She’s cute, but I don’t want her to take my messages!
Lots of holistic practitioners, Feldenkrais® practitioners among them, work at home, and do double duty with their phone line… it’s often one line for home and work.
Lots of us have kids, too… and it can be pretty hard to resist when they plead with us to let them record the message on the answering machine.
My business recommendation to you today is — if you have children and only one phone line, that you DO resist the pleading and the temptation to let your 6-year old record an irresistible phone message for you.
These are some of the reasons why I didn’t let my kids record my phone message when they were young:
I’ve hung up (and so have others I know) without leaving a message on a particular professional’s machine because the message was an entire “original” song sung by the child who wrote it… to the tune of Silver Bells and replete with screeching high notes and several repeats of the chorus.
First impressions are formed very quickly and I never considered my young children to be the best representatives of my practice.
Working at home — which I’ve done all my life — is like walking a tightrope. Our clients may already wonder if we’re going to be interrupted by our families. It’s important that we show them that we have good boundaries and our phone message is often the first place they encounter us.
Kids need to have their creativity treasured, and there are loads of ways to do that without making them the voice on the machine. Quick, if this stuck a nerve, go change your message before the phone rings!
