Hello and welcome back!
I’ll briefly do a roundup of what has happened recently with
Panto in a Day and then I’ll move onto the body of this blog. I realise it has
been a near millennia since the last blog update, but we have been busy! Great
for us, not so great for our ocean of readers (sure, maybe it’s a puddle, but
who’s counting)!?
We have jumped in leaps and bounds since we last wrote about
Panto in a Day and the lead up to this Christmas. We have had over 250
applicants apply to work in teams travelling around the country performing
Cinderella. We have auditioned in the two biggest cities in the country. Both
London and Manchester has helped us cast this year’s pantomime. We’ve visited
our home from a home, The Three Minute Theatre and are looking forward to
starting rehearsals.
I met with Laura Darrell the new addition to Panto in a Day,
hopefully someone here to stay. She’ll be managing the new team and will be a
stand in for any complications. We have had the set created, costumes
accumulated and realised that the price in car hiring has inflated hugely over
the last year! Gosh, there is a business start up there. We’ve spent a
ludicrous amount on car hiring this year. Soon we will have our own branded
vans travelling around the country. The script is finished and is another
exiting, fun and interactive show prepped for some pre-Christmas hyperactive
children. We are 10 days away from starting our first day of rehearsals and we
have 11 people on the payroll this year! As you can tell from my excited drivel
of letters stringing together words of positivity things are ‘kicking off’! We
of course will not be getting too complacent until everything is to the high
standard expected of the company...Which is a very high one!
Since our last addition a lot has developed, one of which
was my talk at Exeter University as an alumni. I spoke to undergraduates from
18-23 years old. We went through their aspirations and future goals. I’ll try
to cover my exact talk and through line in another blog addition. However, one
thing that did come up was; How do you keep yourself strict enough to work as
your own boss. It is something that has come up in the past and I thought about
putting words to paper through this blog. In short, the answer is discipline,
and I spoke to these undergraduates as if I was worlds away from putting off an
essay to go to the pub. But as you grow so do your thoughts, sure it sounds
obvious and a classic father son conversation but it is true. I have tried to
go through and break it down with sub-headings in taking the first steps to
working from home and becoming your own boss.
Know Your Weaknesses
As we just mentioned, discipline is one of the most
important aspects. It is so easy to say, ‘I’m working from home, I’ll start a
couple of hours late today. No! Our office hours are 10:00-18:00. That means, we
are in the office from that time and very frequently work beyond that 18:00
(which maybe we shouldn’t). But at the weekend, we don’t send a tweet, an email
or even think about schools. After 18:00 it is rare we’d reply to an email.
(Believe it or not we have received e-mails from teachers on Saturdays, Sundays
and a couple of times past 10pm!!) It would look highly unprofessional to
reply. We work hard and we work within office hours. If the phone goes off on
the Friday evening the messages won’t be picked up again until Monday. But the
other side to that is you need to put the hours in where necessary, there is
always something to do. Even if it is the dreaded tax return or receipt filing.
Distraction is of course the second biggest black hole to
fall into when working from home. ‘Check facebook for five minutes’, very
quickly becomes 20! And you’ll never just watch one YouTube clip. If you know
you’re going to get distracted go out. There are so many working spaces out
there, coffee shops being the most obvious. You can run any small business
anywhere with the internet and a calendar.
Dress Up
Get showered and dressed for your days work. Most people
have this misconception that we sit here in our pants and bed clothes. I only
wear boxer shortrs to bed, so it’d not only be cold but highly inappropriate.
Shower, dress and turn up to the office. I’m not talking a tuxedo but whatever
clothes you feel comfortable in. Personally I love wearing a suit, usually it’s
only for weddings though, but there is a certain self respect that comes with
donning a fitted shirt and smart trousers. Our new branded t-shirts and hoodies
are clothes I now live in.
Create an Office
You can’t sit on the couch. Why? Well that is where you sit
of an evening, sipping a beer, watching a film or just slobbing about. The
connotations do not point at work. Sit as a desk, a separate chair. Somewhere
you wouldn’t normally sit in ‘leisure’ times. Usually facing away from the TV.
Are you someone who can listen to the radio when working? It works for some by
creating an atmosphere and falters others because they’ll constantly be
shazaming every song. I know where everything is in my office, usually because
it is positioned within an arm’s reach. Surrounding myself with the things I’ll
need throughout the day means I don’t have to leave the chair.
Stick to Deadlines and Lists
I am a person that has always created lists. I love lists!
Do they work for you? Have the niggling feeling or just remembered a small yet
important e-mail you need to send? Make a quick note of. And although I seem to
constantly add to an ever growing list it does feel good crossing something
off. A physiological victory but PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) creates a
positive environment.
Stay in Touch
Are you the only person in your small business? Do you know
anyone else with a small business? E-mail them every now and then. Knowing
there are other people outside your front door makes it all worthwhile. We all
love to bitch about the boss and other colleagues, but if you are the boss, or
the only colleague it can be difficult. But you can share success and failures
of your business. Sharing what you’ve done and saying things out loud makes
everything real and relish in the fact you’ve just crossed a job off your list!
These are just a few pointers that will help you change from
a social working environment to a secluded self disciplined working
environment. I get more work done from home than I ever would in an
office. These sub-headings help create a
far more professional feeling with you and your own company. And this in turn
exudes from your skin and passes a level of professionalism onto your
customers.
