Melissa Rich Author – Your Virtual Home Office Can Be a Reality!

With cold temperatures and treacherous roads, cold calling could be a viable career option for you.    In rough weather, working from home becomes more inviting, but there are so many options and choices.    It is imperative that you look at your current skill set and determine which career options best match your skill set.   One skill set and frequent work-at-home position involves cold calling and telemarketing.

Cold calling involves reaching out via phone to your client’s prospects – also known as telemarketing.      There are many cold calling companies that work for a variety of clients that choose to outsource a portion of their sales efforts.   There are also many employers (both large and small) that are seeking virtual employees to perform this valuable sales task.

Chapter 7 of my book specifically describes how to review work at home opportunities to determine if they are a legitimate opportunity or just another scam – which is also prevalent in the work at home industry.   Order your copy today!

With my long but flexible working hours, I frequently find myself working up to 12 to 14 hours per day.     Being in front of the computer for hours at a time and sitting at my desk certainly causes additional stress upon the body.   To combat that problem, I have found the
following tips helpful:

• Taking short breaks from sitting periodically.  For example, I often find myself pacing during conference calls.
• Shifting positions frequently.   Sometimes I adjust the height of the chair or the placement of my feet.
• Ergonomic furniture that adjust easily to new positions.

If you are home based or office based, I hope the above tips help you feel more comfortable within your work space and help alleviate the physical stresses caused by sitting for extended periods of time.

Recently, I took a short vacation; so I took my home office essentials with me and worked from the hotel.    Even though I work from home, my home office is easy to pack and ready to go.  Here are a few of the essential items:

• A bag with essential supplies including pens, highlighters, a mini-stapler, calculator, etc.
•  Essential office files located in one place, so that they can be easily packed.
• Laptop computer.
  NOTE:   I have taken a vacation with a full size computer and compact screen.

Working from home certainly has its advantages, but being ready to work from any location with Internet access is even better!

Working from your virtual home office is a huge responsibility since you are solely responsible for your home business. Here are a few mistakes that you can avoid:

• Business hours-determine your set working hours or business hours before you begin working. This will alleviate problems separating working hours from family time.
• Rates-set your hourly rate or prices when you start working from home. Never agree to work for someone without a contract in place. This takes the awkward out of a business transaction. After all working from your virtual home office is your paycheck and you want to handle business transactions accordingly.
• Advertise-working from your virtual home office requires you to be the sole proprietor and responsible for adverting your work from home business or career. Never make the mistake of thinking that customers or clients are going to just come to you. Advertise-whether it is joining your local chamber of commerce or supporting your local soccer team-get your name and business out there to provide you with long term success working from your virtual home office.

Failing to plan and maintain scheduled tasks for a profitable home business can hinder success. Take the time to set up guidelines for your business to allow a lifestyle that provides balance between business and family. If you need ideas on a successful work from home business-check out Melissa’s book “Your Virtual Home office can be a Reality!”

We are about 2/3s done with the current year, so now is the time to review your 2011 goals and take corrective action where necessary.   Planning is so essential for successful home office operations, but it is just as important to periodically review those goals and analyze your progress.   If you are not well on your way to achieving your 2011 goals, determine how you can change course to meet your 2011 goals.

Always remember that having a goal is not enough; you need to measure your progress and continue moving forward towards those goals.  Best of luck to you in achieving your home office goals!

A home office and working solo certainly provides a great deal of peace, free of typical office drama; however, that same sense of peace can also lead to a sense of monotony, repetition, and boredom.  There are days where the excitement of pursuing a new opportunity brings about the “thrill of the chase” invigoration; by more often than not, my home office operation is not full of excitement, but rather “ho-hum”.

Some days, I need a change of pace; so I seek out new tasks that will bring about a feeling of invigoration.  On those ho-hum days, I spend time looking towards the future and developing strategic plans to move towards that new goal.  That planning process allows me to get enthused, renewed, rejuvenated, and excited about the future.

Maybe you should spend some time reviewing your long range home office plans and get excited about the future!

It seems like the work-at-home schemes are becoming more prominent, but they are also getting more sophisticated; consequently you need to stay alert and skeptical.    Use the tools in our book in Chapters 7-9 to research job opportunities and protect yourself.   Exercise due diligence and complete the necessary research to protect yourself.

Recently the afternoon temperatures have been as high as 102 degrees and the hot weather shows no signs of letting up.   Summertime can be a time for extra leisure and spending time with the kids.   Summertime can be quite enjoyable, but yet you still have a job to do and must dig deep to find that extra motivation to keep on track.

Setting a strong work schedule will ensure that you can enjoy summer activities, while accomplishing the necessary tasks.   Posting that schedule for your spouse and children will allow them to respect your work time, while showing them that you still have together time for family.

There are many companies that have started hiring virtual workers. Where can you go to find legitimate work? Here are a few of my favorite websites for legitimate work from home opportunities.

www.ratracerebellion.com

www.indeed.com

www.odesk.com

www.wahm.com

If you need help getting started in the virtual world-Check out our website:

www.yourvirtualhomeoffice.com

Over the last few weeks, I have been deep cleaning my home and office.   In that process, I have discovered that I have a secret addiction……….yep, that is right.   I am addicted to office supplies and nifty organizational gadgets.

We all know that keeping organized is vital to our success, but I have gone overboard.  I have accumulated an excessive (perhaps lifetime) supply of office supplies and gadgets.  Moving forward, I promise to buy office supplies only when needed.   I promise to prepare a shopping list and to use that shopping list to control my addiction to home office items.  

In fact, I will print that shopping list on hot pink paper, attach that list to a clipboard, and keep that clipboard firmly attached to my bulletin board, so that I can easily access my list.