My siblings and I have been kicking around the idea of starting a business together for a few years now. We’ve talked about it. We’ve mentioned it in passing. Every now and then we’ll actually start to make some plans to do it. However we’ve never really committed to it before because we weren’t all in the right stage of life at the right time to make that kind of commitment. I think we might be there now.

I’m excited about the possibility of doing something crafty and entrepreneurial with my siblings. Smart people love to work for themselves and I’m not sure if I could imagine ever working any other way again. Being able to do that with my smart siblings would be even better.

However I do know that there are pros and cons to working with your family members. On the positive side you have a built-in support system within your small business, a willingness to stick things out together because you know you’ll still be family when it’s all over and a lot of different potentially-compatible traits that can be assets in a group endeavor. On the other hand you have various conflicts, issues because of sibling birth order and a desire to do your own individual things away from the family.

I think what is going to make this business work for us is that none of us are overly invested in it. We’re launching slowly, starting to plan and aiming to make this a side project to the other things that we’re each doing on our own. This approach feels like it will maximize the benefits of working together while minimizing the problems that can come up as a result of working with your family.

Does anyone here have experience working in a family business? What were the most outstanding pros and cons for you?

Tags: family business, work

How many people who work five days per week would love to go down to only a four-day work week? Doing this gives you a three-day weekend every single week. This allows you to really recuperate from your work and get time to do the things that you want to do. But how can you do it?

Here are some ideas for cutting back to a four-day work week:

• Work 10-hour days. The easiest way to maintain your lifestyle while reducing the number of days that you work is to continue to work forty-hour weeks but to do so with ten-hour days.
• Switch to a salaried position. Try to find a job that allows you to get paid based on the amount of work that you do rather than the number of hours that you put in. Be productive during those four days and you can take the fifth day off without compromising your job position.
• Reduce your financial needs. If you can find a way to reduce the amount of money that you need then you can pay your bills with a three-quarter-time job position. Most companies still allow you to retain your health benefits if you work over 30 hours per week.
• Start your own business. It’s a lot easier to make a schedule that works for you when you’re your own boss. If your current job isn’t going to allow you to reduce your work week then maybe you should start a business that will!

Are there other options for taking a three-day weekend every week?

Tags: employment, four-day work week, job, kathryn vercillo, time management, work

I have been trying to earn money for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I was always trying to start my own business or to find a job that I could do even though I was young. I remember one time when I got together with some friends and made homemade friendships bracelets and then took them around the neighborhood to try to sell them.

I wasn’t the only one in my family who earned money with my own business. My kid brother learned early on that he could purchase candy in bulk and then sell it individually to kids at school to make a profit. He and my sister also used to scout the ground at every parking lot we ever entered because they knew that they could find loads of dropped change there which would add up.

We weren’t particularly unique kids as far as this goes. In fact, I think that most kids are pretty creative and I would say that most of them want to do something that allows them to earn spending money of their own. The problem is that it’s really frustrating for kids to figure out how to earn money when they aren’t old enough to work yet.

There are definitely options for kids with all different types of skills, though. Take a look at my article on 30 ways kids can earn money to get some ideas!

Tags: businesses for kids, earn money, home business, how kids earn money, kathryn vercillo, kids, kids business, Personal Finance, work

Managers have a complicated role in the office place. They have to accept the rules that are handed down to them from their bosses. They have to then enforce those rules among the people who work beneath them in the chain of command. It can be really stressful. It can also be really rewarding if it’s a position that you enjoy.

Managers may find the following three tips helpful when working with their employees:

1. Keep an eye on employees’ activities but involve them in decisions. It’s important to engage in employee monitoring to make sure that employees are following the rules and staying on task. However, this can lead to employee resentment. That resentment is countered when you include employees in the decision-making process at work. Do this and you’ll find yourself working in a happier office place.
2. Push for the right technology. An office needs up-to-date and correct technology to run efficiently. If you notice that your office needs something important that it’s missing (such as an online backup system) then you should discuss this with company heads to make sure that you get the things that you need.
3. Learn little tricks to avoid wasted time. The less time that you waste, the less stressed out you’re going to be. This will make your work as a manger easier. Learn little tricks to waste less time. For example, use services like doctors that are close to the office instead of far away to reduce commute times.

What else should an office manager know to run the office efficiently without getting stressed out?

Tags: business, kathryn vercillo, management, office, productivity, work

I have been thinking about offering some sort of summer promotion for my writing services. I’d like to get some new clients. I want to spread the word about the blogging and social promotion services that I offer. And I really just want to be trying out some new personal marketing techniques.

Summer promotions seems like a great way to do this. There is a bit of downtime in the summer so I can focus on creating a cool promotion. The people I’d be interested in reaching are people who are probably spending hot summer afternoons checking out blogs and social networks anyway. And since it’s seasonal, I can try it out without committing to it for a long period of time.

I’m not sure what type of summer promotion I want to offer. I’m kicking around different ideas. I’d love to hear some thoughts from you about good summer promotion ideas for bloggers. Leave it in the comments or drop me an email!

Tags: blogging, business, freelance, kathryn vercillo, marketing, self-employed, summer promotion, work

There are a lot of technological devices out there which have the potential to make us more effective in our productivity (such as unified communications tools). Unfortunately, a lot of these devices can be a double-edged sword; they offer a lot of ways to decrease our productivity too.

A really simple example is the use of instant messaging programs. They can increase productivity by making communication with team members more immediate and more efficient. However, if you have IM programs running all day then you may get distracted from your focus and actually lose productivity.

This was highlighted by a couple of the Twitter responses that I got yesterday when I requested for people to send me their top productivity tips. A couple immediate responses were:

• @BerksBess “turn off Twitter (and the Internet as a whole)”.
• @cdolwagen ”set aside specific time slots for email, web browsing and Twitter. Use a timer so you don’t overrun ”

In other words, you really need to maintain some level of self control when you are making use of technology and Web 2.0 tools. The level of productivity that is possible with them is truly within the power of the person using them.

Smart people are going to maximize their use of these tools without overusing them. The other tips that I received via Twitter from those types of smart people were:

• @kashicat ”For creative people with ADD, doing work in small chunks (i.e. light at end of several tunnels) can help get it done.
• @Ivenetian When you feel yourself drifting…say to yourself “back to work”!

So, back to work it is!

Tags: business, efficiency, kathryn vercillo, productivity, self-control, Technology, twitter, work

Most people do the work that they do in order to earn an income. And the majority of people wish that they earned more than they do for the work that they are doing. However, there are things that matter more to employees than earning money does.

Some of the top things that employees care about more than the amount of money that they’re making are:

• Job security. People want to know that they’re going to continue to have the job in the future. This is especially true during the recession when people are really worried about potential layoffs.
• Job mobility. People like the idea that they have some freedom. They want to be able to change positions within the company or to relocate to do the same job from a new place.
• Respect in the office. There are many aspects to this. Employees want praise. They want to be trusted. They want their voices to count in the development of the company.
• Benefits. Employees may do a job that doesn’t pay well if it gives them other perks and benefits.

Wages do matter. People need to make enough to maintain their lifestyles. But money isn’t the most important thing that a job can offer to employees which is something important to keep in mind if you are an employer!

Tags: business, employees, employment, income, money, pay, wages, work

One of the most important things that an employer needs to know to be a great leader is exactly what it is that he or she wants from the employees working for the business. By getting clear about expectations, the employer can lay out what the employees must do which makes it a heck of a lot easier for employees to meet the needs of the business.

One simple example might be the employer who wants to deter employees from personal Internet use at the office. This is a totally valid request since that time is time that the employee gets paid to waste. However, different employers may want different things from this. Some of those different desires may be:

• The employer doesn’t want employees using the Internet at all for anything that is not strictly work related.
• The employer doesn’t mind if employees spend some time reading blogs and news that might be at least somewhat relevant to work but doesn’t want other websites surfed.
• The employer doesn’t want employees spending too much time on social networking sites during work hours but doesn’t mind chat systems being used. Or vice versa.
• The employer wants to make sure that projects are completed each day before employees spend time online.

These are all very different things. Employers must know what their specific desires are so that they can communicate those desires clearly to their employees. Then employees can see what they have to do to make the boss happy. And if employees can meet those needs then an employer who knows what he really wants will know that it’s time to let the employee go.

Tags: business, employers, kathryn vercillo, management, work

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the issue of productivity. I have particularly been interested in the way that productivity is encouraged in small businesses. The small business offers an interesting dynamic because it’s got a sense of community to it but it’s still got a boss and employees. The sense of community tends to increase the employees’ personal investments in the business and to drive up productivity but the fact that there’s still a boss always causes a little bit of resistance on the part of employees.

I think that one of the most important things that a small business can do to increase productivity is to work on promoting that sense of community. Although the boss may set the rules in the place and may even do things like monitoring employee internet use, the employee needs to feel that he or she has a real say in what’s going on within the small business. That feeling of being needed and valued will cause the employee to want to contribute in a meaninful and productive way to the business.

The first thing that a boss should do to increase productivity in this type of setting, then, seems to me to be to focus on increasing his or her own productivity first. (You can do this easily with a 5-day productivity plan.) This allows the boss to not only improve productivity but also to identify ways in which employees may also improve productivity. Setting this example is a great starting place for creating a foundation of trust within the business and moving everyone forward into more productive work together.

Tags: productivity, small business, work

I don’t work in an office. I work from home and have been able to avoid office politics for a long time. There are many reasons that I’m glad for that but I’m particularly glad about it now because the recession has changed the mood in most offices. At least that’s what it sounds like from what my friends and acquaintances have been reporting from their own experiences in the 9-5 world.

What I keep hearing is that there is a climate of fear in most offices today. Employees are worried about layoffs and cutbacks in hours. There are a lot of closed-door meetings. Employers are scared of what’s going to happen and how to navigate their businesses through these tough times without adding to the climate of fear.

This has changed the way that people are acting in the office. Productivity levels have changed. Work habits have changed. Relationships in the office have change. And people feel really unsettled and unstable and unsure of what’s going on at work which makes everyone a little bit uncomfortable there.

It’s not all bad. There are some companies, particularly small ones, that have been able to create a climate of comradeship in the office and to foster the notion that working together to get through this can be a way to strengthen the core of the business. However, there are also a lot of businesses that either can’t or won’t approach the problem in this way. It’s a scary time and I have to confess that I’m a little bit glad not to be enmeshed in it on a daily basis.

Tags: business, economy, kathryn vercillo, office, people, productivity, recession, work