In reality working from home doesn’t work like that –- well not in my experience anyway. You usually end up working normal business hours plus a few more to boot (though you may still be in your PJs).

Expectations

The main problem with working from home is everyone’s expectations.

• your expectations
• your family and friends expectations
• your clients’/ employer’s expectations

All these expectations create their own pressures that lead to longer working hours and a less than perfect work/life balance. To keep your working hours and sanity in order, these expectations need to be managed and managed carefully.

Your Expectations
When you first start working from home you might think life is going to be all rosy — late starts, time to do all those things during the day you would not normally get time to do. Then, reality strikes: if you want to successfully work from home. You are going to have to work. Then, there are insidious extra pressures that come to bear. These are both real pressures and unseen self inflicted pressures:

• I must be available to answer the phone at all times.
• What if they think I’m not here and they think I’m off doing something else?
• I must beat that deadline even though there is no way I can do it in time, (if I work a normal working week). If I don’t, they will think I’m slacking off.
• I know it is late but I’ll just check my email. You know — just in case.

You will end up adding extra pressure to yourself, working longer hours and never getting away from your work. It is difficult to shut up shop and leave when you live there.

Your friends and family’s expectations
Since you are now working at home; can you just fix that cupboard.,
or can give me a hand with this etc. If you already work from home and live with someone; you will know what I mean.

It is easy for other people to forget that you are actually working and not just mucking around on the computer. This can be confronting to friends and family, especially when you are not overjoyed when they interrupt you.

Your clients’ / employer’s expectations
Whether you work for yourself or another business–they expect to be able to contact you during normal work hours – which can be tricky, especially if they are not on the same continent as you.

The Three Golden Rules:

1. Set your working day hours and stick to them
Of course there will always be times when you will need to work longer hours to meet some deadline or other, but, for all other times – stick to the hours you set. Let your family and friends know that within those hours you would prefer not to be disturbed.

2. Delineate your office area
Hide/cover you work area when you are not working. It is important to be able to walk away from your work area and not feel the pressure to just go back and finish this or that. It maybe that you close the door on your home office or if you have a desk in one of your main rooms - cover it with a sheet at the end of the day to visually show you are not at work.

3. Keep your boss/client up to date on what you are doing
Check in with them regularly, whether this be by instant message, email, phone or whatever.

It is possible to have a work/life balance, it all boils down to communication and discipline. Let people know what you are trying to achieve and when you are trying to achieve it and have the discipline to follow the hours you set. TTFN.

As it turns out (not too surprisingly), being a bit “green savvy” with your hardware purchases can save you a fair amount of power and money. So, before you buy your next computer here are a few handy resources to help make your decision:

• The Electronic Product Environmental Asset Tool can help you discover the most environmentally sound desktop, laptop and monitor.
• The energy star rating.
• Calculate the savings in terms of money, C02, trees and cars (Excel Spreadsheet).
• Investigate the efficiency of you power supplies at 80 Plus.
• Calculate your server efficiency using the SWaP (Space, Watts and Performance) metric.

You can also check how your current computer performs, using power management tool like LocalCooling for Windows or monitor your CO2 output on OSX using SusiClimate (both free).

Being energy smart with your next computing purchase will save you money. Go on. Save some cash and help save the planet. TTFN.

Recently the exhaust broke on my car. I needed to get it fixed, but where? Did I take it to the nearest or cheapest place?

Nope. I took it to the place that had repaired the exhaust on my old car 4 years ago — 115 miles (185km) away. Why?

Customer service.

Last time I went there, not only did they do a first class job with the exhaust, but they also went the extra mile with customer service.

• they stayed open past their normal closing time, so we could pick up the car (as we were running late)
• they fixed another minor issue at the same time for no extra charge
• they were friendly and customer centered
• they made the tiresome irritation of a broken exhaust into a positive experience
• they even made our little boy’s day by letting him have a go with a remote control car

At the end of the day - I, as the customer was made to feel special and not like a “walking wallet”. They did what they said they would do and more. I was happy to part with my hard earned cash.

When I returned, was I disappointed?

No — again, immaculate service that went that extra mile.

What does this exceptional service do for that business?

• they get repeat business
• they are actively promoted for free by happy customers (like myself)
• they save money on marketing and promotion
• they get to feel good about making a small, but positive difference to people’s lives

All of this translates to a healthier bottom line. Simply, great customer service makes excellent business sense.

And how did I find out about them?
Someone recommended them to me — Of course.

How do you go above and beyond for your customers?

• Basecamp (project management)
• Gmail (email)
• Remember The Milk (to-do lists)
• Crazy Egg (web site statistics)
• Fresh Books (invoicing and time tracking)

Which business web applications do you use? and why?
Have they improve your business productivity?

We’re getting some invaluable feedback about the site — tons of suggestions for things we can improve from forum users, article junkies and blog-addicts. And there are some great ideas are streaming in from old-timers and new visitors alike, which is awesome. One thing concerns me a little, though.

One group of users in particular seem to be under-represented, and that’s those who frequent the Marketplace. Given the huge percentage of traffic that the marketplace accounts for, this is really surprising. Whether these users are too caught up buying and selling web sites to be bothered filling out a 5-minute survey, or perhaps they’re not interested in winning a Wii because they’re worried about it distracting them from concentrating on flipping their latest hot property, I don’t know.

I will say this though — now is your chance to give suggestions for improvement on all avenues of sitepoint.com, including the marketplace. So if you have some firm ideas about what changes you’d like to see happen, you know what to do.

Who knows, you might score yourself a Wii with Guitar Hero III at the same time.

“ Once upon a time, one Saturday morning my (then) hosting company accidentally deleted one of my reseller accounts and failed to get the hosting back on-line for 2 and a half days, (the hows and whys of it are not for this post).

As you can imagine, my clients were furious. Even though it was not my error — I was responsible for it. So, once everything was back up and running, what did I do? Did I give them an imaginative excuse, using lots of acronyms and blaming everyone else? No. I sent all the affected clients a personalised email. Apologising and explaining what had happened and what I was doing to prevent it happening again. I sent this email to everyone, even to the clients who had not noticed the outage.

The response to that email was actually incredibly positive:

“Thanks for letting us know”
“I appreciate your honesty”
“Oh, by the way I need “X” doing, can you send me a quote.”

And business continued on happily after…

THE END ”

The moral of the story?
Now, whilst it is not the most exciting story, there is a moral: and no, it isn’t that you should disable your client’s hosting in order to get more sales. It is by being honest and upfront about your mistakes is not necessarily a bad thing; you can earn client respect, trust and sometimes even a little cash.

Have you ever profited from your mistakes? and if so how?

Ask your clients for an honest opinion on what they like about your product/service, but more importantly — ask what they didn’t/don’t like. Let them know that you want to improve your service/product and would really appreciate their honest appraisal on anything and everything — no matter how big or small. How can we improve?

Ultimately by engaging your clients, showing that they matter and acting on what they say (if appropriate). You will:

• improve your product/service
• be more competitive
• improve client retention rates
• improve your image

So, what are you waiting for? Find out what’s wrong.

I have compiled a short list of questions to find out:

• Do you switch off your computer when you finish work?
• Do you use a mug rather than disposable cups?
• Do you print out your emails?
• Do you use public transport or walk/cycle to work?
• Do you recycle any garbage/rubbish you create at work? (I’m not talking about the standard of your work!)
• If you are the last to leave, do you make sure all unnecessary lights and equipment are switched off?

How well did you do?

Unlike the previous post on the initial email contact, phone conversations tend to be unpredictable. There is no exact blueprint for this type of call, it could go in any direction. I will however, endeavour to give you some advice on how to conduct the call.

The purpose of the call
There are two main purposes to this call:

1. establishing that the firm has got your email — It is amazing the number of times that an email is lost or doesn’t get to the right person
2. arranging a face-to-face meeting

Keep in Mind
Before you make the call keep these things in mind.

• be polite and courteous
• it could take days or even weeks before you get to talk to the right person in the company
• write down the names of each person you talk to
• keep notes on what was said
• Keep it brief — the other person is likely to be busy
• Remember you are selling a business proposition, your purpose is to add value to the firm you contract for

Who you get to talk to
Your first phone contact is usually the receptionist. Introduce yourself and ask if <Joe Blogs> is available and explain why you are calling.

From here you will either be put through to Joe, (or someone who looks after that area of the business) or, if Joe is unavailable: you will need to call back. Make sure you ask for a convenient time to call. If it is a choice between them calling you or you calling them: Personally, I prefer to call them — that way I am mentally prepared for the conversation.

Once you get through to the person you need to talk to:

• again, introduce yourself
• ask if they have a moment to talk
• ask if they received your email — If they haven’t received it – explain briefly what you want and ask if you can resend the email to them.
• ask if they have any use for your skills — If no; ask if you can be kept in mind for any future projects
• thank them for their time

That’s it! With any luck they will be interested in meeting you, and it will be the start of a long and profitable relationship.

Keep in Touch

You may or may not get any work first time round, but keep in contact. Keep them informed of what your availability is and any cool new sites you have done etc. The more visible you are to them; the more likely you are to get work. The caveat to this is: don’t spam them!

Conclusion

Hopefully, in this series of posts I have given you a few ideas on how to approach firms to get contract work. Good luck and happy contracting. TTFN.

The Initial Written Contact
This first email is the “teaser” email. The “get your foot in the door” introduction. Nothing more. It is not your resume or an essay on your approach to the web. Its a “would you like to know more?” introduction.

Remember, this email is a sales pitch – it is a textual representation of you. It gives the recipient their first impression of who you are and what you are capable of. So, it needs to look and read professionally, but it also should show a bit of your personality. I know it is a tall order, but with a little work it can be done.

Keep the Reader in Mind
When creating your email you need to think about the person reading the email. What they looking for and what they will be asking themselves:

Who is emailing me and why?
Basically, this is the spam-scan we all tend to do automatically – Who is it from, do I know them? and what is it about?
So, your subject line and “from” address better be both believable and interesting enough to get that person to open the email. Something like: “Toby Somerville: Reliable PHP contractor”. I advise you include your name in the email subject line; this is to help the reader find your email again in the future.

What skills do they have that we might find useful now or in the future?
Your skill set must be what they are looking for or they simply will not be interested. Your research should have weeded out the firms that are unlikely to need your skills. But, at the end of the day – they simply may not be interested.

What relevant experience do they have?
People want to see you have experience. Contractors are expected to be experts in their chosen field. Firms don’t want to be paying for you to learn your trade.

How good are they? Lets see some work examples.
Is your style and/or quality of work, what they are looking for?

How much do they expect to be paid?
This is something I never put in the initial contact. This is something you discuss further down the track.

Are they local?
As a general rule; firms will want to meet you face-to-face at some point.

This is not an exhaustive list of possible questions, but you get the idea. By bearing in mind the reader; it can help you predict likely questions and therefore, answer them in the email. You want the person reading the email to get as much of the information they need instantly. But, you also need to give them plenty of contact details and links to find out more.

The Email Format
I recommend a text-only email, rather than HTML. For the simple reason that it is more likely to arrive looking as you intended it to look. A nice touch is to put a link to an HTML formatted version of the email. This is a great place to further showcase your talents and you can track who visited, when they visited, what they clicked on and how many times.

The Email

• keep it short and sweet
• make sure there are no typos or errors and that the links work
• get someone else to proofread and give you an honest appraisal of what they thought of the content and its tone
• personalise the email if possible
• don’t be pushy or arrogant. Be polite and professional – remember the delete button is only a mouse click away
• get to the point – don’t waffle
• at the start explain: who you are and what you want
• link to examples of your work
• link to an on-line resume
• ask them if it is OK to call them in a few days time to discuss (covered in the third part of this post series)
• your contact details – they maybe interested enough to contact you straight away. So, make contacting you easy. Also, make sure any contact details sound professional – fluffy_bunny_rabbit2008@hotmail.com may not be giving them impression you are after.

Test it. Test it. Test it.
Prepare the email and save a copy. Send one to yourself and make sure it works and looks good. Double check it and get someone else to check it. Don’t forget you only get one chance to make a first impression. So, any typos and broken links are not going to make you look good.

In my next post I am going to look at the follow up phone call. I will give you some tips and advice on how to conduct the call and some possible conversation scenarios. TTFN