Self employed people, do your friends and family constantly interrupt your work?

One of the annoying trasntitions from looking at self employed jobs to actually going self employed is that one of the first obstacles you’re going to run into is managing time – both how you manage your time, and how you let other people manage your time. I am talking about the inevitable interruptions from friends and family when it comes to the latter. Perhaps you may have an exceptional circumstance by having a new born baby or toddler to look after, although that particular circumstance is not the subject of this post; rather in this post we are talking about adult interruptions.

I found the lead answer below rather amusing.

My mom is self-employed with two full time jobs. Nobody gives a thought to visiting or calling in the middle of the day. Do you have this problem too? How can you politely tell people? It seems they all think since she’s her own boss, she can take a break anytime. This is making her crazy. What to do without being rude?
Robert…do you really do that to your friends and family? Effective, but harsh. There must be a softer way.

you promptly tell them in no uncertain terms u are working. good bye first time.
2nd time u give them a bill for 100$ per hour.
3rd time hang up or do not open the dooor.
until folks pay up front for ur life they get the door.
ur mom can be a business person or door matt – her choice.

It’s true though, if we’re going to avoid interruptions, we have to put our foot down in no uncertain terms. So if someone does refuse to acknowledge your verbal request, then yes bill them – maybe not a whole $100 as they might take it completely the wrong way, but certainly gets the message across if they know you’re serious about charging for your time.

How do you provide job references / referees if you have been self employed?

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