Working From Home - When Home is Anything but Stable

The beauty -- and possibly the destruction for many well-meaning home-based businesses -- is being home. Yet, one thing we've never discussed, nor had reason to discuss here, is when home is not defined in the traditional way.

Most people, especially those running a business from home, have a (meaning ONE) place they call home. A few may have two, including a main home base; a couple of business owners may be lucky enough to have two places they equally call home. But what about those people who do not have a certain place, are unsure of where they live, or are moving around a lot due to different circumstances (think finances, domestic violence, being a secret and unreported CIA spy, having seven kids and having to live between them, etc.)?

By a show of "hands," how many have a unique one-home-business-does-not-fit-all (please do share your circumstance in the comments or a private email, we'd love to touch base and write an article based on unique business successes and struggles)?

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For me, personally, the past six-seven years went nothing like it should have. Where I should have felt support and stability, I felt everything but. I've had to not only rearrange my home and life many times, but I've had to reorganize my businesses, even when they were getting to be back on top after being MIA for several years due to another unusual home-business situation (okay, the common denominator is me, but that's beside the point of this article; let's not go there).

I've ended up having several homes, some very temporary (a month and a half at the shortest) and for the third time in my life, I've lost nearly everything, including a lot of my work, which could have been the cause of me being unable to continue working and writing from home (not including the self-paralysis from the personal and emotional aspects of it all) or giving up.

Except that's not me and I suspect that's not you, either. What do we do? How do you run a business from home if you don't have a home or if your home is temporary or completely unstable?

Running a Stable Small Business from an Unstable Home

Let's make this easy and assume you already have been running your business, whether it's MLM, freelance, merchandising, or even babysitting (legally) from your home.

Two of the most important things to keeping and running your business properly: files and calendars. Don't worry, there's a lot more, but these are two things you MUST have and you must bring back and forth to wherever you conduct business. These are things you cannot lose.

If you're like me, you love paper. Tough. You cannot afford paper files that you must lug around or that can be lost if you're unable to get your belongings from one of your home bases. I've lost them all. And I am still suffering-but wouldn't be had I used electronic files (scanning) and calendars in addition to the paper I refused to give up.

There is enough personal paper you'll have to keep (legal documents, SS information, etc.).

Convert Paper Files to Electronic Files (in Five Minutes a Day)

That's right. CONVERT. See all that paper you've collected? If not, perhaps you've hidden it in closets or boxes, but I know you know what I'm talking about.

The first thing you need to do to make your home situation easier for you and your business is to convert all your paper files into electronic files (scanning); the second thing to do is to make back-ups of these files.

Might we suggest Google Drive? It's free, it's right there, and you can get to your files on your phone in an instant if you are caught without your computer.

1. You can store up to 15 GB of content shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos for free. If you use Google Apps at work or school, you have at least 30 GB of storage. If you're approaching your limit or if you've run out of storage, you can buy storage or free up storage space. Manage your free Google Drive space.

If you have hundreds of thousands of papers, take it easy, you can still manage this, using five minutes a day. Scan, upload, repeat. Sure, it'll take a while, but at least you can access what you need when you want. 

Please! Do yourself a favor-rather than scanning and uploading as fast as possible, thousands in a day, do it right the first time. Scan, label, and sort your files now. Do it as you hold it in your hand. This way you can cross reference, find in an instant, and you'll be less stressed when you can access exactly what you need exactly when you need it.

Upload those papers and throw them away after you've made your backup, on a separate hard drive, disk, or flash drive. 

If your electronically converted papers are needed occasionally, put in safe bins and store where you can. I've lost even these backups twice in my lifetime, and you learn to deal, as you would if your business had been destroyed in a fire, but it's far from ideal). The most important papers, put in an organized accordion file. Why this type of file? Because we are talking about nearly mobile paperwork and it's far easier to carry and pack a light file than a file box; furthermore, you tend to only include what's really important in this file due to space limitations. Trust me. 

As for the fifty or so papers you absolutely have to keep-use a single sleeve heavy duty plastic see-through file. Heavy duty to ensure it's protected, plastic to keep relatively water-proof, and see-through so there is no confusing the importance.

Calendaring Your Business and Life

There's no confusing the importance of a well-maintained calendar, whether you combine business with personal or not. But if you have one on your wall and your wall is suddenly not there, for whatever reason, you may not be able to take it with you. 

One idea is to have a paper calendar that you carry with you everywhere. A good idea technically, however, if you have to suddenly move and move everything, it's suddenly one more thing you have to carry. Think about it.

Being an Apple Girl both personally and in my business world and a lover of all things paper, I must have both a large-sized wall calendar and an iCal account to use across my electronics, but there's also the Google Calendar and plenty of other free electronic calendars with apps available (I won't list any others here, as I've not tried any of them). Learn to use them. There is no end to the usefulness of a calendar you can access from anywhere at anytime. 

My electronic calendar needs to be able to sync effortlessly between my phone and computer and anyone else who needs to have access to it. I also must have constant reminders attached-I use instant notifications and reminder emails. You may have other needs. Research. Experiment. Be willing to try and quit and try another.

Pretend Electronic PAPER Calendar (Works for Me!)

BUT as I mentioned, I love and NEED that paper calendar. I need something that is staring me in the face, not just something that reminds me when it's time for something or that I must open when I need it.

The perfect solution takes less than one minute a day - when you leave for the day, simply snap a picture of your paper wall calendar and refer to it as needed. I find just from looking at it and having written it down with pen and paper the first time, I rarely need to pull out my snapshots, but at least it's available for no-fail added appointments.

Stability in Your Unstable World

These are just two ideas to help ease your burdens when your world sometimes feels as though it's falling apart, but there's no need for your business to fall, too. It's all temporary and it's up to you. 

Whether you move personally and professionally (we ARE talking about small home businesses here) on purpose or at the drop of the proverbial hat with no warning, having your important papers at your fingertips in a manageable file and your calendar of events handy is of utmost importance. Not only will you be able to continue to succeed and support yourself and your business, but you will have peace of mind and that's priceless.

ISSN Fact or Fiction: for Serious Home Business Owners and/or Newsletter Writser

International Standard Serial Number

Today's entrepreneur has to market himself and his product as much as he must be market-oriented and with both tasks comes the need to be professional. Whether you're a freelance health care provider, working a multi-level marketing business, running a daycare, or writing, there will come a time when you realize a newsletter, on- or off-line, is an information pushing time-saver your business cannot afford to do without: Enter the International Standard Serial Number.

ISSN for short, the International Standard Serial Number is the identifier accepted for periodicals (which are works published regularly on some type of schedule; GIIW!, for example, promises to publish their writer's newsletter sporadically, "never knowing" when you'll get your newsletter nor how often).

We've all seen the ISSN as a line of numbers or a barcode for decades-the letters "ISSN" are followed by two groups of four numbers (and/or possibly an X*) divided by a hyphen. This is commonplace enough you might not notice it.  

However unremarkable the ISSN has become, for the business owner/newsletter writer, it's use can be quite remarkable:

By obtaining and using an ISSN, you automatically lend an air of credibility to yourself and your newsletter in the way that a business card, once-upon-a-time, gave a buyer confidence in the card-giver and his gimmick. Sure it doesn't promise quality or usefulness--certainly there's no "buyer beware"--but that's beside the point: people believe in it and that alone is worth untold sums.

ISSNs have other relatively "just okay" points, such as electronic archiving and cataloging, which are especially useful in libraries, keeping your publication within public reach. Furthermore, while I've never personally seen this happen, it's been said newsletter old files can easily be updated across the board thanks to standard identification. 

TeraisaAtHome assumes you're a small business owner working from home and will not be submitting your newsletter into major institutions where cataloging is required for management and sanity's sake... having said that, IF YOU CAN - DO IT, because when you hit the big time with your newsletter and subscribers, the ISSN uses widen, allowing for better management of subscription and distribution. 

Bottom Line:
Apply for an ISSN for serial publications because having a leg up on competition from the get-go far outweighs the time it takes to fill out and send in the application.

Interactive Moments:
Share in our comments what is your newsletter and where can we find it? Have you obtained an ISSN? What caused you to make this decision? If you do not have an ISSN, are you now going to apply for one?

Where to Go:
What you fill out depends which country you are in or publishing in, be sure to read all the information that pertains to you before filling in the application found at ISSN.org

Simplify

Years ago, when I had way more kids in the house and obviously too much time on my hands, this was my home office set up. I had a big beautiful desk in the corner, but I liked the open space better.

As I writer, I had to research a lot. My website program was only available through Windows (gag). I felt three computers (and a television) was just what the publisher ordered!

No more! I have since simplified - I now use mostly hand-coding for the website, and only my Mac laptop and iPhone - it's all I need. Not only that, but once I downsized everything, I feel better and am more productive.

Take a look around. Is there anything you really don't need? Is there anything creating MORE work for you? Get rid of what you don't need and work the you-know-what out of those few invaluable pieces.

2013 & Resolutions: Out With the OLD Ideas

Going out on a limb, here, assuming the majority of readers have, how many of you made New Year's Resolutions and what are they? 

As you probably know by now, I have not made resolutions. I haven't made any since I was in high school, when I learned most women made diet resolutions (this was the 80's, it was about dieting, not health!) and most of those broke them. It kind of stuck on me that if I didn't make them, I'd not break them.

Fast forward back to now (I know, an oxymoron): where has not making the resolutions gotten me? While it's true I've not broken my promises, I have also not really moved forward much. YIKES! Yet... it's the truth. 

If one aspires to nothing in order not to fail, one fails. 

I've failed. I've failed myself (and deprived all of you of my good works!).

My resolution this year is to make daily resolutions (AKA daily to-do lists). I want to write a page a day; I want to work on the YouTube account; I want to write and share my blogs; I want to train the cheerleaders to be the best personally they can be; I want the cheerleaders to win competitions; I want to have my business organized; I want to locate more missing children; I want to solve unsolved mysteries; I want to earn money; I want to secure my future. And I want to be in shape.

By year's end, I will have at least 365 posts on various websites and blogs, 365 pages written, a grant written, and $365 dollars left over after paying all the fees associated with TrueCrime.co.

Happy new year to all and blessings and success upon each one of us.

Last year's Waialua High School Bulldog's Varsity Cheer Team at OIA competion-Coach Ann Dellatan

Two Amazing Tips to Get Anything Done From the Comfort of Your Home

Wanna know the two biggest challenges of working from home and how to completely obliterate the excuses (thus: get anything done)?

1. Don't have children.
2. Turn off your "smart" phone."

Not necessarily in that order.

As if either of those will happen at this stage!  All kidding aside...

We recently had a serious hospitalization in our family that changed the way we work and play. Ironically, we put the electronics down to pay attention and deal with the situation and our futures... and got much less done. Or did we?

We put EVERYTHING to the side that could be put down, including my working from home, and stepped up the business of our family.

Sometimes, in the shuffle to get it all done, things actually get undone. Please, even though we were not visiting the hospital day after day because I ever worked from home, don't be afraid to get help and delegate or put down your work to care for your family-they're the reason you stayed home in the first place.

Now that our family is back to our "new normal," the business shall follow.

Blessings all!

Working, working, working.

Nothing spurs you on to work hard more than the need for money. Right? Yet, working for yourself is a bit different than picking up an hour or two here and there: the gratification is often not instantaneous. Even a 9-5 job that pays per hour each two weeks is often more reliable. But we did choose to work from home, right? Why did we do this?


Answering "WHY" is important. If you need money fast, working for yourself is not always the best option. If you need money and have time to obtain it, it's a perfect option and can possibly earn you the needed money and keep you from a future need of money (because you'll already have it via your business). If you simply want to work from home, for whatever the reason (I personally did not have kids so others can raise them), then, duh, working for yourself is more than ideal.


Here's my personal deal - we are military and were told my hubby is deploying to a scary place. We made plans, we made decisions, and we put all my businesses on hold (writing, victim's advocation, ChaCha researching, and AtHome America consulting) until he left.  Except, nearly $8,000 later, they changed his assignment (many times in the course of two months) and left us hanging.  We don't WANT hubby to leave, especially to be in such a dangerous position, but we would have NEVER EVER made the decisions we made, in particular the financial decisions, nor had me stop my work if we had known there was even a 15% chance he'd be deployed as planned. If we thought there was any possibility in having his orders changed, we'd have waited and made decisions accordingly.


Now, we need money.  Now.  We have not only lost our entire savings and reserve, but we have four unexpected high payments to make before the end of the month; last month, with company, an 18th birthday, graduation, and seeing our son off to college, we were already at the end of our rope.


Putting this into perspective, I know it'll pass and we are not going to die from the lack of money.  This fact alone pushes the stress level way down.  Still, writing is lucrative in general, though the time and money ratio is extremely off balance in a negative way... I simply don't know when the money will come in, as each publisher is different.  So that's out for quick monetary relief.


Since being a victims' advocate costs us money, we cannot even consider pushing it harder.


AtHome America is the practical and obvious money maker.  But... no one is booking at the moment in Hawaii. Dang it.  The best I can do is beg a few mainlanders to host online parties in exchange for bonus free homewares, which will take at least two weeks to host the party and close it, but if I do, I can have an immediate 20% cash back reward (AtHome Specialists earn more than 20%, but for immediate money, that's the highest amount, the rest is delivered via direct deposit).  


That leaves me to my only other option:  ChaCha!


ChaCha pays when you have earned a minimum of $150.  It's also direct deposit; I won't even have to wait for mail or the bank.  I guess you have it.  I'll be working ChaCha as much as possible.


What do YOU do when you need fast cash?  Do you sell things? Do you babysit? Do you pick up the slack on your home business?  I'd love to hear from you, though if I plant the seeds right, I'll be sowing enough green cash to make sure we're never in this predicament again.


By the way, if you'd like to be a part of my ChaCha! team, follow the link, fill out the application and be sure to let them know Teraisa@gmail.com referred you.

Love Technology

The biggest boost to my home businesses, aside of hard work, integrity, and dedication, is technology.

Thanks to the geniuses who took chances and shared them with the world, I not only can have a business operated from home much more easily than my predecessors, but I also have the ability to know my true market for each aspect.

For the blogs, which I write for myself, to stay accountable and on top of things, for example, even those who come here "anonymously," share terrific information. These days, even your website or your blog can tell you so much about who's interested in your product or service.

At a glance, each day I can see who is visiting, where they live, their Internet and computer information, including what browser they're using, how long they've stayed on the website, each page they are looking at, etc.

This information is invaluable, and as you know if you've ever been at a public retail store requesting only your zip code or phone number, not easy to come by normally.

Technology is good; embrace it and use it to the fullest.

Holiday: Really?

You're working on Easter?

Well, That's Not How I Saw It

So many home party businesses. Even in Hawaii, the majority of them deliver straight to the customer, without an extra charge.  I just learned today that my beloved At Home America, who is finally offering direct shipping (which is extremely important for military families), is going to charge extra for it. So you are already paying shipping and handling, based on the PRICE of an item, rather than weight, I can't do it.  I'm going to resign. Sigh. 


It sucks when you love something and you enjoy it but you cannot with a clear conscience continue with it.  Thank you everyone for your help.  


There's still everything else!  Go writing! Go ChaCha!

Home Party Business: SIX Parties?

As you know, I began this odyssey long before I actually applied. Because of that, I'll backtrack to that day and move forward until we are here. TODAY here.

The decision to become an At Home America consultant was easy. Applying, thanks to my mentor, Donna Moses, was easier. At Home America suggests and encourages you to book your first SIX parties before you apply, that meant I had to hurry and find hostesses because I was applying the day I received my application.

Luckily for me, Donna's daughter, Maureen, booked my first party - we live on the same island, making it easy for me to accept and her to commit. Donna was very happy about it and is sure to be the reason for Maureen's party success. How can you loose when your mother is your party girl's mom? We can't!

Five to go. I decided NOT to ask my family for many reasons. First of all, I've never seen At Home America anywhere but online. Not even one product. Though I know that I am confident in their products and hostess program, they do not. Family is often harder to convince then others because they know you and maybe have been in this position before (ha, ha!).

Second of all, I love challenges, and because I have not had any friends for about a year (other than my friends at home or online), it was high time to make new ones and invite them to enjoy my business. I said a prayer and took a leap. I asked anyone in my few Hawaii/military groups to help me out.

On a very serious note, many of you already have your friends and family nearby and you may have lived in your area a very long time. Might I suggest to wait on your family in order to expand your circle? Your first bookings, if coming from friends and new people, will have you feeling successful and on a business high. If it's family, it's great, but not the same. I know because I'm on that high, even while we speak! And guess what? When it's slow, maybe in January, I can now ask everyone in my family AND be even more excited about the quality and care of the product and At Home America.

(I'm apologizing now for rambling, I'm just very excited AND I have so much to share... my hopes are this will help just one person and myself become more efficient with their new home business and that it directly affects your family in a great way)

Anyway, back to I need five more bookings and I have my online application open and waiting. Armed with my one booking, I went to my personal Facebook page and using my personality, I made a request to watch me give you a fun party where you can laugh out loud at me while I practice being a home party direct sales consultant, and YOU get free gifts and specials and we all get free food, because I do encourage food and drinks - sometimes that's what hooks people. I'm not kidding (but that's an entirely new post because there are many people who think food and drinks are distracting, too).

I got party number two, as a catalog party, though I was not positive there are catalog parties available (I assumed from my designated time as a hostess - and there ARE those parties, called "e-show"). Here's a funny thing about Jennifer:

I've been a victim's advocate pretty much my entire life, but I've been putting my money where my mouth is for only a decade and a half. I have websites and professional social network accounts. To gain a better following, I did what social networks did; I played Mafia Wars. Yes, me. I know, I hate games, especially video games, but it worked. People came to me for play, but they stayed for my heart and they believe in the messages. Jennifer is one person.

When I called out for parties, even though I had stopped playing Mafia Wars a long time ago, she was there right away. We had conversations over the couple of years and it was natural, we were already friends in this technological world.

Jennifer is officially my first party. And she has my first questions, but is awesome by being patient while I learn.

And that's all for now... I have things to do, places to be. See you soon, when we can discuss the rest of my application and creative ways to get your first bookings.