I have approached this upcoming change in season with excitement and a bit of trepidation. My son spent the past nine months learning from a wonderful woman at Lincoln Elementary here in Faribault, Minnesota. I had tears in my eyes when I met her at the open house because I was sending my one and only baby to spend more time with a stranger during the week than with me. Before working from home, I was a stay-at-home mom. When David started school this fall, I really became serious about my business. It was amazing how much free time I had with him in school almost seven hours a day.

I have had the days to call my own. I could do with my days as I would like. While I have missed my son, I have come to love the freedom of being able to work my business without a curious boy around asking all kinds of questions. The most frequent of which was, “When will it be my turn to use the computer?”

Thankfully, as a Mary Kay consultant as with many other home-based businesses, I am in business for myself but not by myself. I have been part of a mentoring program where I connect either with my director or another director in our future national area twice a week. This has helped me to learn from ladies who have already been where I am about to head. Isn’t it nice to learn from others so we do not need to reinvent the wheel?

Here are some tips that I have collected along the way:

1. Before getting on the phone, ask your children if there is anything that they need. Let them know how long you will be on the phone and then tell them you will check in with them after the time is up. Make sure to follow through and check in with them. This has saved me countless interruptions! I have even told my son, “Mom is going to make calls for fifteen minutes. Then we can play whatever you want for fifteen minutes before Mom has to work some more.”
2. Schedule your phone calls and appointments when your children have sports practices or other activities.
3. Develop an Office in a Book and bring it with you wherever you go. Last fall when my son was playing soccer, I often made phone calls to clients while he and his team were warming up before the game began.
4. Bring stationary or cards in your Office in a Book. Write notes between innings of baseball games or during breaks in sports activities.
5. Use even the smallest fraction of time that you have available to connect with your customers. I often call my customers and let them know that I only have a few minutes to talk, but I wanted to touch base with them and see how everything was going.
6. Have a weekly family meeting to discuss what you will be doing in your business over the next week. Enroll your family in your goals and plans. Create a reward for the family to enjoy together when the goal has been achieved.

Copyright © by Stephanie Gulland