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The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter
Feature Article - Your Home Based Business Can Be A Real Time Trap
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Guest Article - 7 Good Reasons to Get Your Child Involved in Sports
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Where has the time gone? Next week it will be about two years that I've been publishing this newsletter. It just doesn't seem that long. I've learned a lot about running a successful home business and been amazed at how much more I have to learn. I've taken chances, made mistakes and made money.
I've watched my daughter grow, and now she's in preschool. She's grown from a toddler who always wanted to be with mommy to an independent little girl who still needs mommy most of the time, but won't let me baby her. I had a son by C-section and dealt with the shock of having to put him through surgery at 3 months of age. I've had lots of nights with very little sleep, dealt with colds and bumps and bruises. I've taught my daughter some simple games to play on the computer and played make-believe while running all around the house.
Looking back, it's been wonderful. Stressful as can be at times, but I wouldn't trade it. Working at home has allowed me to earn a good living while having the time to raise my daughter and take care of my son's medical needs, something that would have been nearly impossible if I had a regular outside the home job.
Don't forget, you can contribute your articles or tips anytime for consideration. Just use the contact form.
The reasons people express for wanting to work from home are many and varied, but most home based business owners cite the ability to set their own hours as a major factor in their decision to work at home. However, many people that have work at home businesses often fall into a trap that flies directly in the face of their stated desire for time flexibility.
The strong growth in home based business activity continues and, according to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, fifty-two percent of ALL small businesses are home-based.
Some home based business owners have been known to become "workaholics" because their office is so accessible. Don't become a slave to your business...get out of your home office regularly to renew and revitalize yourself.
Close the door to your office or otherwise remove yourself from your designated "work area" and go into your "home" area to live your personal life. If your business involves the use of the telephone and you find it difficult to ignore a ringing phone in the office, simply turn the ringer off and turn the volume on the answering machine way down. If your business is internet based, just turn off your computer (or at least get away from the monitor and keyboard).
As a work at home business entrepreneur, you certainly aren't required to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week just because your business is located in your home. After all, your office or workspace is just an area in your home...its not your home itself!
Working and living under the same roof has a host of advantages, but it can present some challenges (in addition to the workaholic syndrome mentioned, above) and stress factors.
Here are four ways to create a less stressful home business environment:
-Remember why you wanted to become involved with a home-based business (i.e. more time for family, work schedule flexibility, etc.)
-Have discussions with your family members and get their input about the working arrangements and the amount of time they want with you.
-Use good time management techniques. Keep a list of tasks by order of importance. There are many low cost and effective "day planners" or "organizers" readily available today.
-ALWAYS take a little time to "smell the roses".
While not experiencing the negatives common to a corporate office working environment, the home-based business owner may occasionally experience stresses and frustrations that are unique to working at home. Networking with other home-based and small business owners provides an opportunity to connect with others who may be experiencing the same stresses/frustrations that you are. Sharing stressful and/or frustrating issues with someone else in the same situation can relieve your stress and may bring you good advice from a different point of view.
As a final note, remember to observe Home-Based Business Week each year (it is always the week of October that includes the second Tuesday).
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.
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Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle
Making exercise a part of your child's life teaches your child the importance of fitness. This, along with proper nutrition, plays a vital role in maintaining health. Children need physical activity every day and participation in sports helps fill this need. With today's wealth of video games and increasing computer literacy, daily physical activity is often times forgotten. Getting your child involved with sports helps them make exercise a part of their lifestyle and increases their chance of a being a healthier adult.
Promote Self Esteem
When a child realizes that they are getting better and better at their sport, they can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Choosing a sport your child can grow and improve in gives your child an opportunity to build self-esteem. Together, with positive reinforcement from you their parent, they will gain confidence and have a more positive view of themselves.
Learn Goal Setting
I'm sure you'll agree goal setting and success go hand in hand. Participation in sports gives your child a fun, practical way to learn about goal setting. They'll see, experience, and learn about how goal setting works. If your child's coach doesn't cover goal setting, that's okay! You as a parent can sit down with your child and set goals. By assisting your child in developing this skill, you give them a better chance at succeeding in life.
Learn and Experience Teamwork
How often have you read a help wanted ad where the employer wants a "team player" or a candidate that "works well with others"? I see it all the time. How much more valuable are you as an employee when you can put differences aside and get the job done? Sports teach children about teamwork and about how their actions affect other people. If they can't learn to work together with teammates while playing a sport they enjoy, how will they be able to work with co-workers they may or may not like while performing a job they may or may not enjoy? This is an important lesson to learn. Encourage your child to be a team player and, as a sports parent, keep tabs on whether or not your words and actions promote this trait in your child.
Develop Time Management Skills
Adding extracurricular activities to your child's schedule encourages development of and time management and prioritization skills. Teach your child that taking care of responsibilities, such as school work and cleaning up after themselves, comes first. This gives them their first taste of prioritization. Next, help your child formulate a plan which enables them to efficiently handle their responsibilities while still leaving time for sports practices and competitions. For example, show your child how working on homework instead of playing outside during their after-school program helps them finish their homework in time for practice each day. Then go ahead and make that part of your plan.
Learn About Dealing with Adversity
Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has problems. How well you handle these mistakes and problems directly affects happiness and quality of life. Many people "get in a slump" and can't get out of it. Others continue making the same mistakes over and over again. In sports, we always try to minimize errors, but we're human. Mistakes happen. Even professional athletes make bad choices and make bad plays, but it's not the mistake that counts. What you do from that point forward carries much more significance. If your child learns how to deal with adversity, errors, and challenges in sports, chances are, they'll be able to translate that skill to real life and effectively minimize mistakes and/or bad decisions as well as competently recover from set backs.
Have Fun!
Positive experiences play an essential role in raising a happy, healthy human being. Sports provide numerous opportunities for positive experiences both for your child as an individual, and for your family as a whole. "Sports parents" are blessed with the chance to watch their child have fun while learning and developing as an athlete and as a human being.
Stacie Mahoe
Owner - www.AllAboutFastpitch.com
For more sports-related articles and "sports parenting" tips visit www.AllAboutFastpitch.com
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