For many among the ranks of the self-employed, and even small business owners, a home office is either the primary or secondary place that they do business. I have a home office, have had one for nearly 20 years, as well as a brick and mortar location where I meet clients. After having had a home office for so many years, I admit that it’s where I get the most work done. I like to hole up there to blog, write, research, bill, and do distance coaching and consultation calls.

While my home office today is where I keep my library, my desk, the majority of my files, and even a nice chair to do some reading in, it hasn’t always been that way. When I first started writing, I would catch as catch can on a small computer desk in the corner of my kitchen. I then graduated in my next house to the dining room and stayed in the formal dining room in the next two houses. For the past five or six years though, I have had a spare bedroom, which means that I actually have an office with a door. And oh, what a difference a door makes!

When it comes to how and where to put your home office, if at all possible resist putting it in the corner of the living room or dining room. And whatever you do, do NOT put it in your bedroom, I’ll get to the why on that in a second. Ideally, a den, spare bedroom, basement, sunroom, or even a portion of a converted garage are all ideal candidates for your home office. If this isn’t in the cards for you right now, figure out how you can position your workspace to get the most amount of work done with the least amount of interruptions.

The reason that a door can make such a big difference is not just the privacy factor, it’s because it makes it easier to actually be DONE with the day. Usually by six o’clock, if not sooner, I shut down my computer, turn off my lights, walk out of the room and shut the door. I am off work for the night, period. I don’t go back to check my email, surf the internet, or read a book. I don’t go back there for any activity at all, until it is time to work again another day.

The reason that a door has been so effective for me is because it actually allows me to disengage and enjoy my home life and not mix it up with my work life. I always have a multitude of projects happening, simultaneously, and if I didn’t shut my door or avoid the office like the plauge on my off hours, I would wander in and start working. I mean, those files are laying on my desk just calling my name, and if I’m on a deadline, they’re shouting. But the fact of the matter is, if I wandered in and started working every time I walked past the office, my home life and my work life wouldn’t be separate at all.

And the calling and even shouting of the work on my desk has always made my bedroom completely off limits for a desk. Yes, I’ve got the room, but can’t imagine trying to sleep with files just staring me down. It makes me nervous to even think about it. So please, whatever you do, keep your desk out of your bedroom – you need a good night’s sleep to be self-employed, because it’s a lot of work!

This separation of  work from home life was a lesson that took me many years to learn. I am a workaholic, I admit it, and if I don’t actively keep a barrier between my home life and my work life, I burnout – fast.

If you can’t position your desk in a place that has a door available, you still have options when it comes to separation. Years before I had a door, while my desk was in the corner of the dining room, I bought a computer armoire, with nice beautiful doors that I could close when I was done working. It provided the separation that I needed mentally, and made my dining room look more like a dining room. Once I outgrew that space, I bought a library table and was working on a laptop. By five or six at night, I would take every file, post-it note, bill or piece of paper and put them in a locking cabinet – once again, providing the separation I needed to move out of work mode, and in to life.

Whatever you do when positioning your home office, make sure that it is in a place that gives allows you to have peak personal performance and productivity, and a way to separate work life from life life.

If you’re self-employed, it’s important to remember to take a day off regularly. And while that is nice in theory, sometimes it’s pretty far from reality. That being said, if you feel like you need to log a few hours this weekend, make it an activity that will pay off in the long run – organization. After all, don’t you think it would be easier to tackle something like the office organization tasks after hours? When the phones are ringing and there aren’t customers to attend to or meetings to schedule? Make the most of the disruption free time to put systems in place that will save you time and money over the coming months.

Let me ask you, is your office organized? It’s more than files or stacks, it’s about your overall business management. What kind of routine do you have in place? Are items in your office located in a way that makes them easy to find? Do you have a work-flow? And if you have employees, do their systems fall in line with yours? Is the work flow consistent throughout your business or organization?

It’s important to develop systems and routines for every single business activity you have. They can be along the lines of time management – for example creating a to-do list for the next business day or upcoming week – or creating a calendar for yourself and/or your entire organization. You can take some time to work on your accounting and billing – for example post automatic invoice reminders, or scheduling routine billing. Or you could just take some time to make sure that any piles of mail are sorted through and processed; or that you have returned any correspondence.

Taking the time to organize also involves completing a few things like requests, projects, tasks and other things piling up. After all, if you are going through the stacks anyway, you might as well take the time to wrap a few things up. And completing some of these things while working on organization frees up more than space, it means they are no longer hanging over your head and weighing you down. Jack Canfield writes that taking the step to file completed documents, mail off required forms, or mark a project as complete is HUGE! In fact, 20 things completed have more power than 50 things half completed.

If you can take just a few hours to put systems in place, or organize the ones you already have, or even just tie up a few loose ends, it will make your Monday easier, not to mention more a whole lote more efficient.

When it comes to owning/running a small business each and every customer or client is worth their weight in gold. We want to make sure that they are blown away by the excellence in our products or services. And while yes, while we feel confident we can provide the customer with what they are looking for, the real work begins with retaining them, and giving them the motivation to keep coming back.

In the service industry, this is where many of us fall down, especially in the beginning. We want each customer or client to see us and/or our small business as an answer to a problem, or as something that enhances their lives. We want to provide the best service that we can, and in our efforts to impress and retain our customers, we can find ourselves trying to solve more of their problems, and be all things to all people.

In my industry, it can start small, maybe a little website update as a favor, or uploading some video to a client’s Facebook page. Then it mushrooms into requests for graphic design or SEO updates. And if I start, it’s hard to draw the line when I get in over my head. I am a writer, a consultant, and a coach. That’s what I do. I don’t do graphic design, web work or Reiki. I don’t do anything but what I claim to do. But I’ve had clients who want more – SEO, web design, blog construction – but that’s not what I do. I don’t know how to more than dabble. I’m not going to sell that dabble-ability.

And these types of requests aren’t exclusive to my field. I have people see that I’m a coach and want energy work, chakra clearing, or even Reiki. All of that is fine and valid, but it isn’t what I do, or what I am trained to do. I don’t advertise my business as a one stop shop for all things fantastic – I am a writer, consultant, and coach. Period. That’s what I do, and I do it well. I don’t try to impress my existing clients with an ever expanding bag of skills, I do what I do. When I have someone wanting more than I do, I refer them on to someone specializes in graphic design, website design, SEO, or even Reiki. Someone that I trust to provide quality service, and someone I know can deliver.

I cannot, nor can any service provider, effectively be all things to all people. If I tried to do more than dabble in graphic design, I would not be focused as hard on my writing. My attentions would be entirely too divided to be good at any one thing.

It’s important that you remember to not over-promise, because if you do, you run the risk of under-delivering. I mean, if a client hires me to write for them, I am confident that I can deliver a quality product. If I client wants me to work on their SEO, well, I’m not so confident.

If a request is made that is outside of your area of expertise – say so, and have a list of professionals to refer to in place. You have an area of specialization, and so do other businesses. Don’t spend a ton of time doing something wrong or just halfway, take the time to have someone else do it RIGHT! Don’t your clients deserve that?

There are two different types of people in business for themselves – the self-employed, and the entrepreneur. Today, I’m going to take some time to look at the entrepreneur.  Which category do you fall in? Are you self-employed, or do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur

The entrepreneur also falls into the self-employed category, but there’s a difference. According to the Small Business Administration, an entrepreneur  sees an opportunity; makes a plan; starts the business; manages the business; and receives the profits. The entrepreneur is a great strategist and a master at getting others excited about helping them grow their business. According to Janis Pettit with Small Business Big Results, They know they need to develop multiple profit centers in their business, not just one or two, so they’re constantly looking for creative opportunities to do just that. And some of those profit centers need to be passive income that is not dependent on their time. In other words they’re not always selling time for money.

The entrepreneur honestly LOVES what they do, and according to Entrepreneur.com, they take it SERIOUSLY. Whether they are reporting to a home office every morning, or to a brick and mortar business, they refuse to  get sidetracked and they consistently stay motivated, keeping their noses to the grindstone. Entrepreneurs also never stop learning. They buy and read business and marketing books, magazines, reports, journals, newsletters, websites and industry publications, and know that by doing so, they are improving their understanding of business and marketing. They network, network, and network some more, and join business associations and clubs, as well as attend marketing seminars, workshops and training courses.

In my mind, the primary difference between being self employed and being an entrepreneur is that entrepreneurs don’t sell JUST their time or their product, they are constantly on the lookout for creative ways to improve on and expand existing sales. They work tirelessly to develop passive streams of income or new product ideas and they don’t want to cap their income with available billable hours or existing product lines. They want more. They want growth, and they are looking at the big picture to plot a course on how to make it happen.

While I have been self-employed for a number of years, I finally feel like I am adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, and looking at the bigger picture. If you are among the ranks of the self-employed, do you also consider yourself to be an entrepreneur? Do you aspire to build some entrepreneurial tendencies into your business?

I have had the good fortune to work as a professional writer since 1995. I worked first as a journalist, where I had the good fortune to take what I learned along the way as a parent, and help other people navigate their journey. That desire to help grew, and I worked long and hard in areas of social justice, and used my skill to be the voice for the voiceless. But I also was able to continue in the parenting arena as a columnist. My writing has always been education – whether it has been geared towards parents, interested participants, or the Average Joe. From the very beginning I have felt that it was my duty to give people the information and at times, the tools, that they needed to look at the whole picture, to move forward, or to make fully informed decisions.

While I started out as a journalist, that all changed in 2001-2002. I was recently divorced with two kids, and needing quite a bit more stability than I was getting as a freelancer, so I made the shift to the public relations/marketing side of things. I landed a job at my local library district and made the shift. I had benefits and stability, and the opportunity to write about something that mattered – literacy. It was a great transition job for me, I mean, I got PAID to promote the LIBRARY! How cool is that!

As my kids got older and my financial situation improved, I had to face the fact that once a freelancer, always a freelancer, and when I had the opportunity to jump back into that pool I did. Only this time in the public relations/advertising arena (much more stability) with a few clients already in the bag. A few years in I realized that while I was WRITING full time, I wasn’t really writing anymore. My words were helping sell products and services, not educating. I wasn’t serving as the voice for the voiceless, or teaching parents about the pitfalls of raising a child, or advocating for the things I was passionate about, I was selling my words one hour at a time. I was also doing quite a bit of project management – and while I was capable of doing the work, it was taking me even farther away from my first love – writing to make a difference.

But then something shifted – in 2007 I met the head instructor from an international coaching program under the umbrella of doing some copywriting work for him, and started to learn about the field. I learned about how I can work with people, and teach them to build on their strengths to make positive changes. I learned how I can educate people and provide them with the resources and tools they need to prioritize, make decisions, change careers, find a healthy relationship, take their business to a new level, or improve professional or personal relationships. How cool is THAT! Once I became immersed in the field through the copywriting project, I knew it was what was next for me, and I couldn’t enroll fast enough. In 2009, right around the time I turned 40, I became a Certified Life Coach. Two years and a lot of hours later, I took that a step further when I received the Master Life Coach designation.

So today, my life is a balance – coaching and writing. Yes. I still write in the marketing/advertising arena for a few long-term clients I hold near and dear to my heart, and honestly, hope to continue working with them for years to come. I am also working on a couple of book projects and blogging my fool head off. And ultimately, I am working to bring my coaching and writing business together. I want to help the small business owner and solo-prenuer learn how they can tackle a lot of the marketing work themselves, without making it LOOK like they tackled it themselves. I want to provide tools to those on a limited budget to achieve GREAT results, and I want to return to what I do best – educate.

Marketing and advertising is a business I know, I have logged a LOT of miles in the field, and while it isn’t work I am actively pursuing firsthand, the lessons that I have learned and continue to learn are definitely worth sharing. That’s what the focus of my work with WordMiller.com is all about, and why I  am excited to share tips learned along the way.

While coaching on the surface may seem different than anything I’ve done before know, I really feel like I’ve come full circle. I get to provide people with the tools they need to move their lives forward, and in this instance the tools they needs to start and grow their businesses. I get to write, present, and lead fun and interactive workshops. Just like my writing felt like education, so does my coaching. How lucky am I!

There are two different types of people in business for themselves – the self-employed, and the entrepreneur. Today, I’m going to take some time to look at the self-employed. Which category do you fall in? Are you merely self-employed, or do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur?

Self- Employed

The self-employed are often those who have a product, talent or skill and have people willing to pay them for that product or service. They many times hang out their own shingle rather than work for someone else, and join the ranks of small business owners. These people are usually quite talented, and perfectly qualified to work for someone else, but choose to go their own way.

Some traits among the successful self-employed compiled on Helium shows that self-employed people are more likely to not let failure bring them down; we know that a successful business means trial and error, so we wake up to try another day. The self-employed also tend to be more extroverted and friendly toward people, a necessary element of success. And last but not least, successful self-employed business owners view obstacles as challenges to overcome instead of walls that can’t be climbed. To be successful, a self-employed person must be willing to face challenges when others take the “easy road.”

I have made a living for a number of years among the ranks of the self-employed, both as a journalist, and later as a marketing copywriter, account manager, and marketing consultant. I have people pay me for an hour or block of my time, and I in turn give them the materials or consultation needed. They save by not having to create a position in-house, and I continue to “work for myself.”

I am joined in the ranks of the self-employed by professionals from all walks of life – graphic designers, web designers, social media strategists, massage therapists, yoga instructors, home based businesses, coaches, and other service professionals.

There is a great thrill in being among the ranks of the self-employed, but there is also a tremendous downside. The stress of filling the next billable hour or selling the next product can be nerve-wracking; the drive to take the work when it comes, can often equal LONG hours – nights and weekends included. Not to mention the fact that we can’t take too much time off because without continuing to actively work our businesses, there is no business OR income.

If you are among the ranks of the self employed, what are your thoughts. Is it worth it? Or does it feel like a j-o-b? And tell me this, how do you balance the time on and off work?

Stay tuned, because tomorrow, we will look at the entrepreneur and see how they have managed to take self-employment one step further.

Guess what. To do something well, you have to like it. In fact, it might even help if you LOVE it.

If you are a business owner, service provider, or solo-prenuer, or maybe even just thinking about starting your own business, let me ask, do you love what you do?

It’s crucial that you enjoy, and yes – even LOVE, what you’re doing if you want your business to succeed. Doubt me? Entrepreneur.com reports that if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, in all likelihood it’s safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business–or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, chances are you won’t succeed.

In addition to writing and working as a marketing consultant, I’m a Master Certified Life Coach, and work with people every day wanting to find, or create, a career that has purpose, that fulfills them, and yes, that pays the bills. We all want that don’t we? The opportunity to create a livelihood doing something that we love? The opportunity to work for ourselves? The opportunity to find a market for that work in a way that can financially sustain us?

Well, if you are running (or preparing to run) a small business, there’s one thing you need to know straight out of the gate – you HAVE to be completely dedicated to your business, day and night, regardless of the circumstances. You have to be thinking about it, working at it, looking for opportunities, and be responsible for it, nonstop.

That’s why it’s important to make sure that you love what you’re doing.

Building – and sustaining – a small business takes a lot of work, and while yes, it can provide a comfortable income, and eventually even reduced hours – the responsibility of that business, the planning, the hoping, and the dreaming will be on your mind, if not all, then definitely most of the time. So if your business is ultimately something that you are going to be focused on full time, shouldn’t it be exciting?

There is one question that you can ask yourself that will determine if your business is a good fit – would you do it for free?

Now let me say right now that there is no way any of you should work for free – EVER. The question really boils down to, do you love it so much that you often think, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this?” Are you so passionate about what it represents that you have honed your skills, for little or nothing? Have you practiced with purpose?

I love what I do. Period. And each and every client that I help reach their marketing objectives provides one of those, “ I can’t believe I get paid to do this” moments. And each and every client I help learn how to market their own business provides the same rush when they “get it” and are on their way.

You want your business to succeed, right? So this week, before you do one more thing related to your business, take some time to determine if you really, truly, love what you do, and grow from there.

Since your website is the destination where you want to drive your clients and customers to, and it serves as your storefront to the world, trust me on this, you want to keep it fresh. I mean, think about it, your website is a critical part of your business, not just something you build once and leave it.

Have you ever visited a site that was last updated say two years ago? What did you think? Did you wonder if they were still in business? You’re not the only one. If someone visits a site that is obviously out of date with broken links or scattered graphics, what would you expect them to think?

Shama Hyder Kabini sums it up in The Zen of Social Media Marketing, “the website of today in many ways is a living, breathing thing. In the past, you could create a website and sit back. Today, you can’t. Passively keeping a website is almost akin to opening a store, stocking the shelves, and then doing nothing.”

Keeping your website current is going to cost you time or money. Which do you have more of?  I know, I know, you are busy enough trying to actually RUN your business, not to mention going to networking events, tackling social media, raising a family, and maybe just maybe even trying to squeeze in a day off! Before updating your website gets shoved to the bottom of your to-do list, I want you to look at some site update ideas you really need to consider:
Content (calendars, events, specials, etc.)
Design
Graphic Changes
Technical Upgrades
Links (adding, correcting, deleting as appropriate
SEO (make adjustments as needed)

Something else you could consider is a blog (my update of choice). A blog is the easiest way to keep a website fresh and ever-changing, and something that can also be used as an active marketing tool.  A business blog is a major component of social media and can help you build relationships with your potential customers.

And guess what, as you build these relationships, you make your business real to your customers.  You share what’s new and changing in your company, and have a platform form everything from staffing changes to research, news, and special events.  You show your expertise by providing useful information.  You become a point person and a resource by solving problems for your readers. When you show you have the expertise, ability, and credibility to meet the needs of your reader, you are better able to persuade them to make the purchase or contract a service. The blogging movement is picking up speed as more and more business are realizing the benefits of blogging.

Regardless of whether it is content or graphic changes, or even a blog, keep your website fresh, your credibility depends on it!

If you’ve decided to tackle the initial copy on your website yourself – good for you! But before you send it live, you need to double and yes, triple check it to make sure that you have it right!

Web copy is a bit more forgiving than your typical offline formats. Blogs for example, are written in a very conversational style and will bend the rules of grammar daily. But bending the rules and setting them on fire are two different things. That’s why it’s important to proofread, proofread, proofread, and then proofread again.

While your spellcheck will catch misspelled words, the words that are, well, the wrong words but spelled correctly will sail right through. Go through your content time and time again to make sure that you haven’t made these common mistakes –

• you’re / your
• there/their/they’re
• to/too/two
• bare/bear

You also want to take the time to make sure that you have your punctuation in line, and are following the rules when it comes to capitalization, etc. One great resource I recommend is the AP Stylebook – aka the journalist’s bible – which is available online and as close as the nearest library. The AP Stylebook is the ultimate guide for grammar, punctuation and principles and practices of reporting. It is considered a newspaper industry standard and is also used by broadcasters, magazines and public relations firms. It includes an A-to-Z listing of guides to capitalization, abbreviation, spelling, numerals and usage. The AP Stylebook has been a mainstay on my desk for years.

In addition to keeping the AP Stylebook handy, another important lesson I have learned in my years as a writer is that when it comes to proofreading and catching errors, it’s best to allow yourself some time to set it down and then go back to it in a few hours for another round, or if you have time, even pick it up in a few days. When you work on something long enough, it becomes right in your mind, and you can’t catch the errors like you can with a fresh set of eyes in a few hours or days. So if you don’t have someone you know, love, and trust to serve as an editing buddy, allow yourself some time to step away from your copy before proofreading.

Bottom line, it takes time to write your web copy – a LOT of time. Give that to yourself, and get busy!

A recent survey reports that only one in six small businesses think that they have a website that they can be proud of. What about you? Are you proud of your website? You need to be, after all, in this increasingly web-driven world, your website can and probably will be the first impression you make on a client.

As I said earlier this week, people today don’t just go to your website to get your contact information, if they did the Yellow Pages would still be a vital moneymaker for AT&T, not something they are selling off. Today, people go to your website to determine the credibility of your company. They want to know if you are serious about what you do and your website is their first glimpse of you, your professionalism, and your attitude towards your business.

That’s why it is in your best interests to make sure your site looks GOOD. Your website doesn’t have to be flashy or cost a ton of money to be achieve that, but it does need to be easy to navigate, have some nice design elements, a balance of white space, functionality, good copy, and a smart layout.

I recently read through The Marketing Zen Group a statement I couldn’t agree with more, “If your site looks like you signed up for Geocities in 1996 and haven’t touched it since, you’re probably doing yourself more harm than good.”

Beeping, flashing, and outdated design or broken functionality elements can be the end of any hopes you may have using your website as a business tool. Same can be said for a bunch of crazy banner ads.

Start with a professional. Have them build it, work with the layout, design, and functionality, and adapt it for mobile use. If you want something you can be a part of, ask them to start with a WordPress theme, or something you can use, so it can meet your future content and other update needs.

Yes, many people go with a template, through companies like GoDaddy or Vista Print, and while it might make good financial sense in the beginning, be ready up front for it to not have the functionality you may need to expand at a later date. I know this from first hand experience. In addition, a template isn’t uniquely yours – and good be used by a plumber, an electrician, or esthetician in the same zip code.

A little bit of money up front can give you the professional edge you need to compete in today’s market, and trust me on this, it is always money well spent.