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Helaine Iris
Path of Purpose Coaching
New Hampshire, USA
Year You Started Working From Home: 2001
Hours work per week: 25-30
Happy at home index: 10 (1=miserable, 10=nirvana)
What kind of business do you have at home?
Life and business coaching.
What did you do before you started a home business?
I worked as a health counselor.
What was your biggest challenge in starting your home business?
Finding enough consistent business to keep afloat.
What has been your biggest challenge staying in business?
Keeping my client numbers high enough.
What do you love about working from home?
The freedom to make my own rules and schedule. Being able to integrate my whole
life together. And being available to family.
What do you hate about it?
Nothing really, at first it was difficult to manage all the time freedom and still get
things done. Sometimes I miss regular contact with others, especially colleagues.
How do you inspire or motivate yourself everyday?
By loving the work I do, and reminding myself of that. Sometimes I give myself
rewards or incentives for moving through tasks that may not be my favorite.
How do you separate home life from your work life?
I work in an office that is separate from the rest of the house...with a door. I
(sometimes) dress for work. I resist doing household chores in the middle of my
work day. I limit email and office phone past certain hours. I try to be "done" by 6
pm.
What is your daily routine?
Exercise first, breakfast and light house chores. Then I check email and make my to
do list for the day. Work. Stop.
What is your biggest (or proudest) achievement so far?
That I have built a thriving business that supports my lifestyle. I'm widely
published (including Oprah magazine), and am actually a successful coach. The
statistics in my profession state that 70% of coaches can't build a practice over $30K
a year and I've more than doubled that.
What are you working on right now to grow your business?
I'm actually not in a need for growth phase. I'm interested in sustainability. I need to
keep myself in from of people and continue to feed my existing network.
What advice can you give about starting a home business?
Don't quit your day job until you are financially established. Make sure you learn
business fundamentals if you aren't by experience a business person, get
comfortable with sales, fast. Invest in a business coach, or find a mentor who can
push you and hold you accountable.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you do (or not do)?
I would have maintained a paycheck longer than I did, it was pretty stressful to
have inconsistent income. I would have hired the expensive business coach in year
2 rather than year 3. Hiring her pushed me over the top.
What do you do for fun when you’re not working?
Hang out with loved ones and friends, read, cook, knit, garden, travel.
Helaine has also written articles for Home Office Weekly:
Seven Strategies to Get Your Work & Life in Balance
Let Go: In Life and in Business
Would you like a Home Office Weekly Profile written about you and your
business? The only requirements are that you are a subscriber and you have your
own home business. Write to the editor, MarciaDuffy@HomeOfficeWeekly.com
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Home Office Weekly Profiles: Helaine Iris / Life & Business Coach
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