got mug?

This holiday season, the best-selling item in WHY's online store is a large mug that says: Every day is take your child to work day when you work at home.

To be honest, it wasn't the catchphrase that I thought would click. My money was on: Give a hoot. Don't commute. Work from home. Show's you what I know...

Earlier this year, when Lucille and I decided to put together a line of merchandise geared toward folks who work from home to complement WHY magazine, we didn't know what to expect. Would people like our stuff or even be able to find our stuff in the vast selection that is cafepress? At the very least, we wanted to make enough money to cover cafepress' monthly store charge of $6.95.

So every time I see a new purchase made in our store, I sit in my office chair stunned with a ridiculously goofy smile on my face and then zap Lucille a quick celebratory email. We're on our way to our first million, I tell her. Only $999,900 to go!

From the WHY Vault*

States of Being: How to Keep Clients Coming Back

• Be reliable. Show up for your appointments, return your emails, answer your phone, send their order, admit when you’ve made a mistake, and put your best foot forward.
• Be real. There’s nothing more appealing to a customer than dealing with someone who is down-to-earth.
• Be available. When a customer places an order, answer questions and fulfill requests in a timely manner. If you are not available, someone else will be.
• Be flexible. In situations where clients disagree with your approach or have a complaint about your process, be flexible and offer a means to rectify the situation.
• Be attentive. The harder a customer has to work to get information from you, the less likely he or she will return.
• Be easy to work with. Life goes more smoothly when you’re friendly and obliging. Develop a reputation of being “easy to work with” and you will build a strong foundation.
• Be specific. It’s much easier to delete information than it is to add it, so be specific about matters like deadlines, project specs, colors and amounts.
• Be curious. Look for interesting things related to the current scope of your clients’ project. Not only will it develop trust and confidence, but it will help to establish you as an authority and a valuable resource.
• Be interested. Everyone who comes to you has the potential to become clients. If you show interest from the beginning — regardless of their “conversion-ability” — you’ve made them feel important. They’ll remember that!
  

--culled from an article by Donna M. Murphy in WHY magazine's july/august 2008 issue

*From time to time, I'll present info from past WHY articles or WHY Xtras in case you missed them the first time around. :)

Communication Is Vital

In August, two writers totally blew off handing in stories for the sept/oct issue of WHY magazine. One I just didn't hear from, after repeated emails and calls, and the other apparently forgot and then decided our fee was not sufficient – two weeks after her story deadline and after submitting a signed contract. Ugh.

On a far, far happier note, all the writers submitted their stories on time and in great shape for the next issue of WHY, which goes live on January 1, 2009. In other words, it's good to be an editor today.

Note to freelance writers: Editors don't necessarily mind if you're going to be late with a story. Lord knows we half-expect it and pad our deadlines. But communication is vital. If you're running late, tell us. We get it. We're people too, after all. But looking to change contract details late in the game or dropping out of sight entirely -- even if it's due to complete embarrassment because you forgot to write the story (hey, it happens!) -- is a surefire way never to get hired again.

It's a Matter of Trust

Thanks to @byosko for bringing this latest Forrester survey, People Don't Trust Company Blogs, to my attention on Twitter. Earlier this year, I read Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies for a white paper on social media that I was writing, and I found it fascinating. I think any company, big or small, must understand the role social media is playing today in the marketplace -- what's worked and what hasn't -- and Groundswell is not only chocked full of info but, surprisingly, a pleasant read. (Disclaimer: clicking on the "Groundswell" link above will bring you to the book's Amazon page through WHY's associates program, meaning we make a few cents if you happen to buy it.)

The Groundswell survey reports that 77 percent of people trust email from people they know. Makes sense. I know that my mother-in-law isn't trying to sell me a Chevy if she raves about her car or that my best friend doesn't have ulterior motives when bragging about a restaurant. However, only 18 percent of you trust personal blogs and 16 percent of you trust company blogs (the latter number moves up a bit for people who regularly read blogs). I totally get that too. It's hard not to believe that corporate blogs will give you anything but the company line or positive spin. And on the personal side, I know bloggers who are out there to hawk products and get paid, which really does make me skeptical about most of the blogs -- if not all -- I read, particularly when a product is recommended.

I still don't know where this blog, my blog, fits into the scheme of things. Is it a company blog or personal one? Sure, I'm here as the editor of WHY magazine to help offer tips and ideas for home workers, but you also get to hear about my own trials and tribulations of being a home worker (lucky you). In any case, the Groundswell survey only cemented a hunch I already had about the perceived validity of blogging. For what it's worth and although as much as 80-something percent of you may not believe, please know that it's all about the truth and full disclosure here.

And finding the truth (bandied about, debated and whittled down by thousands of bloggers and users) is what makes social media such a powerful tool.

In Defense of Workaholics

You gotta love Jay Leno.

The man's got fame and fortune, and after saying goodbye to The Tonight Show next year, he'll be doing a one hour, nightly show on NBC, according to news reports.

The man apparently loves to work. Even now, he's off doing stand-up gigs on days when he's not taping his show.

My mom, too, loves to work. Earning money and participating in the economic machine. Being relevant in the workforce. Being a role model to her kids and grandkids.

"You're just like her," my husband said to me yesterday. "You like to be busy."

True that. And for me, the best is working toward a goal -- publishing a book, getting your master's, starting a business (perhaps an online magazine for home workers?), learning a new craft or skill -- while you're busy doing your day job.

But not everyone likes to go that extra mile -- especially if there's only a slim possibility of a payoff.

I have a neighbor, a closet writer, who asked me for advice once about how to get published. She was working as an assistant teacher, but had been told that she has what it takes to be a professional writer, which was her dream. I read some of her stuff, and it was good! Excited, I talked with her at length about pitching magazines, scouring the internet for literary agents who might be interested in her pieces, writing query letters, how to follow-up, etc. She looked at me quizzically afterward and said, "I don't want to have to do all that..."

Is it any surprise that after 7 years she's still unhappy and teaching?

I have a special place in my heart for "hustlers": People who love to work and work and work, whether it's to follow a dream, make boatloads of money, or just for the thrill or challenge of it.

You rock, Jay Leno!

Contests and Creme Brulee

Best part about last night's dinner at Morton's? Two words. Creme brulee. Hands down.

I entered another writing contest this week. This one is the annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid contest promoted by Winning Writers, which accepts all kinds of prose entries -- fiction and non-fiction. Since I sent in a short story last year and lost, I changed gears and submitted an essay I wrote in grad school about my son Griffin. The piece was well received by my professor and the vast majority of my classmates, but you just never know. Judging is so subjective. At WHY magazine, we've run a few contests of our own: The first one, in 2007, was a short story contest. The winning entry came from Beth Sears. And this year, we ran a slogan contest, and our winner was Jennifer Murray of The Nimble Assistant. Her slogan: Make your own damn coffee. Work from home. Love that! You can check out Jennifer's winning entry (and other cool slogans) featured on merchandise in our online store.

Still, how do you judge creativity or our reaction to it on a set of criteria? My professor used to tell me that as a reader or editor you'll feel a twinge in your belly when you read that something just isn't right about a piece -- even if you can't formally put what the problem is into words. Is then the converse true as well? I get a feeling of lightness in my belly when I read something in a piece that I think is good. I guess -- if I'm pressed to explain my judging method -- I tend to tally the lightness feelings, subtract the grammatical errors and declare a winner.

I wonder if the Winning Writers judges use such a highfalutin method!

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Finding useful -- and unbiased -- blogs to help you run your business can be tough. Many blogs are thinly veiled advertisements, while others are not so obvious -- they're supported by companies whose products are highlighted for pay, a little secret kept from the unsuspecting reader. Still others are just plain poorly written and unhelpful. I know... I've read them.

Never let any of this be said about our WHY magazine blog! The WHY blog, just like the online magazine itself, is here to provide friendly, useful, practical and honest info and tips to help you run your home business more effectively. We're not paid -- Lord knows we're not paid -- to promote anyone's company or product other than our own, a free magazine for home workers. If we happen to mention a sponsor of WHY, we'll tell you it's a sponsor. No secrets. Promise!

Now on with the tips!

WHY's Tip #1: Invest in a telephone headset, preferably with a mute button. This not only will free up your hands to file, type or change the occasional dirty diaper while you’re on the phone, but allows you to quickly flip on “mute” the second you hear those immortal words, “I’m telling mommy.”

WHY Xtra: 5 Classic Work-at-Home Schemes

Happy December, kids! Here's this week's WHY Xtra:

5 Classic Work-at-Home Schemes

1. Medical billing. Start your own electronic claim processing at home and make boatloads of money -- for an investment of $2,000 to $8,000! The promoters promise all kinds of support, but rarely do, making it difficult – if not impossible – to find clients and generate revenues.

2. Envelope stuffing. Promoters usually advertise that, for a “small” fee, they will tell you how to earn money stuffing envelopes at home. However, later – when it’s too late – you find out that they never had any employment to offer.

3. Assembly or craft work. These programs often require you to invest hundreds of dollars in equipment or supplies, or they require you to spend many hours producing goods (aprons, baby shoes, etc.) for a company that has promised to buy them. However, after you've purchased the supplies or equipment and performed the work, the scammers don't pay you.

4. Email processing. After charging you for training materials, the company claims to pay about $20 per email for spamming the same ad you responded to.

5. Typing. After paying a fee, you receive a disk with information that tells you how to place home typist ads and sell copies of the disk to others -- like you -- who reply to you. A classic pyramid scheme.

Join the WHY magazine mailing list to have each week's Xtra emailed to you in pretty colors -- and with a photo! Ooh... Ahh...!

WHY Survey: 52% of Work-at-Homers Have Eco Home Offices

As I sit here in my newly straightened-up work space, with a looming, still undecorated, green Christmas tree at my back, I am reminded about a poll that we conducted earlier this year in WHY magazine. We asked our readers how environmentally friendly or "green" their office was. The poll revealed that 52 percent of work-at-homers around the globe have semi- or mostly green home offices.

I thought the results were pretty encouraging. Forty-two percent of those polled said they’ve “taken some green steps” and 10 percent have a “mostly green” home office. Thirty-eight percent have a conventional home office but “hope to go green” in the future and 10 percent have a conventional office and “don’t have the interest in a green office.” No work-at-homers that were polled by WHY have a completely green home office.

Yes, I know... having a green Christmas tree has nothing to do with greening an office. I was thinking more about the newspapers and toner cartridges that were recycled. My office work space is far from being totally green, but I'm getting there -- although I still can't bring myself to unplug everything in the office every night as my green colleague Kristyn Lak Miller over at EcoVixen says I should. Something to work on...