fish for the required “look at the monster I caught” photo and then cleans it. More often than not, I am very happy because if we had to eat the fish I caught, we would be cleaning fish for quite a while.

Defining a target market is like fishing with a lure. As a business owner, you increase your chances of successfully landing clients by careful defining your target market. How old are they? Where do they shop? How much money do they make? Where do they live? What are their hobbies? Where do they work? If you spend some time gathering this information, you’ll know where to cast your line and how to choose the most effective “lure” to attract the customers you desire.

You are not limiting yourself or your business by defining a target market; in reality, you are attracting a world of new and exciting possibilities.

Laurie Dart, author and owner of Writing Wisely, is the author of the Everyday Guide to Writing Wisely. She provides writing and editing services to entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to make a lasting impression with their target market. Visit the Web site for more information: http://www.writingwisely.com.

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