Some things, such as blogging, have not been kept up as we would wish.

And the local hospital, like our location here at the home office, has lousy roaming internet connectivity. So blogging from there, as patient or visitor, was not really feasible.

But the experience of recent weeks, difficult as it has been, has reminded me once again of one of the many benefits I gained all those years ago when I left the relative security of my “regular” job, well paid as it was and with such great benefits as paid (but scheduled) leave, to chance my arm as a work from home freelance consultant.

When, over a couple of weeks recently, I had to go to the hospital at various times, and now, having to do the occasional bit of extra driving to and fro, I have not had to ask anyone’s permission, I have not have to make arrangements for someone to fill in for me. I did have to ask clients for some flexibility on coaching times and even to change a planned face to face meeting to a Skype conference call: but I have such great clients there was no problem.

And I was able to reorganize my schedule to do catching up on weekends and in what the rest of the world calls “after hours” or “overtime” but what we who work from home just call “when we are working” or some such. Sure we may over-compensate, but it’s a price we pay for our freedom from the old, constraining systems we worked under.

No one wants to get sick or have loved ones getting sick, but I am pretty sure that when it happens no one who has to care for that person wishes they were back in the 9 to 5.

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Productivity Training Call

Listen to the MP3

I have been part of the 30 day Productivity Challenge group since January and as a multitasker I have finally found and put in place systems that are empowering me and helping my business move forward. The support from others members of the group is wonderful.

Helen challenges you to stop being busy and start being productive. Helen is so generous in sharing what she has learned and provides a supportive safe environment to help you overcome your challenges.

This call is a gift you can give to yourself and you will come awat with a plan. She will share what she knows works and take you step by step through her top 8 ways to becoming more productive. On the call you will learn:

• The one thing that is stopping you from hitting your goal every single time
• How to focus on what is most important no matter what is happening around you
• Why knowing your top priorities will help you to stop getting stuck with the small stuff
• Create a step-by-step plan of your very own right on the call
• Find out the 1 person you need in your life so that you know you are moving forward

Bring a project you want to get started on and come away with an action plan. Helen is passionate about helping entrepreneurs move their businesses forward and knows how to help you get into action.

Have a project that needs some TLC?

Head on over to the Free Productivity Training NOW

There was one post left to do, the last one and by no means less important for that. Indeed, the tip Love the Business You Are In, could well be the most important of all five, certainly for a combination of the business’s long term success and your long term well being.

In February, in the introductory post for the series, I wrote this about the tip, Love the Business You Are In:

You might, channeling Tina Turner, ask ‘What’s love got to do with it?”. My answer: A Lot! You might have started your business because you got retrenched  or just couldn’t stand where you were working. But now you’ve started it, you’d better make sure you love it, or learn to love it. Or start a different business. Or look for a job again.

Believe me, if you don’t love it, if it doesn’t get you out of bed in the morning eager to get into it, being thrilled to help your clients, you will stand a fair chance of getting bored, disillusioned and cranky enough that it will show and people will not want to do business with you. You wouldn’t want that, would you?

The challenge of freedom

We all know that one of the benefits of creating your own business is that you are free to make it the kind of business you want it to be. And if you want to change it, by changing the focus, changing the product or service, you are free to do that too.

But not everyone chooses to create a business that will give them, in the long term, a sense of fulfillment and achievement, as well as paying the bills.

In fact, what a lot of us have done and what a lot are no doubt doing or planning to do as you read this, is to create in our own home a mini version of what we were doing before, working for some corporation or other big organization. The obvious manifestation is going from being an employee working in a specific area to being an independent consultant working on the same area.

That can make practical sense in the short term, and maybe also in the long term, but it may prove to be not the business we are going to be most happy in building and maintaining.

We do have the freedom to create a business we don’t love, or to get stuck with one that “works” but which we don’t actually love.

One we love being in is more likely to carry us forward, joyfully, productively.

So the big question to ask is: Is this a business I will love to be in, now and into the future?

For anyone who wants some insight into what “loving the business” might mean, from someone who walks his talk and has created a hugely successful business, I recommend reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It!. Or, to give the book its full title, Why Now is the Time to CRUSH IT! Cash in On Your Passion.

Where I talk here about loving your business, he talks about passion:

Live your passion. What does that mean, anyway? It means that when you get up for work every morning, every single morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with or do the thing that interests you most in the world.

Tall order?

Or just what you are doing now?

I’d love for you to share your experience of loving the business you are in and how that has worked for you.

The series: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 1: Know Your Market Worth : Starting a Home Based Business Series

Tip 2: Build an Order Book: Starting a Home Based Business Series

Tip 3: Build New Networks: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 4: Ask for Help: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 5: Love the Business You Are In: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Late in 2009 I reviewed the book here in a video.

The authors also have a website with many resources for people working at home or thinking about it, and their blog provides regular updates on various matters of interest.

The site has just had a makeover. I encourage you to check it out.

If so, “Ask for Help” could be the most significant or most potentially productive of the five tips in this series of posts on starting (or re-booting) a home based business.

In the overview post I wrote to launch my 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business series, I summarized this fourth  tip as follows:

Assuming you are good at what you do (or just good at what you are good at), you should assume that your friends and former work colleagues will want to help you get business. They may not have contracts for you themselves (don’t crowd them or embarrass them by begging or cajoling) but if you can make it very clear to them what you are focused on and the sort of people you want to connect with, they will surely want to give you introductions and recommendations. Ask them! The worst they can do is say no.

Self-evident? Maybe so. My guess is that conceptually it is self-evident but emotionally it may be either too difficult or at least an item for procrastination.

The more we are inclined to be self-reliant or have been conditioned to think that way, the more we can expect to find actually asking for help a challenge.

It’s a challenge that needs to be met.

Put yourself in the shoes of a friend or former work colleague

If the roles were reversed and you discovered that your friend or former colleague had been reluctant to ask for your help, how would that make you feel?

If I were in that position I know I would feel disappointed.

Because here’s the thing: we all like to be helpful. Well, all of us except the most dysfunctional. And in fact getting or giving help, provided the request is reasonable, can actually strengthen the relationship.

Of course, it also sets up some obligation or at least inclination to reciprocity.

in the long run, everyone wins.

Have your story ready and get to the point

Thinking of how an “asking for help” conversation with a friend or former work colleague might go, we should ask ourselves which of the following requests is more likely to elicit a useful introduction or valuable tip:

• a chatty, unfocused ramble about how you are enjoying your new-found freedom and would appreciate some introductions
• some “catch up” talk followed by a clear statement of the benefits you are ready to bring to clients in your new business and a simple indication of the kind of businesses or individuals you are seeking to connect with, who may value what you have to offer

If, through embarrassment, self-consciousness or just lack of preparation, we fall into the unfocused ramble, we can actually do our new business harm. For example, the person we sought out may, without necessarily meaning us any harm, start telling people about the conversation and how confused we seemed to be about what we were doing.

Contrariwise, if we are clearly focused and share our enthusiasm for how we are going to help others through our new business, there is a good chance that will be passed on, with incalculable potential benefit.

Remember to ask for help!

Our friends or former colleagues have given us time and attention because we asked them to. We said we would value their advice or help. Let’s not disappoint them.

Is is possible we would not ask? Sure. One of the staples of sales training is to impress on the sales person that he or she has to remember to ask for the sale.  Similarly, we have to remember to ask for help.

And not be afraid to ask, clearly, unequivocally: “So, do you see a way you can help me here?”

You may have to tell people it is not network marketing – unless it is

Anyone who has ever been in network marketing or has been pitched by someone in network marketing (does that leave anyone else?) knows that a standard ploy of networking marketing lead generation for years has been to ask friends and family for help with your new business.

I have no objection to that. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and I know it doesn’t make me a bad person. Just decided it was not for me. I have my own thoughts about how network marketers could operate more effectively these days via the social web.

But I digress.

The point I want to make here is to be aware of the potential for pushback or sheer unavailability if you say something like “I’ve just started working from home and have this great business with huge potential. I’m hoping you could help me. Do you have time for a cup of coffee?” You might as well ring your friend and put on a recording of an ambulance siren.

My recommendation is that you be more specific. Tell them what the business is and what kind of help you are hoping they can give you. For example:

“I’ve started this new coaching (consulting, dive training, sales training…) business and am naturally keen to build my client base. I’m asking some good friends and colleagues for help in suggesting ways I can do this. You up for a coffee to talk about that? I’d really appreciate it.”

Does that work? Yes, it sure does. And for me at times it has worked beyond my most imaginative expectations.

Not every time.

But you’ve been game enough to start a home based business. So are you game enough to ask for help?

Happy asking!

Image credit: Helping Hands, by Meg & Rahul, via Flickr: CC licence BY 2.0

The series: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 1: Know Your Market Worth : Starting a Home Based Business Series

Tip 2: Build an Order Book: Starting a Home Based Business Series

Tip 3: Build New Networks: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 4: Ask for Help: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business

Tip 5: Love the Business You Are In: 5 Tips for Starting a Home Based Business