Thank you all for the comments you make here on Consultant Journal. It's great when we get a discussion going and your comments add value for other people reading the site.

However, as this site has become more popular, I've seen an increase in comments that fall somewhere between obvious spam and genuine content. I feel compelled to address this.

Comments are welcome

• Got questions? Feel free to post on the site. Chances are that someone will chime in with hep.
• Disagree with me? Comment away! Alternate viewpoints are more than appreciated.
• Agree with me? Think I should win the Pulitzer Prize for blogging? Heck, make twice as many comments!
• Like to hear yourself talk? Hey, it's no different than me running this blog. Comment at will!

Comment approval

• If you make comments that have no relevance to the post, the comments will not be approved.
• If you stuff the name box with keywords, your comments will not be approved.
• If you sign off with your product name only, your comments will not be approved.
• If you blatantly promote your wares or those of a client and do not tie them into the post in a meaningful way, your comments will not be approved.

That being said, I don't mind if you use a name that helps identify you and your business. "Andrea the Marketing Consultant", "Andrea >> Consultant Journal", "Andrea from Become a Consultant Blog" and so on work just fine for me.

Of course, I always reserve the right to delete, approve or anonymize comments. And comments are the views of those who visit the site -- they are not my words or necessarily even close to my opinions.

Setting SMART goals can help you grow your business. Although I've been setting goals for years, I only recently learned about SMART goals. (Granted, the system I was using before was pretty similar.) My friend Melanie recently helped me outline some SMART goals for my business.

SMART goals are:

• Specific - who, what, when, where, why?
  
• Measurable - what gets measured gets done, right?
  
• Attainable - pick goals that are achievable, given your abilities and constraints
  
• Realistic - you must truly believe it can be accomplished
  
• Timely - set a date for meeting the goal
  

In an upcoming post, I'll discuss some ideas for setting SMART goals for your consulting business.

(Want to make sure you see that post? Subscribe to my RSSfeed.)

Via the Law Consulting Blog, here's a great template letter for finding speaking opportunities.

Speaking can help make you look credible to an audience. You can also tell potential clients that you've made presentations to people in Industry X or from Trade Association Y. It helps you build your brand.

I've done a lot of public speaking over the years -- everything from appearing for Careers Day at a high school to lecturing at university.

Do you speak in public?

From time to time, some of you ask how you can best support this site. I appreciate your interest. Of course, this site is chiefly a labor of love and I've made both the Consultant Journal newsletter and hundreds of articles available for free.

I do earn money from the ads on Consultant Journal. That has allowed me to invest in building the site, upgrading web servers, pay for hosting and build new online tools.

Really, to support this site, all you need to do is just keep visiting, taking part and telling your friends. But, because some of you want to know what else you can do, I've put together some ideas. The key thing is to get the word out about this site. More people means a richer and more diverse community, with more comments and more participation. It also means more advertising, which means I'll be able to invest more in this site.

1. Read articles on the site. After all, that's why Consultant Journal is here.
   
2. Forward your favorite posts to your friends. Invite other people to visit.
3. Make comments. Comments help build community.
4. Subscribe to the newsletter. (See top right of page.) The more the merrier!
   
5. Write a guest post. If your post is accepted, you'll receive a link back to your site and my gratitude. It's a great way to generate new traffic for your own site, build up your credibility or simply contribute to the Consultant Journal community.
6. Link to my site, if you have a website or a blog. It's a great way to bring new people to this site.
   
7. Ask your friends to link to my site. If you don't have your own site or blog or you're just really enthusiastic, ask your friends to consider linking to my articles. It will help bring more people to Consultant Journal.
8. Mention my site on Facebook, forums, Twitter, blogs or other online tools.
9. Make a purchase through our Consultant Journal Amazon store. (Although that site defaults to a list of books, you can purchase anything else you like. Consultant Journal receives a very small commission.)
10. Click on ads that genuinely interest you. Please don't click on ads as a way of giving me a tip. Advertisers don't like fake clicks and they won't keep advertising if their campaigns fail. That being said, if you do see ads that really and truly intrigue you, support the advertisers.
11. Send me free product samples for review. I can't guarantee a positive review -- that would compromise the site's integrity. But I am willing to take a look at what you have to offer.
12. Advertise on this site. If you've got a product or service that would interest Consultant Journal readers, advertise on this site.
13. Buy one of my guides:

• Discover Your Inner Consultant
• Consulting Fees: A Guide for Independent Consultants
• Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur for Moms

Thank you all for your support so far. Whether it's a kind word, a link, a comment, a successful advertising campaign or a purchase, your support is truly appreciated.

When you go to Starbucks and order a latte, what are you really paying for? Milk, sugar, espresso and a cup? No way! You're participating in the Starbucks experience.

As you hit the door, you smell the aroma of coffee. You're in a perfect coffee-toned world, where soft jazz and comfy chairs await. In placing your order, you get to put your personal stamp on your beverage of choice. You wait by the end of the counter for a drink served up to your specs. In short, when you go to Starbucks, you're claiming 15 minutes for you, your wants and your way of being.

Take that Starbucks experience and apply it to your consulting. Stop producing products. Start providing experiences:

• Business consultants offer strategies for improving revenues, cutting costs and increasing customer retention -- not reports
• Graphic designers help clients project professional images in sync with their target markets -- not logos, brochures or websites
• Personal trainers help clients meet personal fitness goals -- not workouts
• IT c onsultants help automate business processes to free up time for value-added business activities -- not tech support or system implementation
• Personal chefs provide healthy meal planning solutions for busy families -- not prepared meals

What experiences do you provide for your clients? This is homework. Reply with your answer -- and, if you like, a description of your business and your website (if applicable) -- and I'll feature you in an upcoming post.

 

I'm no longer giving away The Bootstrapper's Bible with newsletter subscriptions. As of right now, you'll receive Six Tips for Jumpstarting Your Expert Status when you sign up for the Consultant Journal newsletter. (See top right.)

Why the change? I really believe that most of you will see more value from help with growing your reputation as an expert. After all, consultants are "experts".

If you already subscribe to the newsletter, you'll be receiving these tips in this month's newsletter. You don't need to sign up again.

Related:

• Bootstrapper's Bible giveaway ends soon

Famous cook, author and TV host Julia Child introduced millions of people to the art of French cooking. But would you believe she didn't learn to cook till she was in her late 30s?

Julia Child had a wide variety of interests. She played basketball in college, then worked as an advertising copywriter and freelance writer. Later, she worked on secret projects, including making sure sharks would not blow up underwater munitions. After marrying a prominent diplomat, she moved to Paris. There, inspired by her husband's interest in fine cuisine, she studied at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.

It just goes to show that you can follow more than one path in life. If you've been thinking that you'd like to try something new -- or that it's too late to shift gears, stop for a moment and consider "What if?"

Of course, your late 30s doesn't seem so old to me. But even if you're twice that age, there's no reason you can't try your hand at something new. In fact, you'll be able to draw from all the other experiences and skills you have.

Related:

• Discover Your Inner Consultant

The guest post on comfort zones by Laura-Jane Koers stirred up a lot of interest. I've been talking about comfort zones in my newsletter and many of you have emailed to share your own stories.

I know that there are more out you out there challenging your comfort zones. So, tell me -- here, where you can remain mostly anonymous -- what things scare you? Are you doing anything different? What are you doing to change your comfort zone?

For many people, surviving and thriving as an independent consultant means making changes. Sometimes, as part of those changes, you need to push your comfort zone. Doing so may mean giving up your regular job for life as a full-time consultant, addressing fear of the phone, speaking in public, making cold calls or asking for consulting fees that reflect your true worth.

In my newsletter, I've been talking about my recent successes with changing my own comfort zone. (Subscribe via form above, right.) But now I'd like to share the story of a young woman who has taken a true leap.

Laura-Jane Koers is a young woman who has given up her city job for life on a farm on the East Coast. She's given up the security of everything from steady pay to a warm place to sleep. She and her partner (my cousin, Cam) are renovating an old farm house, growing their own food, chopping their own wood -- and taking a stab at making money from home.

Here's part one of Laura-Jane's story:

Taking the Leap

by Laura-Jane Koers

I'm not much of a dreamer. I plod along, living my small life in this wide world. Nonetheless, last year I found myself hurtling head-first into the wind and giving up everything I've ever known to live my dream. The mischievous thing about dreams is that we can spend decades wishing that they would come to pass. But the best kept secret is that, once we honestly commit to making our dreams happen, they can't help but come true, because we've set them in motion ourselves. The most difficult part of achieving a dream is deciding to make it come true; once this decision has been made, the rest is peanuts.

For years, my partner and I often fantasized about leaving the West Coast and heading 6,000 kilometres east to live on Prince Edward Island. As busy working professionals in metropolitan British Columbia, we spent the occasional weekend yearning to give up our tiny condo and Starbucks lifestyle in favour of rural farm-life. We wanted orchards, chickens, and acres of rolling splendor. But our farm-dream was just an idle topic that was a welcome distraction from the everyday--it wasn't our focus.

One Friday evening, we were enjoying the last of the day's sun in a triangle of green-space near our condo. Discussing the too-short weekend ahead of us and how it would invariably be followed by yet another long and draining work-week, we saw our faces darken. We would later come to refer to this evening as the Night That Changed Everything.

"I think I need to quit my job," my partner of ten years said.

(Almost) always supportive, I answered, "Are you being serious? Because if you are, I'm with you."

He was serious, and, by the end of our turn around the neighbourhood park, we had made a variety of life-changing decisions. He should quit, I should quit, we should sell everything we own, and we should move across the country to an island that we had never seen. It had taken years for us to muster the courage to make such a decision, but, that night, we agreed to make it happen. In fact, we even pinky-swore on it.

Once we'd finally committed to our oft-discussed dream, we started to plan. Planning was easy; because we were committed, we knew what had to be done. We compiled a dauntingly gargantuan to-do list and slowly chipped away at each item.

Eventually we found ourselves in a chic cafe with my beloved parents. Across from my untouched panini (havarti and garden vegetables -- my favourite), my father searched my face with sad, loving eyes.

"You're moving across the country?" he asked. "But what kind of job will you get? You'll be thousands of kilometres away! And it's the middle of winter, for Blimey's sake!"

My throat was trying to close up, but I commanded my anatomy to stay strong or face the consequences. "I'll miss you too, Dad," I heard myself saying, "But this is our dream, and we're going to make it happen."

After the decision had been made, our life change took over a year to materialize. But we eventually found ourselves waving off our families and home town, as we honked goodbye and drove east on the Trans-Canada Highway. As our parents' waving hands disappeared around a bend in the road, my partner and I looked at one another. "Is this really happening?" I asked.

Glancing back at the rickety U-Haul trailer that housed all of our worldly possessions, he answered, "It would appear so!"

And we both gave way to the greatest laughing episode I can remember.

It is easy to get discouraged and frightened about committing to a dream. What will my family and friends think? What if I realize that this dream isn't right for me after all? What if I fail? I bypassed my fears by allowing myself freedom. I committed to making our dream happen, but I certainly didn't commit to living this dream forever once we'd achieved it. (I have other dreams too, you know!)

How did we do it? We looked our dream head on and said, "We're going to make you happen." Our dream was, well, just a dream--until we decided to make it a plan. For us, all it took was a shift in perspective; we had to make our dream become our reality ourselves. And we did.

So here we are, a couple of years later, living on a 60-acre farm on Prince Edward Island. No, it isn't always roses. I've chased bats out of our farm-house bedroom. And, when the wind is howling and all we have is a wood-stove to keep the weather out, I'll admit that I have sometimes taken to wondering why we wanted to move to a farm in the first place. However, when I think back to how we dared to follow that little voice that wouldn't go away, I can't help but grin through the hard work, wasp stings, and cold winter toes. It was our dream, after all.

Laura-Jane Koers is a freelance writer currently living at Whimfield Farm on Prince Edward Island, Canada. She blogs about farm life at  www.whimfield.com. To find out more about Laura-Jane's current writing endeavours, visit  www.laura-jane.com.

This week's top five list is actually a top seven list. I've been talking about stepping out of your comfort zone lately, so, why not mix up the Friday 5? Just kidding. This list of seven reasons to work for yourself by Daniel was just so good that I didn't want to limit myself.

Given the way gas prices have been headed, you might be interested in point 2: no more commute.

I barely use my car. I work from home, meet clients near my home and typically shop online for office equipment. When I do drive, it's to a warehouse or big box store -- which isn't all that often. As a result, I have a lot more disposable income than other people. But it isn't all about money. I feel good knowing that my carbon footprint is small for someone living in my part of the world. I like that, simply by doing my work at home, I have a smaller footprint.

Most people work for other people, not for themselves. As a consultant, I count myself lucky that my time is my own. But what if you're stuck in a job you hate?

I've never had a job I hated completely. I've always been able to find something about the job to like. But that doesn't mean I never suffered or that I never wanted to quit. In fact, I've left jobs I couldn't stomach. There's a reason I work for myself, right?

If you're working in a job you dislike:

1. See if you can work from home for even a few hours a week. Some time outside the office may be refreshing.
2. Look to change up relationships in the organization. Try networking within your organization. Negative relationships can suck the life out of you. If you can bond with people elsewhere in the organization, they may be able to "sell" other people on you. If nothing else, it may give you a friendly face for coffee breaks or meetings.
3. Take a vacation. Get away from work and all the turmoil.
4. Start applying for other jobs. Test the waters. Maybe you'd be happier elsewhere.
5. Try moonlighting. Spending a bit of time on some exciting new projects may help the rest of your week seem bearable. Once you've built up a client list, you might even want to go into consulting on a full-time basis.
6. Grow. Take a course. Start exercising. See a movie. Read a book. Write. Spend time with friends and family. Pursue a hobby. Call a friend. Go to a concert. Emphasize to yourself that you and your life are about more than just your yucky job.

How would you suggest dealing with a hated job?

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
-- Warren Buffett

He's not kidding. It's always easier to see what's behind you than what's ahead. We all make mistakes and, in retrospect, it can seem like we should have done something different.

When I think back to my early days in consulting, I remember a client who wanted me to work for $15 an hour, a fraction of my regular consulting rate. I had a day job, so I didn't feel desperate for money. And it sounded like such a great opportunity. Ugh. I ended up working till late at night -- for very little money. And ,as time went on, I realized that I didn't want to do any more work for the guy. All I got out of the deal was a bit of money and a lot of exhaustion.

Well, I got more than that. I realized that I needed to stick to my guns when it came to consulting fees. I never, ever cut my rate again. I realized that clients who nickel and dime you are clients you don't want. If they don't respect your rates, they don't respect you.

So, looking back, the money I didn't earn was worth it. I learned never to work for such a paltry amount again. And I learned that I'm a business, so I set my rates. I'm not a wage slave.

In my post on fear of the phone, I brought up the fact that a phobia can affect your business. Well, it isn't just a fear that can affect your business. A mere dislike of something can affect it too!

How many times have you put off doing something, simply because you don't like it? I know I've fallen victim to this. For example, I don't like formatting my customer newsletter. It's a pain. But I've found ways to deal with things I dislike.

Dealing with work you dislike

1. Outsource it to someone else
2. Put it at the top of your "to do" list and do it before you do anything else
3. Take a small step toward accomplishing that item every day, before you do anything else
4. Give yourself a reward for completing the task
5. Look for another way to meet your goal. Do you really need to even do this?

We all have things we don't like to do. How do you deal with work you dislike?

Many people resist starting their own consulting business because they've got a fear of the phone. I've met more than one person who couldn't stand the thought of having to make calls to clients. Well, after my post on fear of public speaking, I decided to look into other fears that might hinder the success of small business owners...and fear of the phone stood out.

Via Peter Benson, I discovered a simple exercise for overcoming phone fear. It's really best targeting at people who fear cold calling. Benson suggests that you simply write a script and start calling. That's it. Feel the fear and do it anyway, I guess -- and you'll soon lose your fear.

Have you ever had to deal with fear of the phone?

I'm changing the world. Really. I absolutely believe that. My consulting business is changing the world.

How so?
I focus on helping high tech companies ready their products for the marketplace. In doing so, I help my region move away from its primary resource economy and toward a knowledge economy.

My marketing plans make businesses money, so they can pay their staff. That means I help people generate incomes with which they can support their families.

My business plans help people get their businesses off the ground or back on course. I help people pursue their dreams.

I hire other consultants to work in my business, giving me the chance to mentor people and share my knowledge.

I'm changing the world. How about you?

Via CP Development, here's a list of five ways to make money using data extracted from the web.

I'm not entirely convinced by #1:

1. Extract a list of your prospective customers (from a business directory, professional association website, competitor's reference list ...) and employ sales force to offer your products&services via email, telephone or postal mail. Sweep the entire prospective market for as low as $1,000!

I've been in marketing for a long while. I'm not sure you can do a *great* job of sweeping the entire market for $1,000. It takes time to find, filter and clean data and more time to contact that market. Most people won't convert on a single "touch". But it may depend on your market and how you go about contacting people.

Over the past couple of weeks, I watched as a good friend -- a consultant -- struggled with delivering her latest project, a new course. I'd seen her go through this before. I'd always come forward to give suggestions and to offer my moral support. But she still felt overwhelmed and uneasy...even when she finally developed a super end product on time and with great fanfare. She always emerges on top, but getting there is a huge battle for her, when it comes to developing courses and teaching them.

Last night, I asked her if she'd ever considered taking one of the adult education courses at a local college. I mentioned that I took the certificate before I got into teaching. She was blown away. She'd had no idea that you could take a course in teaching. Suddenly, the burden of developing the course seemed a bit easier. If she could just get through this project, she could go take the certificate and feel better. Six nights and $700 would change her world.

If you feel like you're overwhelmed by the work before you, don't look at this as failure. It's merely an opportunity to strengthen your skills and learn from your mistakes. As I've mentioned before, great people make lots of mistakes, too. It's the asking for help and looking to improve that will make the difference. And practice. Lots of practice.

I just heard this Robin Williams line:

Carpe per diem - seize the check.

Once you've set your consulting fees, make sure you have a good contract to help you collect them. Establish some basic business policies, so that you don't turn into a line of credit for your clients. Follow steps to collect on late payments.

After my post on public speaking, some of you naturally wondered if there was a connection to selling, especially since I linked to a post on sales skills. Well, yes and no.

Yes, it helps if you can speak in public. You can speak at tradeshows, conferences, seminars, meetings, teleseminars and so on. You can teach courses and get up in front of people all the time.

But, no, you don't have to be great at public speaking. You can manage clients via direct mail, email, phone calls, one-on-one meetings, conversations and so on. Introverts have tons of great business qualities.

The key is to build on your strengths and to find ways to mitigate your weaknesses. Try doing a personal inventory to figure out your best qualities and where you need more practice. Focus on success and you'll find a path.

Does the thought of public speaking make you feel ill? Fear of public speaking is called glossophobia.

I'm not a shy person. Far from it. I'm a classic ENTJ. For many years, I thrived on speaking in public. But, one day, I was asked to give a presentation to a group of three people. When I got there, I realized that I'd run into two of the people before. I knew one of them had it in for me. That made it difficult to start talking. To make matters worse, at the end of the presentation, one of those two people accused me of breaking the law during my presentation. He accused me of copyright infringement. I was shattered. I take copyright very seriously. However, this individual worked in a field where copyright was discussed regularly. So I took him at his word. I apologized and left.

Later, I did a little more research and confirmed that, I did not infringe anyone's copyright. My understanding of fair use and private business meetings was correct. It was the prospective client who was wrong.

But it didn't matter. The event shook me up enough to keep me from speaking in public for a couple of years. I turned down opportunities. I didn't want to take a risk again.

Still, I'm an ENTJ. I plan. And then I carry out that plan. I knew that, by taking small steps, I could conquer my glossophobia and start speaking in public again.

So I contacted a tiny organization. I asked if I could make a presentation to a small group. And I did it. And I survived.

Then I started going to professional association meetings. I started asking questions. That brought attention to me. I spoke well. After a while, I was sometimes asked to address the group. No problem. I was among friends.

Next, I applied for a job as an instructor. I'd be speaking in public (albeit to a group of about four people) once a week for a few months. I'd be teaching a subject I knew well. And I did it. And was hired again.

But the client wanted to know if I could teach another subject...one that I wasn't sure I was good at. I'd have to study to get ahead of the students. I decided to try it. And I got better reviews for teaching that content than I did for teaching the stuff I knew by heart!

Pretty soon, I was teaching several classes. And then a major university asked me to teach a course. I did that, too. And was asked to teach more courses.

So, although I was never a shy person, I conquered a one-time fear of public speaking. Next week, I'll give suggestions for conquering a fear of public speaking.

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Related

• Sales skills

One of my closest friends took me to task recently. She said I'd got too wrapped up in my earnings and measurable results and that I was losing sight of the big picture.

And she was right.

See, I've been having a great year, earnings-wise. But I kept pushing that bar higher and higher.

And so I just never felt like I was as good as I could be.

I kept changing my definition of success, in my pursuit of achievement. Whatever I said was good enough last week, suddenly wasn't good enough this week. I needed to do more.

Well, if there's anything to appreciate, it's a good friend. And my friend told me point blank that I was being ridiculous. And she's right.

I'd become so focused on growing my business and measuring myself by that yardstick that I lost sight of all the amazing things going on outside my bank account. (And, as I've noted, it isn't like my bank account is a problem right now.)

And so, all week, I've been thinking about all the amazing things I'm doing right now. I revised my goals for the next two quarters, so that they focus more on where I'm going and less on what numbers I need to achieve. I'm going to focus more on doing and less on measuring.

This is a hard thing. I mean, I've been having an amazing year with my business. So looking at the numbers must be the solution, right?

Well, I'm not going to focus on the numbers for the next while. I'm going to look to my dreams and my hopes and my passions.

That's because I didn't leap into self-employment with the aim of making as much money as I could. I did it because I wanted to take control of my life, have flexibility, call my own shots....I did it for the experience and the quality of life. And, frankly, there's no way to measure that. Being acquisitive with my revenues isn't going to show all the great things I've done with my life -- even though this has been a great year in terms of finances. Because it's not about the money. It's about the spectacular family, friends, lifestyle, balance and joy I have. And I wouldn't give that up, no matter how high my revenues soared.

When I look back when I'm 90, I won't say, "Gee, wasn't 2008 a great revenue year?" No, I hope I'll say, "Wow, wasn't 2008 the year I took amazing personal risks? Wasn't that the year my boys were both still so little and I got to spend so much time with them? Wasn't that an amazing year?" It will never be about the numbers, even if the numbers were fantastic. They aren't the point.

Via Yahoo, I stumbled across a list of the top 5 careers for extroverts. Yikes, the highest paying career cited is still only $80k! That's not exactly what I'd call a hot career. Granted, I suppose you can move up the ladder from there -- into management and senior management -- but it's still not what I'd consider hot. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that, by HR specialist, they meant someone who is still not in middle management.

In contract, I know a human resources consultant who charges $225 an hour. She offers career coaching, retreats, courses and so on. To make $80k a year, she only needs to bill an average of seven hours per week.

Related

• Discover Your Inner Consultant
• Consulting Fees Guide
• Discover Your Inner Entepreneur for Moms

Working from home….imagine baby tucked into a sling or crib, while mom types away at a keyboard, leads a teleconference or assembles products. You might wonder if working from home really turns out to be so ideal or if it’s just a pipedream.

I’ve been working from home since before I had kids. But working from home with a baby is not the same as when it was me, my latte and I. Still, I’ve managed whiplash, renovations, a move, more renovations, a second pregnancy and a second baby. And I’m still happily working from home. Here’s how:

• Look for tradeoffs. I chose not to use a nanny or daycare, but I hired a weekly housecleaning service, signed on for grocery delivery and bought a robotic vacuum. Some work from home parents swear by meal preparation services, such as Meals for Mums.

• Be patient. Once your baby settles into a nap schedule, you will have more time for yourself. You may have two to three hours during the day and another two to four in the evening, depending on bedtime for you and baby. My first baby didn’t nap much at all, mind you, so it just depends on your baby.

• Let baby sleep beside your office. When my babies were tiny, they napped in a bassinet near my workspace. I kept all diaper supplies, a few changes of clothes and other things handy.
  

• Be realistic. If you have a tiny baby who has not yet settled into a regular nap schedule, it can be hard to find time to work. You may want to spend any “spare” time resting. If it’s critical for you to work, consider getting help – whether that’s a nanny, housecleaner, grocery delivery, meal preparation or a local high school student who plays with the baby while you take a nap.

• Take a look at childcare options. Some parents work from home without ever turning to childcare providers, whereas others have dedicated in-home care. Work from home parents can choose from a variety of options. This might mean that a grandparent or friend looks after the baby for an hour or two. For others, a nanny or babysitter provides in-home care. Some parents rely on full- or part-time daycare. In my case, I’ve worked out an arrangement where my husband uses his flex time to cover me during occasional business meetings and critical phone calls – he makes up the time at night. I also make use of a preschool-aged program where I can drop off my older son for a couple of hours twice a week. 
  

• Allow someone else to reinvent the wheel. Rather than investing hours in building your own business, consider telecommuting for an employer, accepting subcontracted work from an established business or purchasing a franchise.

Above all else, do what works for you and your family. There are as many ways to work from home as there are people working from home. Trust yourself to know what makes sense for you.

For help in working out what kind of business would suit you as a parent, take a look at my Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur for Moms workbook.

 Related:

• Big list of reasons to become a consultant
• Consulting brings work-life balance

For the past week or two, I've been posting more than usual. Up till now, I've been posting three times per week. Some people have suggested I cut back to once a week, whereas others have asked for more posts. Any thoughts? Feel free to contact me, if you prefer not to comment.

I just finished reading Wikinomics by Don Tapscott. It's about the second generation of the web -- Web 2.0, where mass collaboration emerges. Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, even this blog, when people make comments.

When people collaborate, a static webpage comes alive. This blog wouldn't be nearly as vibrant without the contributions of readers. I cherish all the comments my readers make and encourage you to take part. You're part of what makes this blog helpful for other people.

Related

• Wikinomics at Amazon

Following my post on what Steve Nash can teach you about business, I followed up on Justin's comment about the wisdom of Michael Jordan and Winston Churchill. Today, I found a great quote from Churchill:

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. -- Winston Churchill.

Noticing a theme here?

For the past year or two, I've been giving away a free copy of Seth Godin's Bootstrapper's Bible to everyone who signs up for the Consultant Journal newsletter.

This offer expires soon.

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Have you ever run into a client who wants a million changes to every project you deliver? You know the type...nothing is ever quite good enough. You could go through rounds and rounds of revisions and still never be quite good enough.

If you're working on a quoted project or flat rate basis, revisions may eat up your time...and your profits. So how do you keep a lid on changes?
•    Define your project scope in your legal contracts.
•    Outline rates for work outside the project scope.
•    Let your clients know when they've asked for something outside the client scope.
•    Within reason, point clients to the project scope and offer to quote on changes.

What do you do to manage picky clients?

Related

• Managing client behavior