You can be self Employed and a Diplomatic Friend
When you are self-employed, it is often very difficult to train your friends to respect your working hours, especially if you work from home. Many people use mobile phones for both business and personal use, so that can be confusing for friends who do not realize certain hours are inconvenient.
The answer to this dilemma is communication. You must establish clear work hours and likewise optimal times that friends can call you, and then tell them. Another solution is to just have a good voice-mail message, and do not pick up personal calls. It is hard to ignore a ringing phone, but you can train yourself to stay on task. You can turn down the volume on your personal line, and only check messages at a designated time. They will have to wait until it is convenient for you to deal with them.
It is worth having a phone with caller ID. But sometimes it is difficult to tell if the caller is a friend or a business contact, especially if they are using cell phones or blocked numbers. Then, the best suggestion is to have separate numbers for your business and your home. Purchase a cell phone for business use only, or vice versa, if you’d like a land-line and directory listings for business. Or, get a business account as well as a personal number with your local phone company, and simply use only the business phone during work hours, letting an answering machine take your personal messages.
As a diplomatic person, you can make others feel like they are cherished by returning calls when it suits, and then asking for their cooperation in helping you get your work accomplished. You might consider making a rule that all personal calls are to be made in the evenings or weekends, or whatever suits your work pattern.
Some self-employed folks may be able to have a family member or secretary field their calls, take messages, and inform callers of your schedule. This gives a personal touch, and may be the warmest approach. Most often, if you let your friends know that you care about them and need their cooperation, they will be happy to respect your time and need to work. It is a training process, so you may need to repeat the message a few times.
When all else fails, try printing “calling cards” with your name and personal number, desired social hours, and then hand these out to all of your friends as a reminder. With all of the above technical options – caller ID, separate numbers, cell phones – or with the self-discipline to simply not pick up personal calls, you can be efficiently self-employed.
