Train at Home, Work at Home: With rising fuel prices, more and more traffic on the roads, and a growing interest in finding a balance between work and family life, many people are considering opportunities to work at home or train at home for a new career. This issue of the Blackstone e-newsletter focuses on this trend and how you can prepare to make a change in your life if you are looking for a fresh start.

Attention Graduates: This month Blackstone graduates will have the chance to win an Ed2Go class and will also have the opportunity to be featured in future editions of our newsletter! Keep reading to find out how!

Independent paralegals who operate their own businesses are part of a wider community of “virtual” assistants who provide services for clients who may be located in another state, or even another country. With high speed Internet connections and new technologies that even allow videoconferencing from a home computer, independent contractors can easily build their client base without ever setting foot in an office. In a recent article in The Connecticut Law Tribune, writer Douglas Malan discusses the “cottage industry of virtual paralegals who are hired as independent contractors and handle the same duties as their more traditional in-house colleagues.”

The article continues:

“As the modern workplace has evolved for lawyers, so too has it changed for enterprising support staff who launch their own businesses and often build client bases through word-of-mouth and professional connections made during their law firm years.

“Paralegals are just a small part of the larger marketplace for virtual assistants, a marketplace in which businesses of all shapes and sizes can lean on administrative personnel who work from their home offices and leverage technology to create a less structured work day and more time for family.”

Law firms who use virtual paralegals benefit by having an extra hand when the workload is higher, but they don’t have to pay a salary or benefits when their caseload is lighter, explains the article.

Virtual assistants (including paralegals) even have their own professional organization, the International Virtual Assistants Association, which includes 600 members in 16 countries.

To learn more, read the entire article in The Connecticut Law Tribune.

For many parents, education and career advancement take a back seat to raising a family, with the need to balance busy schedules and maintain a home coming first. Many stay-at-home moms (and dads!) worry about what kind of jobs will be available to them when they wish to return to work and whether they have the skills needed in today’s marketplace. And while many consider returning to school to acquire new skills, they are concerned that it would be too difficult to juggle school and parenting responsibilities.

Many parents have found the ideal solution to this dilemma: distance education. “Online learning provides the flexibility individuals wouldn’t otherwise have in a traditional setting,” says Frank Mayadas, program director for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in an article on AOL’s Find a Job website. He explains that online learning makes it possible for parents to spend time on their studies without sacrificing quality time with their children.

In addition, a parent who goes back to school sets a great example for children who see how important it is to establish goals and live up to them by successfully structuring time and setting limits.

If you have taken time off from work to raise a family, distance education can offer other benefits as well, according to Distance Education.org:

• Education makes you more valuable and can give you an edge over other job applicants.

• You can study on your time, which works well for a parent with childcare responsibilities: go to “class” when you want to, not when you are required to.

• Education can fill a resume gap. If you’ve stayed at home to raise your kids for a few years, pursuing higher education can make that gap disappear and show that you are an ambitious self-starter. You may even be able to say that you left your last job to go back to school, as opposed to staying home to take care of a child.

• You don’t need childcare: You can study when the kids are at pre-school or school, while they are taking naps, or in the evening when a spouse is home to take over childcare duties.

To learn more about distance education opportunities with Blackstone, use the links to the right for more information on paralegal and allied health training opportunities.

For those parents who have already enrolled in a Blackstone program and are finding it a challenge to balance work and family life, here are some suggestions from About.com Distance Learning:

• Establish ground rules: Whether you need to post your study schedule on the office door or fridge or put up a “do not disturb sign,” let your children and spouse know when you will be studying so that they do not disturb you. Also discuss with your children when it may be appropriate to interrupt, in case there is an emergency. Following a schedule works both ways though, so you need to be available to your family and tend to their needs when you say you will. If your children see that they can trust you, they will be more likely to wait instead of interrupting you during study hours.

• Set an example: Establish a study routine side-by-side with your children after school. Serve a nutritious snack, turn off the television and work on your distance education program while the kids do their homework.

• Leave time for fun: Also set aside time to have fun with your children (such as family game or movie night) or your spouse (a relaxing dinner or evening out). Spending quality time with your family can relieve stress and ultimately make studying easier.

• Involve your family: Discuss what you are studying and why with your children so they understand your goals and why they are meaningful. Talk about the topics you are learning at the dinner table or while you are driving the kids to an activity. By demonstrating your enthusiasm for what you are learning you will set a good example for your kids and open up discussion about what they are learning in school as well.

If you are considering starting your own business, whether it is home-based or from an office or retail location, there are many things you can do to ensure success, starting with developing a business plan. Before you jump in, make sure you arm yourself with the knowledge needed to effectively market your services, handle finances and resolve problems. Blackstone and Ed2Go offer a variety of instructor-led online courses that can provide you with the expertise to successfully start your new venture. Courses include:

• Business Law for the Small Business Owner
• Creating a Successful Business Plan
• Start Your Own Small Business
• Start Your Own Consulting Practice
• Start and Operate Your Own Home-Based Business
• Marketing Your Business on the Internet

Courses start monthly (including September 17, October 15 and November 12), run for six weeks and cost only $99 each. To learn more, visit our Blackstone Ed2Go website.

Whether your Blackstone education has given you the knowledge to more effectively perform your job or helped you to launch a new career, we would like to hear from you so we can feature your success stories in upcoming issues of our e-newsletter. Each graduate who writes to us by October 1 will be entered in a random drawing to receive a courtesy Ed2Go online course and we’ll announce the winner in our October newsletter.

Please e-mail the editor at news@blackstone.edu with your name, address, phone number, job title, and place of employment; also include a brief description of your work and how your education at Blackstone has made a difference in your life. We will be happy to protect your privacy by publishing only your first name. We are looking forward to hearing from you by October 1!