I think its always nice to make sure that your client  is aware of your process and business hours if you don’t plan to run your business 24hours a day.     

Wow Judith…I think that is awesome that you have been able to raise a family and work from home.  When I first started 7 years ago I was in a relationship with teenagers and most of the time it wasn’t an issue.  I have had full time responsibilities for my granddaughter while working from home and it did have it’s challenges, but once we learned how to manage each other during my work time, we did great.  I think the key is as Judith said to set your boundaries and not compromise them unless absolutely necessary.  We have to create time for us to maintain our energy and sanity when it is time to go to work.  I find getting out and going to coffee shops or places like Panera at times helps creativity flow.

@mainefun40  - Working from home is no different from working in an office in terms of setting a schedule.  The difference is that the schedule gets to be much more flexible (and sometimes has to be.)

I have “set” office hours, however, there are many days that I may be chaperoning a field trip or some other activity during those office hours.  So I adjust my schedule to make sure that I am still meeting my client’s needs, even if it means that one night I might be working at 9pm.  I have my set office hours so my clients know when they are allowed to call me, but with the world of email they can send me a message any time of day.  If I am in my office, I will respond to the email.  If I am out of the office, I make sure they receive a 24 hour response.

I sit down and look at my calendar every Sunday night and make my schedule for that week.  I have three active kids, so everything needs to be scheduled to make sure I am meeting the family needs, but still meeting the business needs too.

Obviously, I don’t have some of the additional challenges that come with other industries, such as the farming example you supplied.  But I think with any industry, you have to schedule the segments of your life.  Make sure you are scheduling time for your business, time for your family and time for yourself.

I started this discussion in hopes of some philosophical answers and I got them. They are interesting because they include methods, as well as business philosophy; each answer leaves me thinking. The one that really hit home is nearly impossible in our situation here — getting out to a coffee shop as a refresher. In another life (same family, different business) that idea worked very well for me but in this one it is rarely possible. I would suggest to those reading this discussion that it is a usefull suggestion to be heeded

I’ve been working from home office for 7 years.  I have a dedicated room for the office. My home phone is also my office phone.

At the beginning and for several years, I was in my office 7 days a week. If I wasn’t working “iin” the business, I was working “on” the business.  After several years of needing to set up my business and grow and refine it, I found I was reaching burnout.

So, I then started to advise clients I was only available for 5 weekdays during regular business hours.  Unless, they had an emergency which they must advise me of on Friday – then I would let them know if I could be available to work that weekend.  I also made sure that I sent and answered emails during those regular weekday hours.  Of course, I sometimes worked evenings or weekends anyway, but I wrote the emails and saved them as a Draft to be sent out during regular scheduled hours, never on off hours.  Clients sometimes notice the time sent and they would start sending their requests out in evenings and on weekends, but I didn’t immediately answer them then.

As for the phone, some clients have called me in off hours, but I made it clear to them that business calls are accepted only during regular business hours.

Now when I take time off, I close the office door and turn off the computer.  I still secretly check emails which go through my Blackberry (but rarely if ever respond) during evenings and weekends.

I do client work during those business hours and set aside a couple of weeknights and some weekend time to devote to my work “on” my business

In that way, I have found more clients respect my time, and I can have some downtime guilt free.