JOJ Community Blog

Getting Back in the Groove

Nan Gomez — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:13:50 +0000

Well it’s been almost a week since our medical/vaction trip out of state, and it took me a little while to get back on track with home life and work but I’ve done it. It’s hard getting that work groove back but once I did I was on a roll. It only took me a day so and another day or so to get all caught up and finsih all my clients’ pending projects just in time for mid-month invoicing.

Better to be caught up than behind right? Do you blog? Now that’s the one thing that is taking me a bit longer to do. I think I’ll take Friday off to take care of my personal things, and work on my business. It’s important to take time to grow my business as well as help others build theirs. Do you take time to build your business?

Of course as soon as I get back in the groove with stuff at home, school will be starting and throwing me all off again. That is going to take some getting use to too as my little one will be going to school all day with her big brother. Going to be lonely but I’m hoping work will continue strong and the potential client jobs pending at the moment come through to keep me busy.

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When a Vacation Really Isn’t a Vacation

Donna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:57:49 +0000

Do you find that sometimes taking a vacation really isn’t worth it? You spend the whole week before getting ready – preparing your house for your time away (this could include a myriad of duties), washing and packing clothes, working extra long days to make sure your/clients’ work is all caught up. Then when you come home you spend the whole week after – cleaning up your house/airing it out (because even though your darling husband didn’t come with you, he’s left you a week’s worth of dishes and take out boxes to clean up), unpacking and washing clothes (not to mention the darling dear has left a week’s worth of laundry strewn all over the house), and then working extra long days to get caught up on everything that you missed while you were away. Oh, wait, I’m forgetting the week’s worth of mail spread out over every visible counter / table top space that you have to go through and sort out the bills, junk mail, catalogs, magazines, etc. because no one else can do it like you do. Oh, and the hundreds of e-mails that have accumulated in your various e-mail accounts because where you were either didn’t have internet or if it did, it was so slow it wasn’t even worth attempting to use it. And let’s not even discuss getting the kiddos back into their routine. “I don’t care that Grandma let you eat your breakfast in the living room. We eat our meals at the kitchen table!”

I know this is not unique to work-at-home parents/families. It seems to me whether you work outside of the home or work-at-home, vacations become “working” vacations, even if it’s just to check in to make sure there are no fires burning, so to speak. Since I’ve entered the world of work-at-home, most of my vacations have been “working”, even a week up in way northern Vermontf or a snowmobile trip, I found my way to a WiFi hotspot and checked in with one of my clients on a daily basis. I just wonder . . . since when did taking a vacation become “work”? Or am I just taking the wrong kind of vacation?

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Re-evaluating Your Business Practices

Christina Lemmey — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:25:18 +0000

How efficiently does your home office run?

I love working at home and count my many blessings but my family has been feeling neglected. My kids are just not used to seeing me do anything other than play with them or cleaning the house.

So, today I started to think about how I can work more efficiently so I can still earn my monthly goal but also work more regular hours. Don’t you just hate the feeling like you’re running a race to meet deadlines?

The first thing I did was color code all my clients for my online calendar. Might sound kind of dorky but having one color for every entry just made the entries all meld together.

Next, I scheduled all my weekly projects and clients who have given me deadlines.

I have discovered that one of my biggest vices is Twitter. I love it as much as the next person and I’ve even gotten a few clients from using it - there is DEFINITELY some value - but I just have to limit my usage. Rather than checking it all day long, I will check in the morning and after my work is completed.

And finally, I need to focus on one job/client at a time. I’ve mentioned before that multitasking is a challenge for me and one that is not working for me right now. Staying focused on one job keeps my brain from getting muddled, too

What are some ways you’re improving your business practices?

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It’s Not Personal, It’s Work

Christina Lemmey — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:06:21 +0000

I have always known that I would find myself in a service-based business. That’s just what I enjoy doing, helping people complete their projects and increasing their business.

However, being a part of a team or partnership means that you still need to take direction and criticism from your client. Afterall, this is THEIR business, THEIR livelihood, THEIR rules.

Nobody deserves to be beat up and sometimes demanding clients need to be let go if the relationship is not mutually beneficial. But as a service provider you need to be strong and be able to take constructive criticism. By listening to your clients’ requests, your job will get easier and eventually they won’t have to tell you the same wishes over and over again.

Sometimes it’s difficult to hear the criticism and not take it personally. Afterall, many service providers take great pride in their work and want to be known as “the best.” I for one despise when I make a mistake but it’s important to thicken your skin and realize that the criticism is about WORK, a project, not about you as a person.

And in the end these criticisms will only make you better at your job so you can provide better service to future clients.

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The Danger of Comparing Your Biz to Others’

Nan Gomez — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:59:30 +0000

Personally speaking it’s really easy to begin comparing my level of success to that of another virtual assistant who opened her doors the same time I did. This is a very damaging thing to do!

Everything happens and everyone grows in different time frames. We each have our own personal challenges to overcome, our own individual goals and standards that we aim for at different times in our business venture. It’s important to remember that. I have to remind myself of that. Just because someone else seems to be doing better or getting more clients doesn’t mean I’m not doing a great job with the clients I do have.

Sometimes it’s personality. Someone shy has a harder time initiating a job offer where as someone who is outgoing will have no problem doing that at all. Just like our children, we all grow at different stages and times in our lives and so do our business so, just as we wouldn’t compare our children to other children don’t do it to your business either.

As long and you and I do our best and give our businesses our all that is all we can do and you need to remember that and so do I.

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