To be honest I found it hard and still do as I try to explain to my family and friends to what I exactly I do and how come they still see me at the shops and the playground with the kids? As I work from home of course I can do the juggle between work and family and choose when to work though most of the times the work chooses me because as a small business owner work flow fluctuates and is obviously not consistent but I am learning to continue my marketing even when things are going well.

So what do I do? Well I work at your home/ office when you want me to and basically do all the administrative tasks that you want me to do and for a cuppa I will take out the garbage too at the end of my day! And just recently I added a team of very experienced and very professional office allrounders to the business so now I can assist you 5 days per week even in school holidays!

Like the sound of that? Great just give me a call on 0414 477 459 or email me at diana@pa-on-the-go.com to book in your FREE business consultation where I come to you and we go through the pain points you have in your business and how PA on the GO can make those concerns disappear!

Now I would love to hear what your business is about!

So do you ever take the office outside? A few weeks ago it just didn’t stop raining and it was making my kids go crazy and so one day when my son was in child care I took my netbook and my daughter with me to pick up work from a client and on the way back while my daughter slept I stopped at Warriewood beach and hooked up my netbook to my personal internet on the iPhone and started working.

It was something new and it inspired me to find other “office spaces” I could work from as I have found it quite motivating and also no distractions apart from the occasional seagull or a weird looking guy with his dog passing by! So here are some “office venues” that I have tried and tested and some I am looking into to trying.

• Local coffee shop e.g. Gloria Jeans, Narrabeen though I cannot have my kids with me as they are just too young to sit still for 2 hours (they are 4 and 2 years old)
• Local playground e.g. playground on corner of Garden and MacPherson street, Warriewood as it is small enough for me to watch both kids and have great reception with internet and phone reception plus they have these big wooden platform to sit on with the netbook and several benches to sit and work at the same time.
• Innovation Space, they rent out hot desks, full size office desks and even your own office plus access to printer, bathroom and kitchinette. I have yet to try it out and obviously no kids! It is also a great place to have your meetings at instead of your “messy” home or again the local coffee shop.
• Work on the beach and kids can play in the sand but make sure it is not too windy otherwise all the sand goes into your netbook and of course always watch your kids!
• Another good one is your local RSL, I go on a regular basis to the Pittwater RSL which is comfortable and affordable. They also have computers with Internet access for free so if you are working “in the cloud” it’s ideal. Again if you coordinate with your child’s nap it works very well plus for the bit older one you could sit outside as there is a small play area but all depends on your child.

Another major plus about these venues you can stay as long as you like. Nobody harassing you with the bill trying to get you to move.

As life is definitely more challenging with balancing my business and my 2 kids, I would not change it in a million years as my life is never dull or boring. It is full of life and always interesting!

Now this would be my next “outdoor office.” What do you think?

I would love to hear what you use as your office away from home. Please feel free to post your comment.

Diana

Sue matched each one of us up with a mentor that she thought that would suit our challenge in business and our personality, at first I couldn’t see it.

My mentor is a lovely soft spoken woman and I am loud, outspoken and twice as tall! But as we meet every week or every fortnight we get to know each other better and though I am organised in my work when it comes to my own business I have lots of things going on in my head that I struggle with to get on paper and my mentor has been wonderful putting some structure down as I go through all of them and tick them off as we go.

Meet my mentor Reeny who puts heart and business together! To check out her business go to http://www.passionandpossibilities.com/

My mentor has given me the confidence that I can do this, I can change the direction of my business. I can tell her my worries and insecurities as she has been there before.

One of my challenges was to create goals for my business plan and Reeny has showed me that I can and should aim higher than what I think is possible.

My “light bulb” moment was when my mentor created a basic forecast spreadsheet of what I could potentially earn with one subcontractor working for me and what I could earn with 5 and so and I realised I could make this work! Having a mentor for your business is vital as they can put your dreams onto paper and help you visualise what is in your head and give you the confidence that you can do this and that you will do this!

The amazing part about this program that the mentors are doing this for free, they take time out from their busy lives to sit down with us and give us guidance on this exciting journey as they want to give back to the community or return the favour as someone helped them at some point in time.

If you would like to know more about the Mentor Program go to https://www.facebook.com/WiBusinessNB and http://www.inspiringwomen.org.au/SmallBizMentoring2012.aspx

Do you have a Mentor? How did you find your Mentor? Love to hear it!

What is work-life balance?

The balance that works for one person does not necessarily work for another. My definition of work-life balance is the balance that you as an individual, are OK with to fit into your values and what’s important to you. I coach mums around this topic often and help them to uncover what they are OK with. I see some mums that love working, work a 60 hour week and really make the most of the time outside of that to enjoy personal/family life. I see other mums who stay at home full time and don’t feel like they have enough quality time for themselves or the family.  The balance is in your mindset.

So why is it important to have it?

With all the different hats we wear as small business owners it’s easy to get caught up in non-stop working. All work and no play (or vice versa) makes mum a dull girl or burnt out! One reason for me to take stock of where I was allocating my time was that I wanted to offer my kids the best of me at least some of the time.  Psychologists say the imprinting phase for a child is up to 7 years of age.  During this phase the key influences are their role models, namely parents.  I want them to see how I can run a business and look after my health and have some fun along the way. If I’m enjoying the journey, I am teaching them that they too can enjoy the journey.

So how do you get it?

First thing is to work out what’s important to you.  Write theses values in a list and then prioritise them.  The priorities might change day to day or week to week depending on what’s happening e.g. major project at work or baby sick at home. Be prepared to go with the flow. The important thing is that the list of what is important to you is on your radar and not off in some pipe dream. Then allocate some of your time each day to each priority.

For example, my daily list includes quality time with hubby (e.g. a meal together or simply a text message that says “hi, I’m thinking of you” if one if us is working late), fun time with kids (e.g. rolling with them on the floor or tickling them as I dry them off after their bath), exercise and eating well (e.g. a walk or a 2 minute Pilates exercise) and nurturing and growing my business (i.e. In priority order, a realistic list of things I can achieve in a day).

Keeping all these things on my radar allows me to be far more productive each day as I’m not ignoring things that are important to me. I’m reducing the mind chatter that says I should have done this or I wish I had time for that. The clearer mind allows me to be more engaged with everything I am doing from work to hubby to kids.. Get really clear on what’s important to you and start living by it today!

Dina Cooper

www.hoogi.com.au

Dina Cooper is a personal coach to mums. Dina is on a mission to help as many mums worldwide to be the mum of their dreams and have more fun in their daily life.  Her success is in her clients’ results.  Before embarking on her own, she was working in human change both in Australia and internationally.

Dina is a big believer in personal empowerment and its contribution to personal success.  If you know and like who you are and what you stand for, you have what you need to be the mum you want to be.

I looked online for some inspiration and came up with a few good ideas; these were spruce up your workspace, change your location for the day and reward yourself. These are all very good things to try but I needed a bit more oomph to get me back on track.

I decided to set myself small goals to give myself something to work towards, I felt it would help me get back on track with work and have a sense of achievement. I set daily and weekly goals to and found that once I was back in the swing of doing regular tasks I was much more motivated to do more work.

Working towards something other than the bottom line can give you something new to focus on and give different motivation. I decided if I worked on the goals I had set and achieved them I could have a small reward, for example I have set myself times to check and respond to emails, this allows me to have a period of work with no distractions. If I stick to it I can get a coffee from a local coffee shop as a treat.

Remember you are not going to be 100% motivated in your small business all the time, as humans we have good times and bad. Working through the tough times or the times we lack in motivation and coming out the other side brings its own sense of satisfaction.

At tenfive designs we believe that your Logo and business image are key elements in creating the right impression, with impact.

Many business owners ask….What does Graphic Design do for my Business?

As a Business owner I bet you take presentation seriously, because it is vitally important, isn’t it? Whether it be polished shoes, dressing smartly and arriving on time, we all in business strive to make the right kind of first impression on our potential clients.

Good design and visual communication of our business is often the first chance we get to make the right impression, and it’s important that we make a positive and memorable one.

Think of your own brand loyalties just for a moment and then consider why you hold them? Did you choose a product or service based on the brand you liked, how and why did you decide to choose that brand?

Most of us will realise that a good proportion of our choices will be made visually because we like what we see, or identify quickly with what is being presented.

Establish your own criteria to identify what you are trying to present. How do you want people to perceive your business, its service, or a particular product. Engage your audience clearly and quickly and most importantly, memorably!

About our Guest Blogger:

Mandie Spooner owns tenfive designs a Graphic Design Company that specialises in Business presentation and corporate image; her business is to make your business look great! tenfive designs also offer a wealth of other design and layout services.

Visit www.tenfivedesigns.com or email Mandie at mandie@tenfivedesigns.com

We support your business by offering help when you need it without the uncertainty of temporary staff or the expense of a full-time employee. We form a partnership to help you succeed!

Virtual assistants are independent contractors, working from their own offices and using their own equipment, who control management of the work and how it is carried out so that you can spend less time on the administrative aspects of your business and more time on growing your business.

Working with a VA provides many benefits, including:

• Pay only for time worked on a project, not a 40-hour work week.
• No insurance, retirement contributions, workers comp or other related benefits.
• No office space required.
• No training required in most cases.
• You have more time to spend on client work, i.e. making money!

I have many businesses that outsource administration work to me as a Personal Assistant or virtual assistant, and in turn, I have learned to let go of the reigns a little and outsource some parts of my business to others who are better able to undertake these specific tasks.

Outsourcing work is like having a skilled and valued employee on your team, without the extra costs that go along with having staff.  It can help you out a those busy times where you need an extra pair of hands, frees up your time to spend on more profitable opportunities and if the person you outsource to is an expert, you are getting a higher quality of work than you may be able to produce yourself!

You can even use external people to help expand your business by using them as a contractor to enable you to offer more from your business. This again will increase your profit margin and delight your customers by providing even more services.

For my business and many others outsourcing makes perfect sense, it lets you:

• Free up your time for more profitable opportunities
• Get a higher quality of work than you can do yourself
• Expand on your services to clients by using a contractor
• Give yourself a little breathing space at busy times

I know I need to do it with my business, have you considered it for yours, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Today I finally decided to set up my ‘home office’. I cannot wait till this weekend to go to Ikea and get a real desk! What a great feeling looking forward to getting up and going to work! Yes, I know it can seem like a luxury being able to walk from the kitchen to the office, but for the last 3 years my office was IN my living room just at the entrance of the kitchen needless to say by blocking the entrance there was a lot of frustration from mine and my husband. My desk is the dining table, and my computer plays Transformers almost as much as I try to use it for work. My favourite part (not really) are the sticky fingerprints I find all over my new desktop the next morning after my son has watched his cartoons and played his games on it after dinner.

The worst part about having my desk and computer in the family communal area is when the phone rings, or a Skype call comes through. The kids think it is Oma and Opa from the Netherlands calling…and they both come running from all over the house. I try frantically to quiet down or go into the other room so mama can take a work call. Do you think a 4 and 2 year old understand this? Especially when they think it is Oma? You can see the issues I am facing.

So, with a little help from Ikea planner I’ve finally figured out what I need to set up my home office. Having attended this month’s network event at Mumpreneurs Northern Beaches Network where Penny Webb from Working Mums MasterClass told us all about how to organise yourself, your family and your business. I feel quite liberated and finally feel like a professional, even if I’ve been acting this way for the past 3 years.

Now all I need is a nameplate stuck on the door and my own assistant out at the front.

My tips for setting up your own home office

What is it?  What is missing?  When you stop to think about it you realise that there is actually quite a bit missing.

You no longer wake up full of enthusiasm for your day and it seems to be more difficult to get started on your work.  In fact, it’s hard to decide where to begin.  You have some choices to make and you haven’t been able to work out what to do.

Wouldn’t it be good if you had someone to talk to?   Ah, there it is.  That is what is missing!

When you worked in a group environment it was so easy to take people for granted.  There was always someone to talk to of have coffee with.  In fact, sometimes there were too many people and too many interruptions but never once did you feel alone and isolated.

Working from home can be a very isolating experience and most of us have to make a conscious effort to go out and connect with others.  That is why networking becomes a vital part of your business strategy.

Networking can save your business sanity.  It gives you the opportunity to connect with other professionals in related businesses, which opens the door to new opportunities.  It lets you bounce ideas off people who understand what you are talking about.  It helps you create new ideas.  It stimulates your mind and your enthusiasm again.

So where can you start building your networks?

In your local area attend your local Chamber of Commerce meetings.  This is a great way to meet up with other entrepreneurs in your community. Find out about conferences and conventions that are being held and try to attend.

Internet networking is as important as face-to-face meetings. Not only can you attract visitors to your web site, you can take a break from the nitty gritty of your business. Look for work-at-home websites, visit these sites and interact on the message boards. Increasingly businesses are using social media sites such as Facebook to interact with clients and other professionals in the one place!

If there is nothing in your local area why not think about starting one?  That is exactly what I did.  Networking is quite important to me was what led me to found the Mumpreneurs Northern Beaches Network (www.mnbn.com.au) with co-founder Banika Smee.

Remember that networking doesn’t have to be formal.  Meeting over a quick coffee can often be more energising and time efficient as going to a meeting.  Find something that you enjoy and do it.  Go out and connect with business professionals regularly.  You will soon notice the difference in your business performance and your own attitude towards it.