I’ve talked before about how challenging it can be to run a business from home, especially when it comes to taking phone calls! Currently I have an intentionally vague listing on my website for my availability, but I encourage clients and potential clients alike to contact me by phone.

A year in business has taught me a lot though, and I think it’s time to put a small clarification in place. I am still going to be easily available by email and I will still work somewhat irregular hours, but as far as phone calls go I will only be available from 9am to 3pm MST. I also prefer to arrange telephone calls in advance (via email) whenever possible, otherwise calls may go straight to my voicemail and be returned within one business day.

If you are just starting out with a home-based business, whether you are a a virtual legal assistant like me, a lawyer, or any other small business owner, I highly recommend you think carefully about what hours you will make yourself available to clients. It’s easier to start out with a clear policy than to change in mid-stream! And whether you have children or not, phone calls can be very distracting and take away from your focus on your current and much-valued clients.

I readily admit that one of the driving factors behind my having started my virtual legal assistant business is to be more available to my children. And especially in this first year of business, I’m growing slowly enough not to have needed much in the way of childcare, and yet I can still meet my clients’ needs. I love how the internet can help me do this!!

As I get busier and busier though, I am faced with the types of concerns that plague work from home parents everywhere. How do I manage things like phone calls when I have a toddler underfoot? I’m lucky in that my older two kids will be in school shortly and that gives me 2 days a week where it’s only the toddler at home with me. I’ve even, finally, begun the process of finding some childcare for him, but full-time care isn’t really in my plans right now and that means there are going to be times when I must either find a way to keep him busy while on the phone with a client or during an interview, or risk looking very unprofessional.

Thankfully the same beautiful internet that offers me so many opportunities and so much information doesn’t come up short with suggestions for how to work around this problem. There’s the list of 94 ways to keep kids busy over at Sparkplugging, 15 activities from the At Home Mom Blog, 10 independent play activities from About.com and a great general advice article on working from home with kids from Jonathan Lane at Canada.com.

Of course if I could ever just find that mute button that actually works on kids, that would be the ideal solution….in my dreams anyway!

I was reading over at The Lawyerist this morning about the Ten Great Rules of Client Service, which reminded me that I want to order something to maybe give as a client gift and to use for promotional purposes in general. I’m planning on ordering some travel mugs with my logo on them, but I can’t decide! I’m probably ordering from this website, they are a Canadian site (easier for delivery to me) and have decent prices.
So far these are my top two choices, I’d love some input on your fave!

I like something with color, rather than a plain silver mug, as I think it may be slightly more attention grabbing!