I have been a leader in the direct sales industry for the past five years. Ironically, the most challenging aspect of my home based business wasn’t finding new customers, entering sales orders or figuring out my taxes, it was trying to talk on the phone with two toddlers underfoot.
It is hard to sound professional when you are chatting with a potential hostess or new team member when your children are pulling on your pant leg and screaming, “Mommy, Dora is over.” “Mommy…I need juice”. “Mommy, Jakey just spit on me”. “Ummmm…just a second while I lock my little cherubs in the closet”.
I started my home-based business when my daughter was in-utero so I didn’t have many disruptions (besides the occasional burp or kick in the sternum). My business was booming. I chatted on the internet, I talked on the phone and I was able to launch my business relatively quickly and easily.
Then, my children (who are fifteen months apart) decided that it was no longer okay for me to talk on the telephone, type on the computer, or do anything that didn’t even remotely involve *them*.
I had to come up with a plan that allowed me to keep my consultants and customers (not to mention a professional image), and not neglect my children in the process.
I decided to create a “phone box”. This is a special box of toys that they get to play with *only* when I am talking on the phone or working on the computer. We usually find the contents of the telephone box at the local dollar store.
We all love stopping at the dollar store. I usually find some cheap and unique business supplies there, and they always find interesting items to add to the “phone box”. While we occasionally add more expensive items to the phone box, I love using the dollar store because you can always add to it without breaking your budget.
The telephone box toys are special. We keep them in a box in the pantry and they only get to take them out when I have an important call to take or some work to do on the computer. I knew the “phone box” trick was working when my three year old handed me the telephone and said, “mommy, you need to go to work”.
Now, instead of begging for my attention while I am on the phone, they beg for the special toys we have set aside while mommy takes twenty minutes to check her e-mail or answer the morning calls.