There’s a difference between working as a writer and running a writing business. As Avenue Z Writing Solutions grows, I’m discovering I need to dedicate more and more time to simply keeping the business going.

I now spend a couple of hours a day (at least) just … umm… doing business things: answering emails, setting appointments, maintaining my blog, etc. And that doesn’t include the time I should be spending on marketing and organization.

This may sound crazy, but I’m hiring an assistant, or at least I’m taking the steps to hire one. I placed an ad on craigslist this morning, and I just received my first reply.

I’m asking for help for 4 hours a week. This will give me a dedicated person to help with my blog and website, follow through with marketing, assist with research and bug me about doing my billing and accounting.

One of the main benefits will be the peace of mind I’ll get by being able to get some of my tasks out of my head. When I’m relaxing in the tub or running in the evening or heading off to bed, I’m ALWAYS feeling guilty about things left undone. I have great marketing ideas I want to put in motion. I need to really clean up this blog. I have to update the samples and testimonials on my website. These little things drive me crazy and make it almost impossible for me to truly relax.

Side note — Productivity Guru David Allen’s philosophy is that these little nagging thoughts are what stop you from being productive. His book rocks!

Thus, I’m hiring someone. I’m justifying it because I’m no longer hitting the coffee shop every day, and, believe it or not, I was spending almost as much per month at the coffee shop as I will be paying an assistant. Yeah. I had a problem.

Cross your fingers!

This morning I called my sister, as I do almost every morning. Her two boys, 2 and 5, were watching Ninja Turtles. “Do you have poo-poos?” Sarah asked the little one. “Bring me your diaper and let’s get you changed.”

“Sarah, I should go,” I said.

“Oh, you don’t have to go. I can handle a dirty diaper and a call at the same time.”

Yes, she can. She’s done it dozens of times with me since she became a mom. But could she stop a child from chasing the dog with a T-rex toy while finishing a newsletter series for a telephony company?

Beats me. I know I couldn’t do it. I just read an article this morning about women leaving the workforce because of the economy. According to the article, the percentage of working women ages 25 to 54 was 74.9 percent in 2000. The number fell to 72.7 percent in June.

One would think that the number of freelancers or small businesses would grow when the mothers moved home. Mothers are smart, organized, innovative and great at multitasking. I bet many of them will be finding ways to make money from home.

But I don’t know how they do it. This morning I had to walk up to the grocery store to buy milk and fruit, then I stressed out because I had to make coffee, cook oatmeal and do a little research before my first teleconference, which is in 4 minutes. How would I do all that if I had two little ones at my feet?

I admire moms who can work from home. And I’m very glad I’m not one. The cat is enough.

LogMeIn lets you set up a network of computers so you can work anywhere. I have used remote access systems before, and the delay drove me nuts. I always felt like I was drunk driving with my mouse.

If you need to work from the coffee shop, you have to try LogMeIn! I put the desktop on first then registered my new laptop. When my desktop is on, I can use my laptop (or any other computer I am using) to access my home desktop. In real time. With no delay.

I have been sitting on my front porch every afternoon this week, using LogMeIn to reach the desk in my office. It’s so good I forget that I’m remotely accessing things.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

Here’s a list of my other favorite free tools.

I have shopped for therapists once or twice before (what — you thought I was always this sane?). It was always annoying to me that I couldn’t meet with someone first to see if I liked him and his style. I always had to make an appointment and pay for a visit or two or three to see if we’d get along.

But we don’t get to try out therapists before we buy. We don’t get to audition a plumber or sample a dish at a restaurant before we sit down to dinner. As consumers, we gather recommendations from friends or the web and hope that we’re happy with the service. And if we’re not, we usually pay anyway.

As a freelance writer, I’m asked from time to time to write a sample paragraph or, in one case, a whole article on spec — meaning I write something for free hoping they’ll like it and pay me. Chrisblogging.com says there are two reasons you might want to write something on spec: if you’re new and if you really want to get into work with a certain company. Author Deborah Straw warns that you have no legal rights when you write something on spec, and you can get burned like she did.

I’m actually not bothered by writing a few paragraphs to show someone I can write for a new market. I’m generally a fast writer, and if someone asks me to write a few words to see if I can speak to an audience, I usually dash something off in an email within a half an hour. I figure that if they don’t like what they see, I’m really no worse off. And if they do like it, I’ve probably earned a fairly loyal client.

Today I found a cool analysis of successful viral videos that I learned about on Seth Godin’s site. I took a few minutes to forward it to one of my clients who wants to do some video.

As I stirred in bed this morning, I received two emails from another client, who subsequently called me to set up an appointment.

I set an appointment time with a third client for an interview today, and a fourth client just called to set up another appointment.

None of these things took more than 5 minutes, but together they ate away at 45 minutes since I kept popping in and out of my other morning work to answer the calls, return the emails and set the appointments.

My philosophy is that my hourly rate needs to be strong enough to absorb these little connections. I can’t possibly charge 15 minutes per client (15 is my minimum these days) for these little pieces. I’ve written before about how little projects can eat away at a day, but these little admin pieces just don’t fit into the billable category, I think. I just need to make sure that I get paid enough to cover these little things.