Startup Sunday
Guest post by Bonnie Harris
A few years ago I made the switch from hiring salaried employees to using self-employed, work-from-home moms for certain parts of my business. I affectionately call them my 'momtractors.' My company, Wax Marketing, is a marketing and PR firm so we have a lot of research work and online pitching: tasks that can be done at flexible times. Work-from-home moms are the perfect fit for what I need.
As a creative and not always well-disciplined person, I can be a handful as a client. The most successful work-from-home moms I've encountered over the past few years understand the following secrets:
Your work product is almost always better than expected. From my perspective, moms are all perfectionists. So often, I've gotten a finished task from a mom accompanied by the comment, "This could be so much better if I'd only had more time." I'm not saying to keep a low bar in terms of your own performance. Just make sure you're measuring yourself against the rest of the folks out there, not against an impossible superwoman ideal.
When you can't please a client, 99% of the time it's because she doesn't know what she wants. I worked with Kim, the mom of a toddler, for almost a year and she was tremendous. Whenever I got frustrated she would gently lead me through a series of questions to show me that I wasn't clear about what I needed. Moms have so much patience - that's a huge gift to harried business owners like me. (I feel calmer just writing about Kim right now.)
Treat clients like your kids. I share Brigette, a mom of toddler twins, with another PR colleague. Brigette calls us her "other twins." In order to run a business it takes a bit of entrepreneurial ADD. And that can be frustrating for meticulously organized work-from-home moms. Just imagine that we're two-year olds who need to be patiently put in our place. We'll respect you that much more for it.
Check expectations and reset expectations constantly. The context in which we work as business owners is always changing. The best folks I work with ask a million questions before starting a task. Even though I might feel a little too busy for all those questions, in the long run I know it's worthwhile. Remote communications can be really hard. It's better to check in a bunch of times than make assumptions because you don’t want to 'bug' anyone.
Remember that even when it feels really personal, it's not personal. The moms I work with have an incredible work ethic. If there's not a lot of work to assign, I can't tell you how many emails I get asking if I'm "mad" at them. Which is fine, but realize that 999 times out of 1000, a change in my behavior or number of requests has nothing to do with you.
Finally, realize what an amazing, valuable workforce you all are. You are smart, incredible multi-taskers who rarely miss a deadline despite sick kids, crabby husbands and lost dogs. I know my business would not have survived without such a talented group of moms to draw from.
Bonnie Harris is the founder of Wax Marketing, Inc. She has over 20 years experience promoting businesses and products of all kinds. Read her blog (http://blog.waxmarketing.com) for ideas on marketing and PR for small business.
It's wonderful to see that the very things that make us good at being moms are some of the same things that are valued by employers. I know that I'm a better contractor because of having to be a multitasker (plus there *is* that perfectionist piece), but I don't necessarily think that everyone sees the correlation as clearly. I applaud you, Bonnie, for making the connection and sharing your view with the rest of us!
Posted by: Amanda Morin | Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Finding legitimate jobs that are hiring is the first step. :) I have successfully worked from home for more than 10 years. Big companies such as Hilton and AT&T are cutting costs by hiring home workers. Cable/phone and hotel companies usually hire home workers for customer service. Also, the TV shopping shows hire homeworkers to take calls. You just know how to find these jobs. BestTopJobs.com has a FREE list of hundreds of LEGITIMATE work at home jobs offered by well known companies. These jobs do NOT cost you money. They are employment positions. Hope this helps!
Posted by: WAH Mom | Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 06:36 PM