Whether from your dining table, a converted garage and everything in between, it’s important to set certain boundaries when you are running a business from home. One of the biggest time thieves – apart from the Internet, is the telephone. Not only does it steal precious time (usually at the most inopportune moment), it can also raise havoc on your busy schedule.

As home-based business entrepreneurs, we are very much aware how easily the phone can disrupt our day. Then again, the telephone is probably the most important of all office supplies we have. Learning to manage telephone interruptions is definitely a skill needing to be worked upon.

When you consider the fact that most calls coming into your home during office hours will in fact be business related, you need to figure out how you are going to handle them. Unless a client is in a panic because of a problem only you can resolve, most other calls can be returned during regularly scheduled phone...