People tempted to go it alone might find that working from home isn’t as liberating and uncomplicated as they’d hoped, says business coach Axel Henriksen.

“The excitement and trepidation rise as you take your seat at your desk realizing you are independent, answerable only to yourself, free to manage and prioritize your time, efforts and schedules. Many consultants, trainers, coaches and speakers are escapees from the corporate world; relishing the freedoms afforded self-employment and entrepreneurialism.”

But, he says in an article, the transition is rarely trouble-free, uncomplicated and without stress. “Friends will telephone while you are working, assuming you have an abundance of time to chat. Others will call in mistakenly believing you have ample time for socialisation as well. You may also consider that you have the discretionary time to quickly complete some household chores during your productive work time.”

An abundance of distractions competes for your attention when working from home – ranging from young children to dirty dishes to television – which can destroy your concentration, he says.

There are, however, steps you can take to successfully work from home, and these include:

• Formalize your working environment. It’s tempting to treat working from home informally, “especially considering you are your own boss and answerable to no one (excepting maybe your bank manager)”, Henriksen says. He advises formalising how you will manage and prioritise your work tasks at home. “This can incorporate scheduling of regular tasks, such as telephone calls to clients, report-writing, invoicing, and so on.”It will benefit you to clearly understand how you will handle various scenarios which may impinge upon productivity, like: drop-ins by friends and relatives, interruptions by family members during important telephone calls, or children’s illnesses requiring they remain home from school. You might consider designating scheduled appointments for household chores, family errands, and recreational activities that you might otherwise be tempted to slip in to your working day.”
• Maintain balance. Many work-from-home professionals “work far too hard, and not nearly smart enough”, Henriksen says. “Be realistic and be kind to yourself; emotionally, physically and creatively. Your success or otherwise will have less to do with the number of hours you work and more to do with the results and outcomes you produce.”There is no reason why home-based entrepreneurs can’t be sitting by the pool at two in the afternoon, he notes, and they shouldn’t feel guilty about dropping by the ‘office’ at nine at night to send emails and write a report. “Just because you have your office at home does not necessarily require you work ‘office’ hours. But it is incumbent upon you to be disciplined to do what is needed, when it is needed.”
• Pronouncements for the home. Just because you’re clear about your work patterns and priorities doesn’t mean your family will have the same understanding.”There is no valid reason why you cannot close the door to your home-office as a simple indicator to your family that you cannot be disturbed and/or you are on an important telephone call and quiet is important. Explain the measures to your family in advance, and then use those measures as needed, but only as needed so that they are not only understood but respected by others in your home.”
• Location, location, location. “Where your office is located within the confines of your residence will play a big role in the potential distractions and how enticing those distractions may become to you,” Henriksen says. “Ideally, your office should be away from the busiest areas of the home; not in the thoroughfare of life. Neither should it be in your bedroom! It does need a door… that closes.”You also need a separate and dedicated business telephone line “that nobody else in the family answers, ever!” he says. And it is better that you have your own office equipment that is not for family use. “Computers, printers, scanners and alike are tools of your business. Let the family have their own in another area of the home.”
• Achieve more by doing less. “Whether it be home duties or business needs, where it makes sense and is readily done with minimum supervision, outsource tasks,” Henriksen says. “Get a housekeeper, have the lawns and gardens handled for you by a contractor, hire an external bookkeeper, use a virtual assistant; you get the idea. Utilise others to quickly accomplish tasks that distract and unenthuse you so that your creative and productive energies remain focused on bringing in the high-premium business results.”

Managers need new mindset for work-from-home success

Work-from-home arrangements can also save recruitment agencies money during the downturn – by reducing the need for large office space and resources – and help consultants save on transport costs and commuting times.

But according to HR consultant Jenny Roberts, of hranywhere, managers with outdated attitudes about productivity are the main obstacle to work-from-home success.

She told Recruiter Daily’s associate publication, HR Daily, that too many managers still believe employees must be “chained to their desks from 8.30 to 5.30″ when in fact it is “outputs that are important, not the face time”.

Work-from-home arrangements require trust on both sides of the employment relationship and good communication, she says.

Consultants should clarify with managers the work that they will have completed by the end of each day or week, and managers should measure their outputs against that.

Managers must realise that if a consultant chooses to do their laundry during the day, or run errands, than that’s irrelevant if they spend the evening writing job ads, Roberts says.

She recommends managers formalise a work-from-home policy, which should cover:

• the types of jobs that can be performed from home (this might need to exclude employees required to answer the phones at work), to avoid confusion and resentment among staff;
• the process of applying to work from home; and
• the equipment required for a work station to meet proper OHS standards (consultants shouldn’t be “sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop”).

Working from home can get lonely, she adds, so there should also be measures in place to ensure consultants stay in contact with the office – such as through social networks, Skype instant messaging or other means – and they should attend the office on a regular basis for meetings.

Choosing a career path while in High School…..or evern College…….can be quite a task.  With all the different careers to choose from, which none would be best for you?  Which would you enjoy the most or make the most income?

These are questions that everyone has to answer at sometime in their life.  If you choose the wrong one, it can lead to a less than rewarding life or life style.

The question is “How do you know which career is best without experience or without more information?”

I have first had knowledge of the frustration.  I spent better than 18 years of my life creating a business that did not suite my personality at all and it was extremely frustrating at times.  But, how was I to know this in the beginning.  Problem is I didn’t!  I had no idea the frustration I would go through.

At first, it was new and fun.  I was learning and growing.  Business was good.  Within three years I had more business than I could handle and I found it very hard to concentrate.  Later I realized I was pursuing career that was totally against my personality.

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1. No is a bad sign

This is not just an issue with sales professionals; sales managers fail to understand that “No’s”, and a lot of them, are inevitable.  Maybe it is because of so many consultants claiming to have the answer, maybe it is because sales managers worked the phones in a different era, but it is hard out there now.  Some sales people prospect better than others.  These sales people receive less No’s, but they receive plenty of them.  We can coach for a better outcome, but we will not be able to avoid rejection.   However, now a sales professional knows where to place their energy.

If you are still having trouble getting interest at your company look at the following to analyze why:

• Are you using the appropriate sales process for your industry and product?
• Do you understand your potential customers well enough?
• Is your culture conducive to good sales performance?
• Are you even targeting the right prospects at the right times?

2. Price is the issue

Price is always AN issue.  But it is rarely THE issue.  Companies run marketing campaigns and specials trying to get in the door with customers.  Sales people offer discounts.  Sales professionals are uncomfortable with the costs of their products and services.  Sales professionals hear that their competitor has a better price.  What does that do on the street:

• Puts price into your customers head.
• Creates a lack of confidence in the sales representative’s head.

If you want to beat the price argument you must do 5 things:

• Sell the value and ROI of your products and services.
• Learn to deliver pricing more confidently.
• Connect your sales and marketing efforts
• Ask more questions about what the client wants to accomplish
• Demonstrate credibility and sincerity in the sales process

3. Manipulation is part of the sales process

Sales has a bad rap.  People view sales people as pushy, self centered, and egotistical.  Don’t get me wrong many sales people have earned these labels.  But the very best have risen above them.  Customers typically start relationships with sales people in a defensive mode until they feel comfortable with the sales professional.  Customers start from this place because of their experiences with previous sales people.  Unfortunately organizations sometimes support manipulative behaviors or insincerity or at the very least condone these behaviors.  I use to know a sales person that would say “Once you can fake sincerity you have got it made.”  He was successful for a period of time, but customers figured him out.  We need to create authentic relationships with our customers based on mutual respect for 2 reasons:

• Our word is really what we have to fall back on.
• The most successful sales professionals get out of their own way by focusing on the customer; the customer’s needs, and then responding to those needs.

Great sales people influence others, they do not manipulate them.

4. We are so different from our competition!

Vendors so often think they are different.  Sales teams get pumped up in meetings.  They are told about the superiority of their product or the value of their service.  These sales professionals bring that feeling of difference in with them to their face to face meetings and they believe they can out sell their competition.  They believe they can use their sales process to differentiate themselves.  The irony is…most of your customers don’t feel the same way.

In a recent study by the Management Development Corporation and the University of Michigan:

• 89% of vendors think they are able to distinguish themselves from their competition.
• 90% of the customers believe that each vendor’s sales approach is the identical.

It is clear organizations want to differentiate themselves, talk about differentiating themselves, but they rarely do in practice.

5. The most up to date sales training will change our numbers

What we need to do is train our people!  Yeah right.  (Written sarcastically)  The latest and greatest in sales training will do little to improve your performance.

People are creatures of habit.  They learn these habits along life’s way over the years.  2-3 days of intense training still won’t touch those habits especially if there is any fear, emotion, or ego wrapped up in the changing of a habit structure.  If you are serious.  If you truly want change.  Then think about:

• How to make performance more visible
• Increasing accountability for activity not just results
• Identifying the key strategies (maximum 3) that will drive the results you are looking for
• Putting a personal change process in place to help your sales reps shift their habits
• Measuring lead indicators in order provide regular feedback and coaching.
• Rewarding and recognizing reps for meeting activity requirements as well as results
• Coach, coach, coach.  And strategize on specific opportunities making it real.

To create real change in performance training is a small piece of a larger puzzle.  We must pay attention more to management and systems.

The Proven Way to Improve Your Sales teams Performance and Bottom Line Results.

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“Check With Your Local Agencies And See How You Can Best Tap Into This Great Recruitment Market For Your Business”

Don’t overlook the benefits of hiring disabled workers

Recruitment of disabled workers can boost an employer’s company brand, and provide an important source of talent when the employment market tightens, says Amy Cato, principal consultant at recruitment company Cato & Hall.

For recruitment companies, experience in recruiting workers with disability is increasingly becoming a requirement in preferred supplier tenders, Cato said, and can be a key factor in winning new business.

One in five people have a disability, she added, and a lot of them have very strong networks of family and friends.

“From a brand point of view it is well known who supports and discriminates in employing these candidates,” she said.

“Given that the economy will turn around and we could find ourselves in a candidate tight market again, leverage yourself and your clients to attract talent from this group in future,” Cato advised recruiters.

“People with disabilities are going to remember who looked after them in the bad times.”

Ask candidates what support they need, not what disability they have

Cato said people with disabilities are petrified of being discriminated against by recruitment agencies, and may not disclose a disability at the pre-screen stage.

“If a recruiter’s good, they will create an open environment that is supportive where the person wants to tell them that,” she said.

To avoid offence, she said recruiters should ask disabled workers questions around their behaviours rather than physicality.

“It is not for the recruiter to place judgement on whether they would be able to do a task, it our role to determine whether they are capable of meeting the client brief,” she said.

Cato said recruiters should ask candidates if there are any modifications or additional support they need at the worksite, rather than whether they have a disability.

Disabled workers provide many other benefits

Employees with disabilities often have better attendance and safety records, according to Disability Works Australia (DWA), a national body that provides free advice to employers considering recruiting disabled workers.

The retention rate of disabled workers is higher, says DWA, and their employment can have a positive effect on workplace morale.

Companies employing disabled workers also minimise their exposure to costly litigation, DWA argues. Since the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) penalties of up to $35 million have been issued to Australian Companies in disability discrimination cases.

Subsidies and advice available for employers

Recruiters are often reluctant to consider disabled workers because they believe their clients won’t pay full fee for them, Cato said.

But there are many different subsidies available for employers recruiting disabled workers, and employers should not feel like they have to do it alone, according to DWA chief executive Tina Zeleznik.

Here Are Some Ideas For You To Consider

1. Telemarketers
2. Data entry
3. Virtual Assistants
4. Licensees
5. Distributors
6. Online business owners
7. Recruiters for your business

Internal recruiters need redeployment skills

The recession is likely to speed up the evolution of the internal recruiter’s role to one of career counselor, says Martin Warren.

Warren, a principal consultant at Inside Job, says there are good opportunities now for internal recruiters to gain new skills and find different ways to add value to their organisations.

One specific area they should look into is internal redeployment, he says.

In the current downturn employers are being more creative than in previous recessions about reducing their costs, he notes. “Rather than downsizing, redeploying is certainly a good way to do that. It creates a workforce that is flexible and capable of managing future needs. Internal recruiters have a really critical role to play in being part of that redeployment process.”

Internal recruiters, he says, should consider what skills they need to gain or improve to become involved with redeployment, as organisations are “generally not that good at it”.

Often they don’t have a clear strategy – “it tends to be really ad hoc, with no premeditated plan as to how to go about it and what the desired outcome is”, he says – and communication of the process is poorly handled.

“So that’s where recruiters can certainly come in and play an important role. What we’re starting to see in large organisations is that internal recruiters are getting involved in internal mobility and redeployment, and starting to gain skills in this area.”

Two or three employers he knows of are moving their internal recruitment people to a redeployment function, and “over the coming months it will be something that will become even more critical”.

Redeployment has traditionally been handled by HR, Warren says, but recruiters are in a good position to assist because they understand the business and the skills employees have.

What they must learn in addition to that, he says, is “what redeployment actually is. How do we roll it out; how does it work? What does it look like? How do we actually assess the capabilities of our staff for redeployment?”

As well, internal recruiters must be able to identify gaps in terms of future skill needs. “That’s a new skill that internal recruiters – or recruiters in general – don’t really apply.”

Another area likely to come to the fore is counseling, Warren says. Recruiters will need to know how to counsel staff going through redeployment – “because that’s a stressful

situation, especially if there’s a lot of change happening within the organisation”.

Finally, influencing and persuading is another important skill that good recruiters generally have, but it will be more important in a redeployment environment, he says.

Career advisors

Warren says the role of the recruiter today is changing from one of simply filling jobs or requisitions, to becoming a “case manager” in terms of redeployment efforts.

But recruiters also need to become career advisors, he says. “That is, working with organisations and their staff to help them actually develop roles for the future.

“So, I really see this as a good opportunity for internal recruiters to gain some new skills, but most importantly add real value to organisations and the staff within them, in the difficult times that we’re facing today.”