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Separating Your Work at Home Business
from your Personal Life
by Marcy Ann Cheek
Before the Internet and cell phones, my husband and I operated his work at home business from our home for twelve years, and we used to joke about how every single expense we had in life was a business expense, whether we were eating out for dinner, buying a new car, or painting the house. We saved every receipt of our life to give to the accountant. Our whole life was our business. And I have to say having a personal life apart from a business operated in the home is the greatest challenge for those who work at home. Especially today. With the internet and cell phones, the business can easily escalate into a 24/7 affair. Since my husband has passed away, I have been operating my own wedding business from my home full-time for the past twelve years. And I’ve learned more ways to feel like a real person and not a business machine, if you work at home.
I think the best part of about working at home is that you can usually set your own hours. If I want, I can take off all afternoon and go have lunch with a friend and go to a local art show or afternoon movie to avoid the crowds. I can do all my shopping at times when the 8:00AM-5:00PM crowd is at work. I can always get a late-morning or early afternoon appointment to get my car’s oil changed. Mondays are always a busy day for me, and usually Tuesday mornings, but later in the week, I have a lot more free time to do what I want. And you will find the times in your business when it is busy and when it is slack. So, during the slack times, take time personally for what you want to do. And don’t feel guilty because you’re not working. Always remember that you have freedoms that people who work for someone else do not have. This is one of the rewards for having the courage to start a business in your home. Once you experience the freedom of having a work at home job, I will warn you that it will be extremely difficult to ever work for someone else again!
My work at home career is my wedding planning business. Most of my business comes from my web page. I get up, make the coffee and turn on the computer. Then I take my dog for his walk for about 30 minutes while I have my first cup of coffee and get awake. When I get back home from the walk, I pour my second cup of coffee and go to the computer. It takes about two hours to read and answer all e-mail. The phone starts ringing about 8:30-9:00AM.
I have a mailbox address, (a private mailbox from a mailbox service, not a Post Office box), and I get my mail (and all of my money) at my mailbox. This protects the privacy of my home and gives me safety for my business. My mailbox address is the address that is on all of my advertising and on the internet. I feel that a mailbox address is essential to all people who run their business at home. We need the privacy of our home address. You don’t want folks knocking on your door at all hours of the day and night. And the folks who run the mailbox business sign for all Federal Express and UPS packages for me. They send and receive faxes for me. And they keep my mail safe if I am on a trip. This allows to clearly separate when I want to receive business mail and when I do not.
Because of the nature of the wedding business, I will take calls on my cell phone in the evening. Brides and grooms work all day themselves and will many times start planning their wedding in the evenings, after they get home from work. This is also the time I have appointments with brides and grooms. So I can get into 10, 11 or 12 hour days, and this can become every day, if I don’t control it. Besides, the actual weddings are always on the weekend, so I can find myself working Friday evening, all day Saturday and sometimes on Sunday, only to start again Monday morning, answering e-mails during my second cup of coffee and grabbing the phone by 9:00AM. Separating business and personal life? What Personal Life???? Your business will become your life, if you don’t set some boundaries!
So set good boundaries.
Start with your business phone. You don’t have to take every call when it comes in. Use voicemail to allow you to manage your time and use today’s technology as your receptionist. Your phone company can give you a separate phone line for your work at home job or business, with a separate ring and voicemail that automatically answers on a certain number of  rings or after a certain period of time, such as after you are no longer working for the day. On your voicemail message, put as much information as you can on the answer machine. Give your hours. Tell about any specials you might have. You can even give some basic pricing, which sometimes can eliminate dealing with someone later on who just isn’t going to pay your price. Use the time to sell to the customer. In today’s business climate voicemail is more professional than answering machines. Consider a broadband phone service like Vonage® that offer incredible features at no additional cost, and can even have your messages emailed to you.
The first thing to understand if you work at home is that you do not need to be available 24/7 just because you work at home. Decide on the hours that are best for your work at home job and stick to them. Then close the virtual doors to your business! Play with your kids, go out to eat, take a shower or soak in the tub. Take a nap, go for a bicycle ride, go workout at the gym or swim your laps. Or bake a cake, call a friend, see a movie, rest, relax and take your mind off the business.
In setting controlling conditions for your business, you are respecting yourself. Your customers will also sense that they will be respected.
I have found that the more I advise my customers of my policies and procedures, my rules and regulations, the more they respect me and respect my business. I tell THEM what I will do and what I won’t do.
I tell THEM what my services cost, and what I will do for that amount of money. If they want my services under my conditions, then I will conduct the business for them. Otherwise, I say no. And you have to know how and when to say no. When a customer asks for something beyond your capacity to do the job to your highest and best ability, it is better for you to say no to them then to jeopardize the integrity of your business. Saying no at the proper time frees time for you personally.
When my husband and I had our business together in our home, we made it a point not to answer the phone before 9:00AM. This was in the days before the Internet, and our advertising was through the Yellow Pages and the newspaper, or customer referral. We did service calls during certain hours. After those hours, the service call was double the price. Our customers knew this, and this encouraged them to make sure all equipment was operating the way it should during regular business hours! To help control your business, you can consider one price for something during regular business hours, and another price for off-hours. Post your business hours in your advertising and on your web page. Most customers will fulfill all conditions that will get them the best and lowest price. And this really helped us have more personal time together in the evenings and on the weekends.
And a bonus that you’ll experience as a result of having good boundaries between your personal and business life is that you’ll have some of your greatest ideas to improve your home business during your personal time. Many times, I think have ideas while I am doing my laps at the pool.
Having personal time together - or just for yourself - is absolutely necessary, and worth whatever business you might lose by not being available at every hour or at odd hours. You will be rejuvenated, ready and willing and more able to do what your business requires.
You will be more successful, and you won’t be angry with yourself for being such a wimp and not standing up for yourself. Determine your goals for your business, set the controls, and then stay true to yourself and your policies and procedures.
Written by Marcy Ann Cheek, The Wedding Specialist. Marcy Ann also offers a work-at-home opportunity. You can visit her or contact her at her site: http://www.weddingofficiantschool.com
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