Home Business Woes

June 22nd, 2006 | by Erin Banister |

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99% of my business is from [tag]home-based business[/tag] owners. It hasn’t always been like this, mind you, I remember the days when home-business was (perceived as being) synonymous with ‘living off unemployment.’ And, even though TrinityJacobs has always been [tag]home-based[/tag], I’ve never really referred to it as such. It’s been so long since my transition to 100% home-based, that I forget (especially in my self-made role) how hard it is moving from the corporate to [tag]self-employed[/tag] universe.

Quoth Des Walsh, from “Is Your Home Business Pushing Clutter into the Red Zone?” on the Thinking Home Business blog:

it was a great leap forward when I got to where a full time, dedicated secretary came with my position. I could just hand stuff over and ask for it to be organised. Not having to go through piles of papers, deciding what really needed my personal attention and what didn’t, made me aware of how much more efficient and effective I could be in doing what I was really being paid to do - which was not really about sorting papers.

When I set up my home based consultancy and coaching businesses no secretary came with the business. In fact, in the early days in business I kind of prided myself on being able to do a lot of the things the secretary used to do, like typing up letters and printing them out. I was also enjoying not having the responsibility of managing staff. But I recognise these days that I’ve been less than efficient in keeping the paper tiger under control.

Which is why every now and again I think wistfully about the days when I was privileged enough to have a secretary and other staff who were really expert in keeping my paperwork in order and rescuing me from clutter.

While I could go on a tangent on how virtual assistance is the perfect solution for the [tag]solopreneur[/tag], giving an extra set of hands, expertise, and some sorely needed extra time to those whose home and professional life blend so beautifully — I won’t.

We have a few professional organizers on our client list — and, like anyone else, they need help with their businesses. They may seem overwhelmingly perfecto-organized — but deep down they need the help with the nuts and bolts just like any of us. While some people excel with procedures, or ruby on rails, or closet organizing — it’s just impossible to do it all ourselves, and GROW, without having something (someone) to lean on.
~E

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