Originally Posted by Office Goddess

My clients have NO IDEA that I work a 9-5!! I don't answer my phone during the day (my default ring is 30-seconds of silence, I have custom rings for the hubby and my 9-5) and I explain to my clients/potential clients that 1) answering the phone is really distracting, it can take up to 10 minutes to get 'back in the groove' of what I was working on when I answered the phone, and that it might have been THEIR project I was in the middle of... 2) I prefer email as it guarantees that discussions/instructions/questions are clearly understood by both parties. I return phone calls/emails during breaks (morning/lunch/afternoon) and before/after my 9-5; I often return calls from the parking lot of work at 4:30pm. I work on projects outside of JOB hours, but my clients don't need to know this! Feel free to pm me if you would like info on the 'silent' ring tone.

That's great! I work full-time in HR so I am doing this part-time. I think that you have a great system set up.