Sunday, May 6, 2007

Working At Home And Your Family

Combining a family and a home based business can take the juggling ability of a circus performer, the patience of a Saint, the negotiating skills of a high profile diplomat, the organisational ability of a Army Logistical Officer and the tenacity of a Bulldog.

There are, however, steps you can take to ease the stress on both you and your family when you decide to work from home. These simple techniques will ensure that the major tasks required for the family to continue functioning will be completed while still enabling you to meet your new responsibilities as a small business owner.

Communicate

Partner’s can’t support something they don’t understand. Explain to your partner and your children why your business is important to you and what you hope everyone in the family will gain from you working from home.

As your business grows and gets busier (and it will) set up systems to ensure everyone in the family understands what is happening from day to day. A large wall calendar where everyone in the family must write down the activities they are involved in on a daily basis will be invaluable. A shift-working husband leaving in the early hours of the morning can quickly check the calendar to know what work activities you have on that day and whether he needs to drive Joey to soccer practice without having to disturb you.

Schedule

It is vital that you schedule time for both work and family in your life. When your children are young this schedule will be dictated around them. You may prefer to leap out of bed and begin working on your latest assignment but a one year old and a three year old are unlikely to allow that to happen. Instead concentrate your work during nap times and after they are in bed for the day.

As your children get older it becomes easier to explain to them your need to complete work before they receive your full attention. This can be as simple as saying to your children "I will be working this morning until midday, when I get finished we will have lunch and then we will go to the park for the afternoon".

When you have set your schedule stick to it and relax! Don’t spend your work time feeling guilty about not being with the children and don’t spend your time with your children running through your “to do” list in your head.

Prioritise

Prioritise both your work and home responsibilities. Do the top two off each list every day and move the rest forward. Your partner and children will not suffer if they have baked beans on toast for dinner on the day you have client meetings, similarly, your work will not suffer if you take an afternoon off to watch your daughter’s ballet recital if you have completed the number one and two priorities for the day during your scheduled work time.

Delegate

Nobody can do it all. Learn to delegate some of your responsibilities. Work through your list of responsibilities with your family and assign tasks. Sharing the load eases the burden for everyone. It also helps train children for life after they leave home.

Share

Share stories of your success (and despair) with your partner and your family. Let them know when your latest proposal wins you a new client. Celebrate together by using your business money to shout a pizza for dinner or take the family out for a special treat.

When the day has been a disaster explain about your bad day, don’t leave them guessing about why Mom is moping about the house. Most importantly don’t take it out them by being grumpy and shouting. If you have an office in the house close the door and “clock off” from work for the day, if your office is a desk in the corner of the lounge room clear it and don’t go back until your next work day begins.

Get Serious

If you don’t take your business seriously nobody will. By scheduling your work time you are indicating to family and friends that you are a professional with a commitment to building a successful business. Don’t take personal calls during your work hours (screen with an answering machine or install a second line), don’t arrange children’s or personal activities in the time you have committed to working on your business.

Gradually partners and children learn to respect that you cannot be disturb during your work time (unless there is an emergency involving blood or fire).

Get Help

As soon as you can afford it pay for help to do certain tasks. Hire a cleaner once a fortnight, or a babysitter for a couple of hours in the morning to allow you some extra work time, contract out the ironing -- whatever helps you to maintain both your home and your business.

Involve

Allow your family to be involved in your business, children can stuff and label envelopes and be trained to answer the telephone. Ask for both your partner and your children to provide opinions on problems or issues you face with your business. This helps you beat the isolation of working from home by providing a great “brainstorming” session. Husbands and children feel valued when you consider their opinion as important. This is a unique opportunity to allow your children to learn work related skills from the cradle!

Be Prepared

Take on board the old Scout’s Motto and be prepared for the worst. Discuss contingency plans with your partner so that when your oldest child develops chicken pox on the day of the convention you have spent six months organising you immediately call into action Plan B and start telephoning the babysitters you had screened months before for just such a situation.

Have Fun

Working from home will take you on an exciting journey of self discovery as you have to adapt to new situations and challenges but make time to enjoy the journey. Drop everything to race outside and play under the sprinkler with the kids on a steaming hot day, marvel at a butterfly with your toddler instead of making that extra call occasionally.

After all, we are charting new territory here, never before have so many people opted out of mainstream employment to work from home. We left traditional jobs because they didn’t suit our new circumstances. So lets make our own rules at home and lets make FUN part of those rules.