If you own a home business, does your family participate or do you work alone?
I've heard tales, and for a short while lived them, about how a spouse will eagerly start a home based business of one sort or another and before they can even get their feet wet in the business - - BAM the other spouse starts belittling and generally putting a damper on the once enthusiastic entrepreneur's ambitions.
Luckily for me, my husband saw that I don't just talk about something that I intend to do, I do it - - so he's since changed his tune; especially now that I make as much from my home businesses as I did from my prior job, and we don't pay child care. Ha!
Anyway, it's been over 2 years since all that mess transpired, and I've seen and heard just about every story imaginable on the subject of home business start-ups/failures. I've also learned that most spouses, family members and 'friends' react in such damaging ways out of either fear or ignorance. I suppose some are just plain mean, but well, that's another issue we'll leave for Dr. Phil or Oprah.
For lucky business builders who have encouraging families, the work at home life is good, very good. My 14 year old daughter is my part-time Assistant, and her small salary is tax deductible too, so there's another plus in starting a business.
Creating a better future for the family is probably the most recurring 'Why' that I hear from new business owners. With such a strong reason driving the decision to work from home, then why shouldn't the entire family be involved? It's for them after all.
Find a way that even the littlest member can take part in the family business. Remember too that helping with chores, running errands, baby-sitting for younger sibs, taking turns with dinner etc. are all just as important as being able to do home office work, if not 'more' important in the long run.
If you're currently suffering with a spouse or partner who just doesn't 'get' what you're doing - please don't give up. Keep on building and trying and help them 'get' it through concrete results. Usually, with some home businesses, positive results that a 'non-biz' type can wrap their minds around, does take time. Unfortunately cash talks, however, and they may not take you seriously until you can show them your first check; and with persistence and consistency - - You will.
To Our Mutual Prosperity ~
A Home Business Should Be A Family Affair...
The Benefits of Having Family Picnics
Are you a parent? If you are, you may regularly be looking for ways to spend quality time with your family. If that is the case, have you ever thought about having a family picnic? If this is not something that you have considered, you may want to at least think about doing so, as there are a number of benefits to having family picnics.
One of the many benefits to having a family picnic with your family is all of your options, in terms of locations. There are a number of different locations that are perfect for family picnics. Perhaps, the best location is that of your own backyard. In addition to having a backyard family picnic, you may also want to examine your local public parks, state parks, and so forth.
As previously stated, the greatest benefit of having a family picnic is the quality time that you are able to spend with your family. If you are a parent, you likely already know how difficult it can be to try and spend time with your family. With hectic schedules, many families are constantly running short on time. What is nice about picnics is that they can last as short as a few hours or run as long as all day. It is also important to mention that the change of scenery may do you and your family good, even if that change of scenery is just to your backyard, as opposed to your kitchen table.
Another one of the many benefits to having a family picnic is that they can be relatively easy to plan. Although picnics can be somewhat complicated to plan and prepare for, they are easier when you have small picnics, namely ones where the attendants are your immediate family members. Often times, you just need to barbeque a few meats, make a few sandwiches, and prepare a few side dishes. Depending on the size of your family and their food preferences, you could plan a picnic, as well as prepare all of your needed foods, in as little as an hour or two.
The activities that you can participate in are another one of the many benefits to family picnics. Should you decide to have your next family picnic take place at a local park, you may find yourself gaining access to hiking trails or a body of water where you can go swimming, boating, or fishing. Even if your family picnic is to occur in your own backyard, there are a number of different outdoor activities that you and your family can participate in. To help ensure that everyone has a good time, you may want to consider allowing some of your family members, namely your children, to help you plan your family picnic activities.
What is nice about having a family picnic is that you can do so at just about any point in time. With that in mind, picnics are best during the summertime, when the weather is often warm and sunny. In addition to having a family picnic just because, you may want to use your next family picnic as a way to celebrate an important occasion or event, like a birthday. Whenever you decide to have a picnic or wherever you decide to have that picnic, there is a good chance that you and the rest of your family, including your children will enjoy the time that you were able to spend together, as well as the fun that you all had.
Take the Family With You
Business travel can be rewarding, interesting, profitable and broadening for the business traveler. But there are some downsides to the life on the road especially if you must travel for business often. Besides the occasional airport delay or layover and the ever present issue of how weather affects your business trips, it is always hard to say goodbye to your family as you go out of town to accomplish the mission of your business trip.
For many business people, one solution is to take their family with them on business trips if the nature of the trip will accommodate such arrangements. Few would deny the road weary business traveler the joys of having family with them on a challenging trip. And for your family, not only does this mean more time with you, it can be a big adventure for everybody involved.
Taking your spouse on a business trip is entirely different scenario than if you are planning a trip to include the spouse and children. In that your spouse is an adult, can rent a car and plan a day without help and mold his or her schedule around yours, a spouse can be a huge plus to you because you have that familiar face to greet you in the hotel room when you return from your business affairs of the day. And there is a strange vicarious enjoyment to be had as you are working hard to know your spouse is taking in the pleasures of the local area which you will hear about that night.
Taking the kids on a business trips gets to be more of a logistical challenge and there are some real limitations to the kind of trip that will work as a full family outing. One of the big factors in determining if this trip is a good one for the whole family to enjoy is location. If the trip is to a popular destination such as Orlando or California where your spouse and children can find plenty to do each day, then it’s a good situation for bringing the family along.
Other locations that make great choices to include the family are historic and memorable cites such as New York, New Orleans, San Francisco or some of the great overseas destinations like London, Paris or Rome. If the children have your spouse to guide their tours, those trips with you can be events to remember and tremendous learning experiences that they will be talking about to their grandkids decades from now.
Obviously, the time of year for your business travel is a determining factor on whether the children can tag along. Summer business trips work well for such plans but if your travel will interrupt the children’s school schedule, it usually is not feasible to include them. Now in a case where there is significant educational benefit to the trip, there may be some concessions to be made to the children out of school if they will gain valuable experiences from the trip.
But all of these factors, including just including your spouse on the trip will hinge on one important factor that only you can determine. And that is how much time you will be able to spend with the family when you are working and traveling. It is well known that business travel also frequently means long yours and then business dinners and negotiations that can go into the night. If you are going on a trip that such dedication to the task is necessary, it’s best not to bring the family. It does them no good to come along on an exciting business outing only to find themselves never seeing you until the flight home. They will feel frustrated and you will wonder what value there was to the expense and trouble of bringing them if you could not enjoy them except to kiss them good night in their hotel beds and good-bye in the morning.
But if all of the factors fall into place, taking the family along on an occasional business trip can take a humdrum trip and put some real fun into it. So keep your eye on that business travel agenda you have. There may be a few junkets where the family would fit in nicely.