I am (hopefully) going to start my online store soon, but have a question about how my customers will contact me. I know that I need a phone number that customers can call but I am a little concerned. I have small children, and am wondering how I will be able to take customer calls with my children running around. The background noise customers will hear is not professional and will not send the right message. Any suggestions?

That's a great question. I also work from home and have a 6 month old and it can be tricky figuring out when to take business calls. Maybe you can set up an online chat on your website for people to ask you questions. At one point we had www.meebo.com/ on our company's website to allow for realt time Q and A.

Great idea, thank you!

You could always use a message phone. Clients get a voicemail saying that you are currently assisting another customer........ and you return the call when it is convenient for you. So long as you do return the calls.

Another good idea. I like the idea of the online chat because it offers immediate customer service, but at the same time I don't know how practical it would be for me to monitor the computer all day long. I guess i still need to think on this.

This is just a suggestion but you could get an answering machine and let the customer leave a message with a call back number. Then at your convenience like when the kids are taking naps I would call them. You just have to be creative when you have small children. If any family comes over during the day like grandparents which I'm one let them play with the kids and you could go to your bedroom and close the door and do it that way. Grab every opportunity you have.