I work only part-time, but I am available to my clients full-time. Being a home-mom with two kids under 4 years, it is very difficult to get more than a couple of hours a day to work. They are constantly around and need attention.

My son goes to pre-school 2 times a day for a couple of hours, but I am not kid free. My one-year old daughter is still with me. Besides, two hours is NOT as much time as I thought it would be. I found it more useful to spend the time running errands than working at home.

So what is this about a full-time storefront?

Well, I am open for business - meaning I take client calls 8 hours a day. I also have some evening and weekend hours when my clients can get a hold of me.

I check my email constantly throughout the day and split my billable time as follows:

  • Needs to be done during business hours.
  • Can be done anytime and is interruptable.
  • Can be done anytime and needs my undivided attention.

A majority of my work is done early in the morning or in the evenings - especially the activities that require my undivided attention.

What it takes?

Not all businesses can operate like this. This works for me because of the type of work I do and, more importantly, the type of clients I bring on.

I am very careful as to whom I accept to do work with. My clients have to be ok with my work style. I also bring on clients whose work can mostly be done anytime and do not require a lot of calls out.

Why calls out? Well, there is only a small window of time during the business hours that I know I can make professional calls without background noises or interruptions.

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How can I make calls without interruptions with toddlers around? I’ll leave that for another time. =-)