EnTrends

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.

Kevin Nunley provides marketing
advice and copy writing for
businesses and organizations. Read
all his money-saving marketing tips
at http://DrNunley.com/. Reach him
at kevin@drnunley.com or (801)253-
4536.