Enterprise Nation

If 2010 is to be your first year for homeworking, follow these tips from Amanda van Mulligen, a British expat living in the Netherlands from where she runs her own writing business, with a small toddler in tow. (This feature is therefore particularly relevant if you homework with children!)

Schedule your Working Hours

A potential client telephones to enquire about the services you provide at the same time as your kids are fighting over whose turn it is to play with the train set. Picking up the phone with this background noise risks making you look unprofessional and you could scare business away.

You’ll be pleased to know there are creative solutions. You can switch on voice mail, hire a virtual assistant or use an answering service as part of a virtual office package. Then, when your children are napping/at pre-school/ with grandparents for a few hours, you can return telephone calls or schedule online meetings to keep in touch with clients.

Gearing your business to a predominantly online presence so that potential clients email you, or complete an online query form is a way of making your business fit with family life, allowing you to respond at a time that suits.

Set goals

Setting goals for your business on a weekly and daily basis will help you stay focused on the priorities. Employing household help, even for a few hours a week, if you can afford it, is money well spent to keep your eyes on the business rather than on the dust accumulating on living room surfaces.

Make Personal Space

Create dedicated space in the house and make it clear to your partner and kids when you need time without interruption to get work done. Effective scheduling and planning on a weekly basis can provide you with all the quiet you need. Think about when the children have toddler groups or go to the swimming pool and plan work that needs concentration at these times. 

Sometimes a change of scenery can shake off the cobwebs and heading to the local cafe, park or the library with your laptop could be all you need to get the job done.

Know who to call

Your PC crashes as you are completing the month’s invoices. Make sure you know what to do or who to call should something falter with your PC, internet or telephone.

Grow your networks

There are many ways to network as a homeworker. Firstly, check out local networking and business groups for events and meetings. Get out, attend meetings, and build up a contact list of other home workers in the same line of business as you. It’s a great way to meet potential business partners and new friends. Attending a personal development course or conference aligned to your profession can also get you out meeting like-minded individuals to add to your network, as well as potential clients.

You can also invest time in social networking groups such as Facebook and Twitter. Social networking sites provide you with an invaluable source of advice, as well as potential customers through effective marketing.

Create Balance

Imagine yourself wearing a hat for each of the roles you have. Wearing more than one hat at the same time doesn’t feel or look good; make sure it is dedicated time for the kids when you have your parent hat on, and you concentrate on your work when you are wearing your business hat.

To ensure you spend time with the family, and that you get the break to you need to recharge, dedicate a day as time out every week or two to make a trip to a place you have never been before, or do something new as a family. Taking a well-earned break will do you the world of good.

• Amanda van Mulligen, The Writing Well