Home Business Mum
Mom…. Home Business owner…
So, which hat are you wearing right now?
For work-at-home-moms it’s not a question of which hat are you wearing today or, for most work-at-home-moms, not even a question of which hat are you wearing this morning, but more of a “minute by minute” situation.
Does that sound familiar? Whether you are shaking your head up and down emphatically or just saying “There have been days…” read on to find out how you can move forward to a place of “That used to be me.”
In today’s world there are certain truths that do not stand a chance of changing any time soon. One of those truths is that there are more possible things to do, than there will ever be time to do them. One of the biggest challenges facing work-at-home moms today is how to manage it all. Set priorities and managing time is no easy task, but can definitely be accomplished.
In this series you will find some “Quick Tips” that you can implement with minimal effort. You will also find some things that will require a little extra effort in the beginning, but prove to be time and sanity savers that pay for themselves many times over. All of them are geared towards helping you manage the integration of work and home.
Let’s start with a few “Quick Tips”:
1. Make a list of what needs to be done the next day at the end of each day..
• Do this for both personal and business tasks and obligations.
• Prioritize them.
• Look at it as a brain dump. This allows you to waste less time the next day trying to get yourself reoriented. This also frees your self conscious from worrying the rest of the day and night about forgetting something tomorrow.
• Once you have dumped the information to paper or electronic organizer, then release it and relax.
2. Create a work area.
• Designate a desk or table as “Work Space”. (Even if you like to work sitting on the deck with your laptop. You need one area that is strictly for work and work related items.)
• Designate a filing cabinet, or at least one of it’s drawers, as “Work Only”.
• Allow ONLY work related items in/on these areas.
• Keep ALL necessary work items here. Make sure everyone, including you, knows that is where these items go. (Paperclips, pens, highlighters, white out, calculators, stapler, scissors, letter openers, stationary, dictionary, notepads, folders, calendars, etc… Everything you need to work.)
3. Focus on work when you are working.
• Face your desk away from all distractions.
• Create an environment conducive to work.
• Let family and friends know that you are at work when you are in that area.
• Be your “Boss”. When you are working do not allow yourself to waste your “employer’s” time by doing things that hinder your productiveness.
• If there are certain things that MUST be done before you can “call it a day”, focusing can mean the difference between being done in an hour or still trying to finish 2 hours later.
I hear some of you laughing and saying “Yeah, let’s see YOU try that with a toddler running around.” I have, plus my teenagers and all of their friends that adopted my house as their second home. It is challenging, especially at first. There are definitely some “Rules of Engagement” in this battle.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
1. Everyone needs to know the rules.
• Talk to everyone that your decision to work at home involves.
• Talk to them in a way and at a level they understand.
• Be clear about what you are doing and why.
• Be clear about what you need to be able to do it successfully.
• Explain what benefits it will have for them.
2. Make a schedule.
• If it needs to be a different amount of hours, at different times each day, in order to realistically make it work; then so be it.
• Include work and personal time. There is much less “competition for Mom’s time”; if they know that they are going to get their chance to have you too.
• This will not only help them know when it is “their time”, but it will also help keep you on track.
• Respect your personal time, as well as your family and work time when you make your schedule.
• All of those “hats” we spoke of above WILL have their place. You have two choices: include them intentionally where and when they make sense or land right back in chaos because they “invaded” your schedule anyway.
3. Provide a “work area” for the smaller ones.
• Make a space that is theirs near you for use during times that they need to be near you to be content.
• Provide activities that can be done quietly and predominantly on their own in their “work area”.
• Remember they often like to mimic you. An activity that is “the same thing” Mommy is doing can go a long way.
• Explain to them that they can be loud and active in their play area or they can be quiet and calm in the work area. (Think “inside voice” and “outside voice” from when you were a child.)
• Don’t feel guilty for teaching them to respect this. (The more you can accomplish in less time; the more time you have to spend with them undistracted by work. Not to mention that their kindergarten teacher will LOVE you for having already introduced the concept.)
• Do allow a learning curve. New things can take a little time and effort to get right.
4. Designate a signal or sign that means “Only if the house is on fire!”
• Use this when you are on a business call or situation where you cannot have an interruption.
• Make it one that can be seen easily and does not require a noise from you. (For the two year old it could be a picture of Elmo with his finger to his lips sitting on your desk in an 8×10 frame. For the teenager it could be a “No Trespassing” sign.)
Are you starting to see where this is going? One of the best things about working at home is being in control of your own work hours. It is also one of the hardest things to manage and is responsible for many home business failures.
You no longer have the safety net of an outside employer that guarantees you a place to work, the environment you need, or a pre-set schedule that releases you from the responsibility of deciding how much time you should work and when. Along with the greater flexibility to make your schedule one that works for you (and all of the benefits that can mean), comes the responsibility to provide yourself with the space, environment, time and resources you need to succeed at both your personal and business goals.
Remember, as difficult as it may be in the beginning it will get easier. The more you can get the important people in your life “on board” the easier it will be. The easiest way to get them on board is to include them in the process and not cut them out of the resulting schedule. No one wants to make something work that only stands to rob them completely of something they love. In this case what they love is you.
Author: Lori Stephenson
MBSconnections.com
Small Business Consultant
Mail: admin @ mbsconnections.com
