Last week was really tough for me. I had a couple of disappointments. Not set-backs per se, just occurances that made me say, “now why did that go and happen?”I have to tell you some days I am a pretty big flake. If I don’t write something down I am bound and determined to forget it. Just the way my brain is wired. So I have daily list, weekly list, and monthly list. I don’t know how people function without list actually. Even when I had a traditional job (if you can call it that) I kept list. But I digress …

One important thing about Work at Home life is that we need to do what we say we are going to do. We can’t flake out on things. If this includes writing it down, great then do it. What ever it takes. Just because you work from a pretty little office space you decorated yourself, with the ambience music of pitter patter of little feet and the cries for Mommy in the background, doesn’t mean that you can flake on people.

Most WAHMs have pretty flexible schedules. One of the great drawing points. But they still have deadlines, and should have work schedules. We need to treat these with respect.

Things do come up. Kids get sick, the internet goes beserk, printers have massive spazz attacks, but we need to remember if we want to make our business a success we need to commit and follow through. Sometimes that makes it even harder to get things together for us WAHMs. We need to deal with it all and still get our work done.

So I guess what I am saying is this. Have fun with your business. It is your baby after all. But also treat it with the respect it deserves. It is not a hobby. People depend on you and your services. Consider what you are taking on before you commit to it. If it is a choice of over committing don’t do it.

Let’s take a recent experience with a client I had. She has a big project she wants done. She wants to hear from me daily. I had to tell her specifically, yes I can get it done, but … Then I gave her my schedule and told her that you won’t hear from me these days. I have issues with my internet, so some times you may not hear from me, but it doesn’t mean I am not working for you.

Communication was key here. She understood that. I gave her my cell that can be reached at, and I have a happy client. Now imagine what would have happened if I had not communicated with her? It was 2 maybe 3 days and she had no way of reaching me? Well yes when I got back I would of been able to explain to her, but she wouldn’t have been really happy with me.

I committed, I communicated with her, and hopefully got her respect because I was honest with her. And now I am following through. She knows even if a day or so goes by that I am still working on her project for her.

Do what you say you are going to do. Don’t leave people hanging. Working on the internet is a strange thing. We don’t meet our clients face to face. We may not even talk to them on the phone. But they are still people and deserve to be treated with professionalism.

So don’t flake out. If you can’t follow through on a commitment, be honest and upfront with the person. They are people just like you and me, they will understand that sometimes things happen. But if you are not honest with them you may lose the client or potential client.

My soap box issue for the day. Do you have any suggestion on how not to flake? How do you handle these situations?