School Vacation Time - AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Hi BusiMomsTM,

If you are like me, you now have kids home from school for the summer. Or you will soon. Summer can be a busy time.

Today is the first day that I have both kids home at the same time for a regular extended period. It is difficult to work and have children around all the time, who think you are here to service their every need. Well, to some extent, I am. Both of my kids are under the age of 4. Much to their credit they are self-sufficient when it is not a good time for me or they are getting into something they shouldn't be getting into. Then there are the times that I'm doing 12 things at once and they need me to take their shoes off. (They are both capable of doing this on their own.)

I wish I had a magic formula for dealing with kids and business at home but, I don't. Below are some suggestions for older kids. I did not create these. Dr. Patty Ann, the relationship expert on www.metromom.com wrote them. Plus, the last idea is from Debbye Cannon, the business mom mentor www.businessmommentor.com

"1. Set boundaries and realistic expectations for both yourself and your children. Children at 9 & 7 years old do not really "understand" that your work is important to you , they only "know" that your work is important to you. Big difference. Therefore, set boundaries and expectations for their behavior that accurately reflects this situation. Take all requests for food, drinks, bathroom breaks, etc. before going to work.

2. Use Humour. Let them know prior to a scheduled call that you are about to get on a call where national security is at stake and any interruptions will risk our nations security -or something that comes across as very funny to them but helps get the point across that you really cannot be interrupted. Humour allows you to reach your goal of uninterrupted time via a more easily heard manner than some ominous threat. Kids will probably think the humour you use is corny, but they will get the message.

3. Be creative. For example, you might have a bag of treats, surprise toys, etc., outside your door with the hope of stopping them dead in their tracks on their way into your office.

4. Finally, and I can hear all the other so-called experts screaming "No"! at this , but I live in the real world - use BRIBES. That's right, bribery works with kids, just like flattery works with women (and don't deny this girls). Desperate times call for desperate measures so use bribery accordingly.

5. A final thought - kids might find it a little confusing that "work" is at "home" for mom; especially if daddy "goes" to work. You might want to get their impression [on] this discrepancy. Just a thought."

And from Debbye Cannon: "Last week I was working w/ a Private Client in the U.K. who has a 6 yr old son. Same sort of thing with interruptions. We had him make a two sided "stop and go" sign, laminated and hung on her door as a signal lite."

My office is upstairs and I've told my kids that if they want something they have to come upstairs to ask, they can't just yell at me from the bottom of the stairs. Many times, it's not important enough for them to walk up so that has been helping.

I hope some or one of these suggestions might work for you. PLEASE send any other suggestions, tricks or tips that have worked for you and I'll post them on our website!

Happy Monday and I hope you have a successful week. Good luck if you have kids home!

Cheers,
Lorin
www.epmassociation.org

5 Helpful Hints to Better Communication in Writing

Miscommunication happens all the time. A lot of it can be laughable. Most often, however, conflict or issues will arise. Some of it can be detrimental to your business or family!

Recently, I wrote an email to my EPMA colleague, Mary Ann and some dates got mixed up because I did not write clearly what I was trying to say. It was interesting because my first reaction was, "She didn't read what I wrote." But that really wasn't accurate. Even though what I wrote was clear in my head, it didn't come across clearly to her. My bad. Before I said anything I looked at what I wrote from her point of view and it was NOT clear at all. I apologized instead of blaming. Luckily, it was not serious and we could laugh about it.

In communication, it is BOTH parties responsibility to understand the message but most often there is blame. Either we say, "you didn't tell me" or "you don't listen/read." Both are right and both are wrong.

Now, I am not the best writer. I consider myself a good writer but by no means am I an excellent writer. I aspire and work on it constantly. Being a good communicator is the utmost important in business. It showcases your credibility. If you communicate poorly then you are seen as less credible in the business world and vice verse.

Today, with the sheer amount of writing that we do, whether it is emails, blogs, websites, brochures, case studies or old fashioned business letters - your abilities are on display.

1. First and foremost. Make sure your sentence structure is correct, especially watch for any misplaced modifiers (i.e. "Last night I dreamt I shot an elephant in my pajamas. Why he was wearing my pajamas I'll never know.") and typing their or there for they're, etc.
2. www.drgrammar.org is a great website to help when you are writing. It is a collection of FAQ's regarding grammar and spelling.
3. I also recommend a writing class - for many of us it's been several years since we last took a class in writing and it's not like a bicycle, there are many things we forget if we don't practice. Look to your local community college for a class or workshop.
4. For goodness sake, PLEASE have someone proof read important documents that you hand out for marketing or to sell as a product. I recently received some training materials that has typos and missed words! I paid almost $1000 dollars for the materials! (She's an attorney, too!)
5. The most important, however, is remembering to be clear and concise. Less is more.

Happy communicating and before you blame others for not listening or reading - make sure you are clear in YOUR writing or talking.

Cheers, Lorin
http://www.epmassociation.org/

The Work-At-Home Work Schedule

I'm not supposed to work on Friday's. It's a rule I've been trying to institute into my schedule. Friday's I'm supposed to don my mommy/maid hat. I'm not doing to good of a job. I always to a little bit of work on Fridays.

I really like what I do so much, that I'd rather blog, write, work on email, coach etc. than do laundry, clean the litter box, vacuum and mop. Who wouldn't?

A cleaning person is going to be at the top of my list...as soon as I stop being so frugal. Which is an ironic statement. Those that truly know me, know that I'm not really frugal. I aspire to be frugal so, I find areas with which I'm OK with being frugal. Right now, I'm OK with cleaning my own house, poorly too, I might add.

Back to my "not working on Friday's" topic. I'm currently trying to multi-task which is not working. It never does. I managed to get a load in the wash but that was a couple hours ago and it still sits there while I type.

You might wonder why I'm making myself crazy over it and why I'm even instituting this rule.

Corporate America did this to me!

In my previous job, I LOVED it. I had a great time, I worked hard and I felt I was living my life's purpose (to some extent). However, every Friday after I got off work, I would get off the train from the city, walk up the giant hill at my station while thinking: "Why on Earth do I spend FIVE days at work and TWO days at home with my children?" And that's how it went, Friday, after Friday, after Friday until I got laid off.

Now, that I'm in more control and even though I should be putting massive amounts of hours to get the EPMA relaunch going sooner rather than later - I'm going to do it on my own terms. That means I have to take Friday's off.

On the lucky side of things - It's currently nap time so kids aren't loosing out, I'm about to eat my lunch, this doesn't have to be long and I just had a nice time sharing.

I love being an entrepreneur.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll get back to work on Monday. I promise!
Don't forget to visit our not-yet-new website - We hope to launch new one the 11th! http://www.epmassociation.org/