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Work At Home Moms Time Management Tips
"How do you DO it?!" If I had a dime for every time I heard
that, I would be able to quit my home business.
Just kidding.
Seriously, time management is a serious issue for work from home
Moms. You want your home business to be a success, but you don't
want the rest of your responsibilities to fall by the wayside...
especially your children, who are the reason you chose to work
from home in the first place.
While you're probably already doing some of the obvious things
like taking advantage of naptimes and bedtime, I hope you find
some additional ideas from the following time management tips to
make things easier for you while working from home and caring
for young children.
Time Management for your Home Business
Have a clear purpose when you go online
Whenever you go to your computer, have a definite purpose in
mind. It helps to keep a notebook by your computer always with
your goals and to-do lists in it, all in once place. This helps
prevent you from aimlessly checking email or surfing the net and
getting lost. Know what you need to accomplish, write it down,
do it, and move on to the next activity.
Outsource as many tasks as you can afford Consider hiring a
virtual assistant if you have a lot of administrative tasks. Or
pay your kids to do things for you that are age appropriate.
This can even be a tax deductible expense. Check with your
accountant.
Analyze your activities
Think about the steps you engage yourself in with your business
and see if those tasks are really paying off for you. A lot of
work at home Moms do things like join safelists, traffic
exchanges and other activities that most internet marketing
experts agree are not the best use of your time. Ask people who
are where you want to be in your business how they manage their
time. Just because something is free doesn't mean you should be
spending time doing it.
The best $20 you can spend on your business
That may be the money you spend hiring a Mommy's helper to come
over and play with your children for several hours. It's amazing
what you can get done during that time. Plus, your kids usually
get worn out from all the fun and take longer naps. Everybody
wins!
Think Assembly Line
In other words, group similar activities together. Don't check
your email all day, check it two or 3 times a day (at most) and
answer all the emails at the same time. When you want to make
changes to your website, list them all and wait until you need
to make several changes at once. When one child asks for a story
gather them all around. Same thing for snacks. Run all your
errands at once.
Utilize Technology
Get wireless internet and a laptop if at all possible. This can
make a drastic improvement in your ability to work online around
your children. You can sit on the front porch and work on your
website while your kids play in the yard. Or you can drop them
off at a friend's house and head to Starbucks and get online!
Use autoresponders, mailing lists and other resources to
automate your business. If you find yourself typing out answers
to the same questions over and over again, add pages to
Associated Websites
your
website or create an ecourse or downloadable report that
addresses those topics and refer your customers or downline or
whomever to those.
Household time management
Simplify meal preparation and shopping
That doesn't mean you spend a lot of extra money on convenience
foods that aren't good for you. But do make simple meals that
even your children can help you prepare. Use your crock pot.
Collect recipes that require few ingredients and no elaborate
preparation.
Have a good routine for making menus and shopping. In the long
run, extra trips to the store for that missing ingredient is
costing you time and money. Most families eat the same 10 or so
favorite dishes over and over. Enlist the help of your family to
figure out what those favorites are, print up the ingredients
into a shopping list, and take that to the store. Have the list
posted on the fridge to mark things off as they're used up.
Get your kids to help out around the house more. Here are more
work from home Mom house cleaning tips
General Mom time management tips
Identify time wasters in your day
It's a different thing for everyone. Maybe it's the TV, maybe
it's friends calling to chat in the middle of the day. Maybe
it's activities that seem necessary but that really aren't
productive, like posting a lot in message forums. Whatever it
is, identify it and eliminate it if possible, or at least manage
it. Use your voicemail, and call people back when it's a better
time for you. Figure out if watching Oprah or the Apprentice is
really adding value to your life or just wasting your time.
Make a timer your best friend
A timer has so many uses. You can set it to tell your child when
you'll be available for them. Young children have difficulty
comprehending time, and the timer will set them at ease so they
won't bug for you that entire period.
It also keeps you on track and helps you finish up tasks more
quickly. Use it when you're reading email, cleaning house,
whenever you want to accomplish something fast.
Have a Routine
Having a routine for your household chores and business
activities can really help Moms with time management. When you
have a good routine, you can do things without thinking, and
they always take up less time that way. Keep your routines
written down until they're memorized. Use an organizing calender
or digital system...whatever works best for you. Make sure
everyone else in your household knows the basics of your routine
so that things flow more smoothly.
Set limits
No one person can do everything. Your time and energy is
valuable and you need to be firm in setting limits on how you
spend it. Don't commit to things that you can't reasonably
accomplish. Get enough rest. Learn to say No. Avoid negative
people who like to whine.
As Moms we're constantly working on time management, but with
creativity and good routines, we can have a thriving business
and a balanced life.
About the author:
Carrie Lauth publishes a "no fluff" newsletter for work from
home Moms. Get your free copy plus extra subscriber goodies at:
http://www.business-moms-expo.com/newsletter.html
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