Kids play hard, and sometimes that means they play really loud in the midst of exploring their worlds and role playing with siblings and friends.
I know with my kids, if I'm not hearing some degree of noise; [i.e. play], from them, it probably means one of them is not feeling well, or they are coming down with a cold.
My world is blessed with two very artistic and rambounous boys; 5 years and 2 1/2 years old. With their play and with their singing; [they love to sing Country music at the top of their lungs!]; they have the ability to raise the noise level in our house to a "heaven-bending" volume in 9 seconds flat!
And while I loved to hear them hard at play, the sporatic and unpredictable noise [play], posed challenges at times when I was doing sales calls, or when clients called with final questions about starting a business relationship with me.
Clients don't wait, when they want to have questions answered and they don't always call at the best times. Sometimes these calls would come through when the kids were eating or doing activities that were not so noisy. Great! But.... most of the time, they did not!
5 year olds are pretty predictable. You basically know when they are going to make noise. But, if you know anything about the 'terrible 2's syndrome', you're already familiar with the unpredictability of when the next scream, or loud laugh will erupt!
Some clients understood. I would say: 'yes I know you can hear kids in the background. That is why I do this business. So I can be at home with them". For other clients, that was not okay. I had some near misses and some fair size loses in bringing people in, to work with me in my business because of this home-based situation.
Over the course of working out of my home, I have had many a conversation with other work at home Moms [WAHMs], and at times have doubled over in laughter at some of the ingenious, and sometimes silly tactics they've pulled just to get a moment of quiet when they needed to portray the illusion of "executive-office professionalism" for the really important calls.
Some of them would hide in the bathroom. Others would sneak downstairs, or sneak out into the garage. The funniest one I heard was the hiding in the closet trick... so the kids would not be making noise right under-foot. That one really made me laugh, because I have pulled similar tactics just trying to get a moments peace! And, yes, I have to admit, I have used them to make my business workable too!
Oh I know... I hear some of you saying... why don't you just get your kids into daycare, or find a babysitter or a Nanny to take them. Well, that makes perfect sense of course. But for the many WAHMs who have given up jobs to work at home, first, they do not want to be giving the majority of what they earn to those services; although they are very valuable services. And, second, there's that guilt.
The guilt we feel because it was our choice to stop working at jobs and stay at home so we could be with our kids. That was a conscious choice we made. So when we start looking at having to farm our kids out to daycare, babysitters, or bringing in a Nanny, guilt; as to the purpose of why we were staying home in the first place starts to manifest.
So what is the solution? Is there really a solution to how to make sales with noisy kids in the house? Well, I don't know if this solution is for you... But I do believe I found the right solution for me!
I don't have to hide in the closet anymore. I don't disappear into the bathroom to talk muffled into the towels, lol! I no longer work 5 to 9 hours a day on the phone during play time, or any time, doing follow ups and sales calls.
Clients no longer call the house at unpredictable times, or at all for that matter. My kids no longer have to worry about how much noise they make in the house! And, I'll still make a nice 5-6 figure contribution to my family's income this year!
What did I discover to make my sales business work for everyone in the household? Well.... that's another story that needs to be explained at another time!
My typing time is up - and my kids are calling me to come outside and play water-bomb balloons with them! Got to go ; )!
Tracey DePaoli is a work-at-home-Mom [WAHM] who got tired of building success at the expense of her family's time. She has a successful business now that allows her the time freedom to travel, play and spend precious time with her two young boys - 2 1/2 and 5 yrs and her partner! She has been an avid Internet marketer and researcher of online trends for over 15 years. Discover more about how you can also earn a 6 figure income while at PLAY! Site: http://www.WeCloseYourSaleForYou.com
[tags]work from home, work at home, home based business, sales, sales reps, telesales, travel reps[/tags]
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