First is work schedule. A home business like any business requires work and often a lot of work. While it is true you do not have to get up at daybreak and put on a suit and tie to drive to work, one does need to set a work schedule and stick to it. I have set my schedule to work 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. I take an hour for lunch. I require myself to work a minimum of forty hours a week for my home business.

When I first started my home business it was easy to become distracted by things that need to be done around house: laundry, dirty dishes, mowing yard, etc. It is very important to treat home business like a regular job and in reality it is a regular job, it just happens to be in home. If you were working for someone else they would not tolerate you going home to clean dishes or mow yard, so to be a disciplined home business boss and do not allow yourself to do things other than working on your home business.

Maybe Strongest PR on Planet Earth?

Strong for business, non-profit and association managers when they use fundamental premise of public relations to produce external stakeholder behavior change – kind that leads directly to achieving their managerial objectives.

And strong when they do something positive about behaviors of those outside audiences that most affect their organization.

And finally, if this is you, really strong when you persuade those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

On other hand, not so strong when you limit your PR activity pretty much to placing product and service plugs on radio and in newspapers. In short, your public relations effort really must involve more than press releases, brochures and special events if you are to get your PR money’s worth.

The fundamental premise of public relations says as much: people act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action very people whose behaviors affect organization most, public relations mission is accomplished.

The strength of that blueprint can appear in results like these: new thoughtleader and special event contacts; membership applications on rise; new community service and sponsorship opportunities; prospects starting to work with you; new feedback channels; customers making repeat purchases; stronger relationships with educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities; improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; promotional contest overtures; enhanced activist group relations; capital givers or specifying sources looking your way, and even a rebound in showroom visits.

But first, division of labor. Just who is going to do work? Your own full-time public relations staff? People assigned to your unit by a parent organization? An outside PR agency team? Regardless of where they come from, they must be committed to you as senior project manager, to PR blueprint and its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring.

An alert. Just because someone describes him/herself as a public relations person doesn’t mean they’ve bought whole loaf of bread. Be sure PR people assigned to your unit really believe why it’s SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they accept reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.