What are your "business" hours?

Well, there are 24 hours in a day.

Having a home-based, freelance business is one thing.
Having a store-front or office-based business is something else.

I remember one of our leaders in a network marketing company many years ago saying "You got into this business to eventually *free up* your time--in other words, making enough income with this home-based, part-time business to make your full-time, regular 8-5 job irrelevant."

He went on to say, "That's why you must establish a "call-in time" for only about an hour or two on only one night a week, and a "product-pickup" time for only about an hour or two on only one night a week. Otherwise, you are nothing more than another AM/PM Minimart."

You *don't* want to be available for *customers* or *associates* coming by and banging on your door all hours of the day.

The joy of working from home is that you can set your own hours.

The good news is: You are your own boss. The bad news is: (you guessed it) You are your own boss.

What if you *do* have an office-based or store-front-based business?

Then you still must establish your hours. Post them on your door. On your advertising collateral--your business cards, your flyers, your newspaper ads, your phone book ads, and so on. Then, STICK TO THOSE HOURS!

Aren't there times when you've driven to a small, mom & pop store, only to find that it's closed? If the hours are posted, at least you have an idea of when it might be open the next time you come by. But if the hours posted indicate that the store *should* be open, yet the store is not, THAT'S a different problem.

I've seen instances of both. One, in which the store does *not* have posted hours... and every time I go by, the place seems to be closed. Or, the store *does* have posted hours, and yet even though I'm there within those posted hours, the store is closed.

This only needs to happen a few times, and I decide to save myself the trouble and never go to the place again. If others behave the same way, that most likely isn't very good for the little store and I'm sure that's not what the owners primarily intended.

Once, when I was standing in line at the bank, I met a friendly proprietor of a store that I had visited the week before that was closed during the business's posted hours. I asked what was up. She said that things had been slow all morning, so she decided to close up early and go home to relax. Okay... but who knows how many other folks dropped by the store that afternoon, only to be disappointed by the thing being closed. I've meant to go back to the store since then, but I've been busy with other matters. The chance she had to get my business has passed. I may go back to the store in another few days or so when I can free up some time, but if the store isn't open during their posted hours, I may decide it isn't worth my time and effort to chase after products that I can get more easily at the supermarket acrorss the street from my home.

As for my freelance, homebased business? I try to get all contact with my clients through email. Period. I answer the emails each evening after dinner, or bright and early in the morning before breakfast. Phone calls don't work well. Too easily missed. Too easily dropped. Too easy for them to interrupt important meetings or other tasks--in particular, my train of thought. Email stores the information for later referral. Email is still quick--if I want to respond more quickly, I can. It beats the heck out of "snail-mail". More on that later.