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Parenting and Running a Home-Based BusinessSue and Chuck DeFiore An Ann Landers column "Parenthood is not a job for the weak at heart" caught my interest. Job Description for a Parent Position: Parent Job Description: Long-term player needed for challenging, permanent work in chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts. There is some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in faraway cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Responsibilities: Must keep this job for the rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule. Must be willing to tackle stimulating technical challenges such as small gadget repair, sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must handle assembly and product safety testing , as well as floor maintenance and janitorial work. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and levels of mentality. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute and an embarrassment the next. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of end project. Advancement and Promotion: There is no possibility of either. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you. Previous Experience: None required, but on-the-job training is offered on a continually exhausting basis. Wages: None. In fact, you must pay those in charge, offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 and attend college. When you die, you give them whatever income you have left. Benefits: There is no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options. However, the job offers limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life. This article is of special interest to those of us who work out of the home. Seeing this Ann Landers column made my think about why so many of us wanted to work out of our homes. One of the big reasons being to spend more time with our families. Balancing a family life and a home-based business can be a delicate one, especially when you look at all of the duties we have as a parent. Truthfully, it is amazing we get anything done at all. If both partners or spouses are running the business there are some very different and other important factors to consider. Since we have already addressed and written articles on these issues, I will direct you to our website to the articles, Business / Marriage Partners: Will the Marriage Survive Parts I & II There are some good rules however, to help you balance family and business. Rule #1 - This is one of the most important rules. Yes, this is your home, but it is also my office. What that means is the things you use in your business like computers, files, fax machine, business phone, supplies, etc. are off limits to them. Rule #2 - Set office hours. This lets your family members and friends know when its okay to disturb you; when your day is done. This will avoid them taking you away from your work. Rule #3 - No one but you answers your business line, and if your office is in part of the house, there is to be quiet when you are on the phone. I know sometime pandemonium breaks lose. Well on those occasions it does, dont answer the phone, let it go into voice mail and call back as soon as you can get away or get the situation under control. Almost all phones today have a mute button, use it, especially with young children that cry and scream. Rule #4 - Establish rituals. Just like when you worked an outside job, you if dropped them off at the daycare, or their bus stop or school, even if you dont leave the house, when you are ready to go into your office, tell them good-bye. When you are done for the day, say "Im home", or if you take a break say "Im back for a bit", but be sure to tell them when you leave again, so they know you cant be interrupted. Rule #5 - Follow the other rules. Be sure that the above rules are followed. This is the most important rule. Rules not only help you, they help your kids, family and friends draw the line between your work and your home day. Some other tips are: 1. Keep a stash of kid stuff in your office. Get a variety of things like paper, stickers, crayons and games, in case your children are in your office and you need to take a call. 2. Get a cordless phone as an extension to your business line. When you enter the "home" part of your house, take the phone with you. If it rings, answer it and walk back to your "work space". Let your children, family and friends know that when this happens, they should try to be quiet until you are out of earshot or ask the person to hold, and press your hold or mute button until you are back in your "work area" or quiet space. 3. Understand it may not be easy, but if you train your children, family and friends to respect your time, space and need for concentration, both your work and family life will be easier. Copyright 2001, DeFiore Enterprises
| ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | RELATED ARTICLES 5 Tips To Create A Kick-Butt Mini-Course That Pulls In Thousands of Rabid Subscribers... in a Flash! One of the fastest ways to develop, build, and grow your own list of subscribers is to develop a "mini" course with an incredibly compelling promise. Parenting and Running a Home-Based Business An Ann Landers column "Parenthood is not a job for the weak at heart" caught my interest. A Real Estate Investing Primer There are a great many books and web sites devoted to real estate investing out there, but most of them concentrate on one specific area of investing.Its often hard to find a general description of real estate investing, one that lists the various real estate investing strategies and how to get started.Thats what this article will set out to do. To Buy or Rent For Your College Student September always means Back To School, and for thousands of families it also signals Off To College. In addition, more and more young people are opting to continue their education with post-graduate studies. The Smart Way To Look At Home Improvements What home improvements really pay off when the time comes to sell your house The Minefields in Your Lease In some markets across the country -- San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., for example -- the renters market is so hot that properties are snatched up the same day they become available. In fact, many landlords in these markets find themselves negotiating among multiple offers. Complete Home Rehab In 10 Days This report is about taking a house and restoring it to an aesthetically pleasing dwelling that has reclaimed it’s functional utility.In effect, it is the anti-aging medication for bricks and mortar. Virtual Assistance; A Money Saving Opportunity For Employers. What is a Virtual Assistant A Virtual Assistant is a highly skilled, independent entrepreneur who provides business services in a remote or virtual environment. 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Tenants number-one point of contention, he says, is "responsiveness to complaints -- even if theres nothing that can be done about the problem." Residential rental properties are a literal obstacle course of sticky situations. These fairly tight quarters are home to many people with specific concerns that they expect their landlord to address and pay for yesterday. Landlords, whether at fault or not when tenant complaints arise, find themselves between a rock and a hard place on such issues as security, water quality, the neighborhood, neighbors, their guests, and noise. Prepare for Winter Before It Arrives Even though we are still enjoying warm weather and winter seems far away, now is a great time to begin preparing. If you do a bit at a time before winter hits the tasks are not at all overwhelming. Avoid The Sticker Shock Of Relocating To avoid the sticker shock of relocating, moving Americans can use the results of movecentral.coms annual moving survey to plan their spending. The new survey finds that movers spend $9,400 on purchases during the three-month relocation period, while renters spend $3,700. “Penny Wise and Pound Foolish” This saying came to mind when reading my Icop newsletter. JLwas discussing things that Chuck and I talk about all the time. A couple of weeks ago while listening to Jim Edwards’ audio newsletter he ranted about the “psycho freebie seekers” love that name. Jim rants almost as well as Dennis Miller. Finding and Managing Quality Reciprocal Links: A Tutorial for The Newbie All of us want to increase traffic to our web sites. It helps our search engine rankings, and is a very cost-effective way to provide us with potential new customers. One of the best, and certainly least expensive, ways to do that is by exchanging links with sites similar to our own, or that contain content our own visitors are likely to find interesting and useful. It is important to restrict our exchanges to such sites because if we indiscriminately exchange with everybody and anybody we become what is known as a “link farm” and wind up being banned by the search engines. No one wants to be banned by the search engines, so this article will discuss how to find relevant sites with whom to exchange links, and how to keep track of them after you have exchanged the links. Even though there are software programs that will do most if not all of this for you, they have various flaws and inadequacies. If you are one of those people who prefer the personal touch, this article is for you! Tips on Budget Decorating Home decorating on a budget is the ultimate adventure in decorating. It requires a little bit of planning, creativity, and patience. If you are like me, sometimes you wish you could be a genie and wiggle your nose and **poof** its done. However, that takes away from all the fun! Follow these tips and youll have a home that looks like a page out of your favorite magazine! Juggling The Day With A Deal Doing deals with sellers is why you went into lease purchasing. Again, using organization and time management is very important here. Scaling Down almost Painlessly Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder whos moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event. Should your Sell your Home yourself Should you sell your home yourself Yes and no. Yes, you should leave the option of selling on your own open and no, you shouldn’t rule out using the services of an agent to help you sell. There are a considerable number of advantages of using an agent to sell your home but their services do come at a price – up to 6% commission on the sale price! That’s quite a sum, a precious $6,000 for every $100,000 your home is worth. Agents are not indispensable. With the advent of the Internet, a fairly sizeable number of owners have been able to successfully sell on their own. Statistics have it that 80% of home buyers begin their search for a home online. So, putting your home details on the Internet is one effective medium of advertising your home and reaching out to a large number of buyers. What Is A Home Based Travel Agent Many people are unclear about the travel industry.Travel agents are often thought to be the same as real estate agents.Becoming a travel agent or more specifically a home based travel agent is an exciting career change or retirement option.Some people do it full time while many do it as a part time business. ![]() |
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