When you have kids climbing all
over you.
By Dr. Kevin Nunley
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I get a BIG chuckle out
of experts who preach the joys of working from home. Magazines
often feature a photo of a nicely dressed model with her
full attention focused on a client on the phone. Her equally
nicely-dressed child quietly explores an educational toy
on the floor beside her.
That's never the way
it works at my house. As I write this from home, my 15
year-old is bouncing a basketball off the outside of my
office, my 12 year-old is blaring her new Back Street
Boys CD, the kindergartner has just let the neighbor's
dog into the living room, and my toddler is trying to
climb onto my shoulders while attempting to shut the computer
off.
Experts advise this isn't
the way a successful work-at-home business is supposed
to operate. The professional home-worker is told to make
clients think she is in a big, plush office in a mirror-covered
professional building. "Never allow noise from kids and
pets and never answer the phone 'hello.' Clients won't
take you seriously," they write. Uh oh, I'm in trouble.
Let's be realistic for
a second. Of the six million North Americans who work
from their houses, I'll bet more than half have noisy
kids, dogs, and unfolded laundry competing for their attention.
Yet, studies routinely show work-at-homers often get as
much or more done than those in the office.
Here are a few ideas
to help you succeed with a home business when you have
lots of family responsibilities to deal with at the same
time:
1. Don't worry about
kids interrupting a phone call. Being there for family
is cool these days. The vast majority of business people
wish THEY were at home with their kids.
More often than not,
when a small voice starts demanding a popsicle in the
middle of an important negotiation, the client on the
other end will be delighted. "Are you working at home?
How neat! Isn't it wonderful that you can be there for
your kids," your client will say.
2. Working non-stop with
full concentration is only for people locked in a corporate
office. Get used to working in a start-and-stop fashion.
When you see your work is about to be interrupted, don't
stop at a natural place. Stop in the middle. It will help
you get re-started when time allows.
The feeling you MUST
be constantly productive at all times is a recent invention
of our industrial societies. The majority of the world's
people are much more laid back. Take a little more time
to get a project finished. Oddly, your productivity will
increase.
3. If you are a firm
of one, promote your one-ness to the world. Every customer
wants to feel like they can talk to the person in charge.
That's never a problem for people who do business with
you.
Think of all the big
corporations that strive to be identified with their founder.
Microsoft has Bill Gates, KFC has the Colonel, and Wendy's
has Dave. They spend millions to insure you identify their
mammoth corporation with a single individual in charge.
4. Get over the idea
that TV is bad for kids. It is a popular, healthy, worthwhile
activity when used wisely in moderate doses. Most of TV's
criticism is perpetrated by people who sell books. There
are a lot of terrifically educational TV programs and
videos that kids love to watch. Plan to get a project
underway while the kids (we'll include spouses, too) engage
in some quality TV consumption.
A few hundred years ago
people ALWAYS worked with their kids under foot. It was
only when business became dominated by factories that
workers were forced to leave their children at home (and
even then, it took at least 100 years to make workers
change).
You certainly CAN be
a success working at home while taking care of children--even
if your children are rowdy, noisy, and demanding. The
articles I've written (which are read by 1 million people
each week) were all written with various children sleeping
on my lap, pulling my hair, or trying to delete the file.
I earn a good living
working at home and YOU CAN TOO! Just don't expect me
to always pick up the phone when you call. It's not that
I don't want to talk with you, but probably that my 2
year-old has just swiped my keys and is heading for the
garage.
