Social Media Strategy, Training & Management for Small Business
We’re all living in a time of great uncertainty, and along with you and your family’s health, the health of your business is very important!
So each week, I’m sharing a few resources to help business owners get through this unprecedented time. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Continue reading “7 Steps to Deal with Business Uncertainty | Weekly Resources”
As we celebrate the country’s freedom and independence on the 4th of July, I’m struck by how those concepts can also apply to a home business.
So here are a few examples of the freedom and independence I have found in having a home business:
No more Boss: Just as the colonies wanted to escape from the rule of a king, a home business owner escapes from a boss. No one is standing over your shoulder, throwing a last minute “priority” assignment on your desk or asking you to work late 3 nights in a row. You have the freedom to set your schedule: how many days to work, and how long your work-day will be. You choose your “overtime” – an extra hour or two late at night when the kids are in bed, the house is quiet and you can concentrate exclusively on your work.
No more Rules: Whether it was the monarchy in the 1700s making random demands and outrageous taxes or a company today demanding a strict dress code and a “freeze” on raises…in a home business your freedom allows you to make the rules. Is your dress code pajamas for 1/2 the day? Great – if you are working on the phone or computer what does it matter? Need extra funds one month for a special event? No problem! As the boss, you decide when to put in more hours and make more money.
No more Sacrificing Family for work: A king could call you away from your family on a moment’s notice and if you disobeyed, the punishment could be severe. A boss can change a work schedule at his/her discretion and suddenly, your request for a day off to chaperon your child’s field trip is not good for the “company”. One of the freedoms my husband and I treasure the most with our home business is the ability it gives us to go on every class field trip with our 3 kids. Sometimes my husband was the only dad chaperoning – which meant that he was assigned the more rambunctious boys in the class – but he loved it! Whether it’s class field trips, school concerts, show-and-tell days or just having lunch with your kids once in awhile, the freedom to work your business around your family is one of the best things about a home business!
No more Living by someone else’s Priorities: The monarchy decided what battles to fight based on their ultimate priorities, and today a boss decides your job duties based on his (or the company’s) goals. In your home business, you have the freedom to make your own goals. Even more important, you have the choice to change those goals or realign your priorities if something in your business (or life) has changed. And there’s no boss to let down (or king to disobey) – it’s just you; with your home business you have the freedom to re-write your goals every day if that’s what works!
So as I reflect on our freedom today and what our forefathers wrote: that all men in this country should be entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, in my home business:
“Life” means putting my family first, working a business around the most important people and things in my life
“Liberty” is the freedom I have to set my own goals and the freedom I have to build a business based on the principles that are important to me
“Pursuit of Happiness” translates to finding purpose and pursuing my dreams as I’m helping others in ways not possible before I had my own business.
I treasure the freedom I have in this country – and in my home business – to decide the right path to success and happiness for me.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence
Happy Independence Day!!
Multi-tasking is normally one of my strengths. Juggling major projects and deadlines in the corporate world was exciting and I enjoyed the challenge.
After I had children, I took my multi-tasking to new heights – maybe the demands of my new job as a mom weren’t quite as intellectually stimulating as my old job, but I became an expert at doing more than 2 things at once, while taking care of 3 kids. Making dinner, feeding a baby and explaining “why the sky was blue” to another child at the same time were all just parts of my normal balancing act.
As the kids got older and I started working from home, I fine-tuned my multi-tasking skills even more. You really learn to get organized when you have to, and I developed systems for keeping up with things at home: meal planning, grocery shopping, housework, scheduling – while keeping my business “to-do” lists separate from home life.
So why do I feel like I just can’t juggle as many things now? My kids are older and more independent (my oldest doesn’t even live at home full-time), I’m not as involved in their school activities (no classroom moms in high school), two of my three kids drive so I’m not playing “chauffeur” as much…what happened to my multi-tasking skills?
Yes, I have to admit I’m getting older so maybe I can blame a mid-life crisis. But I think the real culprit is – the Internet.
As the Internet continues to grow and more of my business takes place online, my ability to multi-task is just not keeping up! I think it’s because the Internet and social media require an entirely new set of multi-tasking skills – and I certainly haven’t mastered those yet!
Between email, friend requests, online advertising, tweets, blogging, forums, connections…I’m feeling just a bit overwhelmed on what to do first and how much time to spend on every social media platform out there!
I remind my (laughing) kids that when I was growing up, there were only a few ways to communicate with people: face-to-face, phone calls (1 land line, no call waiting, no cordless handset) and written letters. That was it! Now I realize just how many different ways I can communicate with people and keeping up with all those different outlets has my head spinning!
So I’ve realized that I’m going to have to develop a system and strategy for managing my online communication, just like I have strategies for handling other parts of my business, my home and my family’s school, sports and social schedules.
Here are a few strategies I’ve come up with so far:
Maybe just the realization that I’ve got to take my multi-tasking skills up a notch with the Internet and social media will be a great start for taking control of the many new responsibilities I find myself balancing now.
Let me know if you’ve got any good strategies for multi-tasking!