Time to change your job?

    Businessman working hard at office
    Businessman working hard at office

    Businessman working hard at office

    Is it time to make a change?

    Is the work that I am doing making myself and my family happy? Time with family is precious and you need to consider whether the time at work is worth the salary you are being paid!

    Fred had a good paying job in Vancouver but the boss demanded he worked overtime to complete his project on time. So, he would work weekends to finish his work to deadline sometimes 60 hours a week. The 1 ½ hour commute back and forth to the suburbs and his working overtime, he hardly saw his children by the time he got home. He was never there at dinnertime to share time with the family. He worked 10 hour days and his sleep and his family relationships suffered. However, he had the childrens after school activities and bills to pay. His wife Tracy knew how tired he was but she was busy with the kids.
    One morning, he woke up with a pain gripping his chest and he was rushed to the hospital where a heart attack was diagnosed and bed rest ordered. His doctor said he was getting too old for 60 hour workweeks and he should change his lifestyle. He went onto temporary disability and he wondered how he would pay the bills. Fred had to weigh his options and make an important decision about his life. More later.

    If there is a crisis in your life, you need to stop and take a day to ask yourself “is this really what I want for myself and my family?” Is having five iPhones and a big boat in the driveway what I want in my life? A life-changing illness like a heart attack shouldn’t be the first time you think about your future.

    Take a day to ask yourself:

    • Do I enjoy the work that I do? At the end of the day, do I feel I have accomplished a good day of work. Would you do this work even if you didn ’t need the money?
    • If I add the time spent commuting (at an hourly wage rate I earn) and the expenses for the workday together and subtract it from the daily wage what is the value of the daily wage? –  i.e. The total net Daily wage – ((hours commuting x hourly wage rate) + Gas expenses).
    • Do I have sufficient time for myself and my family?
    • If I had a “nest egg” or temporary funding to support myself and my family, would I consider making a change to do something that I would love to do?

    Try the quiz “Be your own Boss” to see if you have the abilities to become your own boss.

    Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter to start looking at resources and ideas for a home-based business.

    Categories: Mindset

    Start a consulting business – Fred’s story

    Fred consulting paperwork to start his home business

    Fred consulting paperwork to start his home business

    What do you need to do when starting a home business as a consultant?    The continuing story of Fred, the home based business consultant.

    Fred had made the decision to work from home as a consultant rather than an employee. He had talked to his employer who was agreeable to them starting a new relationship with Fred as a part-time consultant.

    For Fred to be an independent consultant, some of the things he would need to do are :

    1. Set up a home office space and office equipment
    2. Define a business name for his company
    3. Decide on the type of business as to whether he wanted to be a sole proprietorship or have an independent limited company
    4. Apply for a business number with the government so he could remit his taxes and fullfill any other government requirements when running your own business
    5. Apply for a business licence from his town or municipality so that he can run a business from his home.
    6. Sign a contract with his client (his previous employer) defining his responsibilities and his hourly rate for his services
    7. Make sure that the relationship between him and the client  was clearly defined in the contract including:
    • The defined hours of work he would be available in his home office for communications
    • The number of hours he might be required to spend in the client office during the week
    • The  other expectations of work involved activities such as meetings or required paperwork
    • The easy access to the intranet system for email conversation and collaboration and review of documents

    Fred made sure he went to see a lawyer to see what should be in his standard contract to define his and his client’s role and responsibilities in this new relationship.

    Fred went to see his accountant to review all the government rules and regulations he would have to fulfill as a a self employed business.

    Fred also went on the internet and checked his federal government website on how to start a home business as the brochure listed the steps clearly on what regulations he had to follow whether it was:

    1. United States of America 

    2. Canada 

    3. Great Britain

    4. Australia

    All the governments have very good step by step guides on starting up a home business so check them out!

    Categories: Fred Tags: Tags: ,

    Unexpected Skunk!

    da4a17c502d2cff6649b008fc3a1948fUnexpected Events

    It is always good to be flexible in your day to day planning when you have a home based business.

    What happens when a skunk decides to ruin your day and stops your business in its tracks?

    A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from my brother, with a cat howling in the background, that his cat was foaming at the mouth and could we go to the emergency vet?  Well, we raced in the car over to the emergency vet only to find out that the cat had been skunked.

    They  gave him some skunk removal shampoo to use but the smell was upsetting the invalid dogs and cats in the hospital so we left quickly.  Luckily, the emergency vet  only charged us for the shampoo and we were relieved that the cat hadn ’t been poisoned. The skunk must have sprayed the musk right into the cats face which caused the mucus to pour from his eyes and throat.

    When we got home, we realized that we were both skunked as we had sat in the enclosed car for 45 minutes with  a stinking cat. Many showers later,  and Skunk removal shampoo, I still smelled of skunk two days later. The car had a horrendous smell.

    So, three days of cancelling appointments and washing clothes, I didn ’t get much work done because the musk clung to anything I touched. The car was the worst so I got the interior shampooed and “bombed” with fragrance overnight so it smelled of a pretty skunk.  I try to keep the car windows open so that one day, the smell may go away.

    The week that I had the “Skunk Incident” was a waste in terms of work and I had to cancel a few appointments.

    Remember that in business:

    1. You can ’t be prepared for everything so have some flexibility in your schedule. There are always “Acts of Gods” like skunks or flooding or (in our area) earthquakes that you can ’t plan for.
    2. To try to have an assistant who has a “How To” Guide from you whether it is a family member or some trusted “handyman” who can help you with chores or email or repairs to keep the business going forward if you are incapacitated.
    3. To automate the business as much as possible whether it is bookkeeping, email or contacting clients.
    4. To have business interruption insurance even though I don ’t think it covers skunks!

    Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter to find out about resources and ideas for a home based business.

    Categories: Productivity Tags: Tags: , , , ,

    Fred

    Businessman tired and confused

     

    Fred, the homebased business consultant

    Fred, the homebased business consultant

    Life as a consultant or the continuing story of Fred. Is it possible to create a new job with his old company?

    Fred was on disability after suffering a heart attack. His disability was running out in six months so he had to decide how he would make some money. His boss was eager to have him back but Fred knew he couldn’t handle the 5:00 a.m. commute to the downtown office and working for nine hours each day. So, he went in to the downtown office one day to talk to his boss about working from home.
    “ If I set up a Skype conferencing connection for any meetings and we shared the documents and emails through the company intranet system, I think I could actually have more productive hours per day!” , said Fred.

    “But how would we get ahold of you for any questions during the day?”, asked his Boss.

    “ I could have my email messages forwarded to my smartphone at all times so that if I wasn’t in the office, it would be just as quick for me to respond as in the office,” said Fred.

    “ But what about meetings with clients once we have the work done?”

    “ You could add any meetings that come up in the intranet calendar and I could drive in for the meeting. We could review the job before the meeting and what to do with the job after the meeting that I could take home to work on. Since there is still the same tight work deadline, I would probably do extra hours at home as I am saving time by not commuting back and forth to get the work done quicker,” said Fred.

    You could fire me as an employee and re-hire me as a sub-consultant. We would have a contract specifying our responsibilities which would include me remitting my own required taxes to the government and other requirements as a sub-consultant. You know my work and how I have been able to work to deadline so this should be a win-win for both you and me.”

    Fred’s boss said he would think about this new development as he valued Fred’s skills. Fred went home to look into how much net income he would need to work from home as a sub-consultant

     

    Have you thought about the idea of hiring yourself with your skills out as a consultant? What are the legal and government regulations you need to put into place to be self-employed?

    Have a look at Fred’s continuing story as he starts his home business by subscribing to The Business of At Home Business newsletter.

    Categories: Fred Tags: Tags: , ,

    Life as a consultant – Fred’s Story Part 2

    Fred 's consulting business is running smoothly!

    Fred ‘s consulting business is running smoothly!

    Fred had been working as a sub-consultant for his previous company for about six months when he had a look at his money coming in versus his expenses for his business.

    His time spent working at home was more productive. He was spending about five hours a day in his home office available for his client working on projects. Since he wasn’t spending two hours commuting to work each day and he didn’t have to spend non-productive time in watercooler chat and meetings , he got more work done than when he worked in the company!

    He did have home office expenses including internet connection, computer, phone and office supplies. However, he was able to do his work by a connection to the company intranet designing and collaborating on projects with the company actually covering costs of production and office correspondence.

    Once he calculated a yearly budget for hours spent as a consultant and took away his home office expenses and taxes, he realized he would need to bring on more work to maintain his previous lifestyle. So, he decided to market his services as a consultant to other companies since he had some available hours during the day to do more work.

    He found more consulting work through his contacts in his previous job. He set up his own intranet system in the Cloud where he could set up private consulting areas for each of his new clients. He increased the money coming in without increasing his expenses. He increased his productivity using systems for his communication, time and reduced his expenses by setting up a virtual office for his clients.

    For tips and resources for increasing your productivity and time in your home office, sign up for The Business of At Home Business newsletter.

    Categories: Fred Tags: Tags: , ,