If you are working from home, then you know that trading in the cubicle or closet sized office space for your spare bedroom or garage is a blessing. No lengthy commute, bad coffee, endless meetings to attend, and snotty coworkers whose ineffectual work ethic and incompetence have been the bane of your corporate existence; furthermore, no longer are you at the beck and call of a boss who seems to have great ideas and rush deadlines 15 minutes before quitting time. Yet even though you are happy and making a decent living with your home based business, you have found that the one fly in the ointment is the reaction of your friends and even family who at times do not take your business serious, or may actually deride it in some way.



How often do you have to field phone calls from friends or family members who need a last minute babysitter during the week, essentially communicating to you that while they are off earning a living, you are at home, living a life of leisure. How often has your spouse asked you to take Fluffy to the vet, pick up the dry cleaning, and take junior to volleyball practice while she or he is attending a seminar and has a tee time scheduled with the boss immediately afterwards? Does your best girlfriend pick your crunch times to call you for relationship advice and to cry on your shoulder when Mr. Wonderful turned out not to be so wonderful after all? If any of these scenarios sound familiar, then the odds are good that there is a lack of respect for your work somewhere in your circle of friends and family. Yet have you been at the center of your friends? and family's inability to give your business its due?

For example, when you speak of your business, do you discuss it with pride, or do you permit embarrassment and false modesty to make it sound like a half fast effort you are running in between watching daytime soaps? Conversely, do you speak of your business with a pride of ownership and a firm sense of accomplishment?

Do you keep business hours during which you let the answering machine get your calls or do you permit yourself to be at anyone's beck and call throughout the day? If you must answer the phone or if you are caught off guard by a parent with kids in tow who is hoping you won't say no to a babysitting assignment when the child is right there, do you find it impossible to politely but firmly refuse? While this scenario is a tough one, remember that the parent is intruding on you, not on any of her or his otherwise employed friends or family members. By way of making a concession, offer to take your lunch early, like in the next 30 minutes, to enable the parent to use your home phone to set up other babysitting arrangements while you entertain junior. Inform your friend that once the 30 minutes are up, you will once again need to work and thus will not be able to spend any more time with the child. This usually gets the message across. Remember that your business will only be taken as serious as you will take it!