Work at Home Moms Talk Radio » working from home

Pushing Through When a Family Crisis Arises

Mary Lutz — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:28:35 +0000

I don’t want to sound like “poor me, poor me”, but I’ve been going through some personal stuff, a family crisis, the last couple of days and it’s been really hard to focus on my business. And, though I say it’s been really hard to focus, I’ve still had to focus anyway. I’ve got some client projects that are pretty urgent, so I haven’t been able to completely put my business aside while I deal with the family crisis.

So, how does one learn to cope with issues and crisis’ that arise in life, all while maintaining their work at home business, managing their home and family, and all the other stuff in life, without completely losing it somewhere? It’s called “pushing through”; doing it anyway even though you don’t feel like it. And believe me there have a been a few times the last couple of days when I absolutely didn’t feel like working my business, or doing the dishes. It would have been way easier to bury myself under a blanket, on the couch, in front of a pile of chick flicks. But, I made the conscious decision to push through what I felt like doing, and made myself do what I needed to do...work on my client’s project.

And, I’m happy I made the decision I did. Sure I could have outsourced the project, but it’s a brand new client and I didn’t want to chance losing him to someone else, not to mention the fact that I’m not at the place in my business where I can outsource yet. I worked on the project when I could, while letting my client know I was in the middle of a family crisis. He understood and I did get the project turned in on time, and did a great job on it as well.

It was good for me to continue working, especially since there isn’t much I can do about the family crisis except wait it out and pray. I do understand though that not all family crisis’ or issues are the same, and some do require your time and undivided attention. If that ever happens to you, then you definitely should outsource any urgent projects until you’re ready to get back to work. It’s better to outsource than to turn in your work late or do a less than par job.

Have you ever had a family crisis or circumstance arise that affected your business? How did you handle it? Did you push through or did you outsource? Or do you have any advice for other work at home moms?

Playing “ketchup”

Mary Lutz — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:08:24 +0000

Earlier today, as I was going through my Google Reader, I found a post by Lynn Terry entitled “Behind on Work? You Need a Catch up Day!” Oh how I could totally relate to this blog post. I’ve gotten so far behind on my work the past couple of days due to some unexpected events, as well as just plain being busy.

Last weekend, an unexpected trip to see my best friend in Missouri popped up, literally very last minute. I had less than 1/2 an hour to pack. I must say, while it wasn’t the neatest packing job I’ve ever done, it was one of the best. I usually think about what I want to wear, way too much, and end up hating what I picked. This time I just grabbed my favorite things and threw them in the suitcase, and ended up being comfortable and classy when needed. I also, left behind some things that I knew my friend would have, like shampoo and toothpaste. I knew she wouldn’t mind if I used hers, so I saved some space in my suitcase for, you know, more important things like accessories and shoes! LOL.

I was able to work from the road some, but I still got behind in my blogging, commenting and tweeting. Just as I started to get caught up, I went away again. This time to a youth conference that I help coordinate. Obviously it was a planned event, but getting behind from my trip to MO, left me feeling even more behind today. Not to mention I had to spend some very valuable hours trying to send out an email blast for the next conference coming up Nov. 6 and 7. I’m not the one in charge of the email blasts, so I didn’t have all of the email addresses in my email program. Then I kept getting an error message saying some of the addresses weren’t formatted properly, but it would tell me which ones. I had to go through each of them, one by one, to try to figure out which ones were the culprits. After much frustration, my hubby helped me, and I got the email blast out.

So, now I’m playing “ketchup”. I think it’s a cute little phrase, and if you read Lynn’s post, you’ll understand where it came from.

What do you do to get caught up or to stay caught up? Any words of wisdom you’d care to share with the rest of us?

photo credit: Pixel Drip

Working on the Road

Mary Lutz — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:53 +0000

As we speak, or as I type would be more appropriate, I am sitting in the backseat of a friend’s vehicle on my way to Missouri to see my best friend. It was totally a last minute decision that I should get to go. My oldest daughter and her husband, his brother and wife and their kids, all planned this road trip a few weeks ago, but due to finances, it wasn’t feasible for my husband and I to go. As it turned out, my daughter’s van had a lug nut break off, and they were able to borrow a friend’s car, making room for one more. So, here I am, working from the road, literally.

I am fortunate enough to be able to tether my laptop to my phone in order to have access to the Internet at
all times…well at least when I have signal. So far there’s only been one area I didn’t have signal and that was because we had to take a detour off the main highway for construction which took us to a woodsy back road.

I also have an adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter for power so I can work on my laptop endlessly. I’m sure I won’t work endlessly, but it is nice being able to work as long as I can. After all, what else am I going to do for 14 hours!

So, one of the great things about working from home is being able to work where I want! I can go on last minute trips and still make money. Now, I definitely don’t intend on making every trip a working trip, but since this one was so last minute, it sure is handy knowing I can.

How about you? Are you realizing your dreams of being able to work where you want? If you would like more information about working from home, read Tips for Starting your WAH Business and Leaving your J.O.B. and How to Achieve Your Goal of Working From Home Full Time.

photo credit: Asbestos Bill

Tips for Starting Your WAH Biz and Leaving Your J.O.B.

Mary Lutz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:50:40 +0000

Everywhere I go, whenever I get the opportunity to tell people that I work from home, one of the main responses I get is, “Oh, I would love to work from home, but I can’t afford to quit my job”. Does that sound like you? If so, then you’ve come to the right spot! I’m going to give you some tips to help you start your work at home business so that you can eventually leave that J.O.B.

If you don’t have a clue as to what type of work at home business is right for you, I recommend you get Kelly McCausey’s The Complete Internet Marketing Mom’s Start Up Guide. This guide is not an eBook, it’s an actual book you’ll receive in the mail. In there, Kelly goes through every step you’ll need to help you determine which direction is right for you as a work at home mom.

If you already have an idea of what type of business you’d like to start, but aren’t sure how or where to begin, the guide will help you with that too.

Once you know what you want to do, the next thing to do is to set some goals.

The first goal you’ll need to set is a time frame of when you will leave your j.o.b. This goal should be set far enough in the future to reach realistically, yet near enough to keep you motivated and excited. For instance, if you have a craft or hobby and are going to sell your creations online and already have some inventory and a few clients, a reasonable goal could be in as little as 6 months.

On the other hand, if you’re considering becoming a virtual assistant or other service based business, you will probably need to build your business and clientele up, so a reasonable goal might be a year. Of course these are only examples, but they give you an idea for setting your first goal of leaving your j.o.b.

Manage the Clock

Okay, now that you’ve got the date set that you’re going to leave your job and fulfill your dream of working at home full time, the next step is to work on time management. While you’re building your WAH business and working your j.o.b. at the same time, it will basically be like working two jobs. Of course one you love and the other not so much.

So, sit down with a piece of paper or a calendar and figure out what times during the day or evening that you have available to work on building your new business. You may find you have as little as a couple of hours a week, or you may find you have as much as 10 to 20 hours a week. This all depends on your family life, hours currently working, and other activities such as church, school programs, etc. Once you complete this, you may need to adjust your goal date set above accordingly.

Now that you know how much time you have to spend building your new business, it’s time to get to work on it. Whether your business is online or off, you must have a website and a blog to promote it. There are literally millions of potential customers online and you won’t be able to reach them without either of these very important tools.

Two resources I recommend are The Blog Internship to learn how to use blogging to promote your business and brand along with lots of other invaluable information and WordPress Orientation which will help you learn the basics of WordPress.

Once you have your website and blog set up, then you need to market yourself and your business. One of the best ways to do this is through Social Networking. There are several social networking sites you need to be part of that will really help get your business off the ground. You can read all about them here.

The most important thing to do as you’re working your way back home is to keep your goals in front of you. If things don’t pan out like you hope or think they should at first, don’t give up and don’t stop striving to reach your goal. It took me over 4 years to be able to finally start my WAH business from the time I initially began thinking about it. Do I wish it would have happened sooner? Of course! But, I sure am blessed and excited to be able to do it now.

What are your goals, dreams and desires for working from home? How are you going about reaching and achieving them? Don’t put your dreams off any longer. Follow these tips and recommendations and start building your WAH business today.