I wish people could understand that just because you own a business, it doesn’t mean you have time or cash to just toss away.

Problem #1 - I have a client who, after a month of negotions, has finally decided he wants to use my services and would like his contract. Although the call came well after closing time, I took it, got his contract ready, printed, signed, scanned to PDF and sent to him because he was leaving this morning for another LDT (He’s an over the road trucker, long distance).  I told him during our phone conversaton that I’d have the contract to him, within the hour, which I did. I also asked if he had any questions about my policies or the contract (IE: You understand that there is a 25% deposit for me to BEGIN work, and you will need to include the amount for your website hosting package and domain registration? Because without them, I can’t build a site for you?) Yes he said he understood, no questions, blah blah.

This morning, I get the contract back, signed and ready to go, but… no deposit, no payment. UGH!

My contracts stipulate that I do not begin work on a project without a 25% deposit. Why? Because I have expenses that I must cover in order to operate, and I can’t afford to spend a month building a project, designing a custom SQL database or creating graphics for someone who, in the middle of the project says.. oh ya know? Never mind. That deposit covers my butt on work that I may do up unto that point.  It also covers such things as copyright registrations for any graphics or logos that I custom build for them.

I wish I could make these clients understand that my deposit isn’t just for my own sake, its for their own good as well.

Now, Problem #2 - I have a friend in Australia, whom I love dearly and he’s just discovered Wordpress! HOORAY! But.. he’s having problems understanding the back end, IE: How to make a static page be his landing page, how to order catagories, etc. We are on totally different time zones, for example, right now it’s about 3:00 AM his time where its 10:00 AM my time. And he KNOWS that I work from 7:00 AM My time till whenever-the-hell-I-get-done my time.

So he’s been emailing me all morning asking for help with this and that, and it’s not that I don’t mind helping. I don’t at all. But not during work hours. This is my time to make the money to pay my bills (OH lordy the bills I have!) And I really don’t have time to just sit around answering emails from someone who can wait until I have time. Yet he keeps emailing and frankly just pestering the shit out of me.

What’s a gal to do? Ugh.

So, I sent the client a friendly reminder letter letting him know that even though I got his contract, I still can’t start work without the deposit and hosting payment, as per my contract stipulations.

As for my friend I’ve given him links to the Wordpress site where he can find information on how to do what he wants. Read that. THEN if you have questions, email me and I will get back to you either at Close of Business today or during the weekend, when I have a minute to breath.

I don’t know about you, but I have a habbit of filling out “Work from home” offer forms online, just to check out different oppertunites, even though I own a business already. It never hurts to have more than one source of income, right?

A few minutes ago I got a rather interesting phone call. First of all, the number called my business line.

I looked at the Caller ID, out of habbit, and the number showed up as 222-222-5555. Hmmm curious.

I decided, just for the sake of fun, I’d answer it.

The guy asked for me by name, and introduced him self as Brian, with ITB - International Travel Beaureau. I had my computer screen open and did a search on google, while he was doing his schpeel. And guess what? All of the informationa bout ITB led to either Expedia.com or Orbit, or other travel site locations. Hmm.. no website.. so.. how again did I manage to fill out this form he’s told me I filled out? He couldn’t answer that. He also couldn’t answer WHEN I filled out the form.

Being a business woman myself, I cut straight to the chase. I don’t like to waste time, mine or anyone elses, so I asked “Let me ask you upfront, how much is this going to cost me?”

His response?

“Well, no business, as you know, is free. And if someone is offering you the option to work from home, then its probably a scam.”

Red flags went up and I immediately said, “No thanks” and hung up.

Here’s the gig folks; Nine times out of ten, anyone who’s offering you the oppertunity to work from home IF you’re willing to PAY X amount of DOLLARS - is about to rip you off.

They are not offering you a JOB. They are offering to sell you INFORMATION which you can probably gather just as easily yourself by doing some investigative work, taking some classes or networking with those in the field you want to work in.  There are places all over the internet that warn about these “work from home” scams.

Any company that is offereing a legitimate work from home oppertunity will have most, or at least one, or all of the following information, readily available on ANY form you fill out:

• A contact Phone Number
• A street address or other means of physical contact
• A website address
• A name of a contact, an actual person, not a voice machine
• An idea of when you will be contacted and how
• A privacy statement

And last but not least, no legitimate work from home oppertunity is going to charge you money to get started. That isn’t called WORKING FROM HOME. If you have to pay money to buy into a job, or a company, or to purchase information, you are not being guarenteed a salary, which is what WORK implies.

Okay, I”m done ranting now.