Make it Great

A question that seems to be asked a lot to WAHMs  (work at home moms) is, “How do you do it”. Meaning, how do you work, clean, feed your family and still get to bed at a decent hour. Well, it isn’t easy running a business no matter if your at home or outside of the home. But, I think working from home is a tad bit more challenging, mentally. You can’t exactly leave your work at work, it kind of follows you all day!

The answers to this question have all been about making a schedule. I don’t currently have a schedule, I will confess, but I do see that I need one. It is so easy to get sidetracked and forget about the emails, the phone calls or desk cleaning you need to do.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help out with the day to day stress and aid in making a schedule:

Do I like working in the morning, afternoon or night?

This will give you the foundation for your work schedule. It will allow you to plan all other activities around this time.

How many hours do I really need to work a day?

Figure out how long it really will take you to email, call, make products, fill orders or whatever else. I think the average range is 4-6 hours to do all of that. But to make calls and answer emails, that should really only take about 2 hours or so. Also, see if you can arrange certain duties for certain days, like ship orders on Mondays and Wednesdays and so on.

Can this time be broken up into sections?

If you have small children 4 straight hours at the computer may be near impossible. So, try and see if you can email in the morning, make phone calls during nap time, and make samples or fill orders in the evening.  Give each about 1-2 hours, if possible.

I find that breaking up a work day, helps me to feel like I am in control of my schedule. I think it is especially important to have a cut off time. I know it is hard, when you are a night owl, but, it would help a lot to have a definite Start Time and Finish Time much like an open and close time like regular businesses. I am  sure your customers will understand that you can’t always be available. What business do you know of that is always available? I don’t know of many…..

Make sure you are not running yourself ragged by always having to make deadlines by the skin of your teeth or constantly have to work late nights. It is not healthy or beneficial long term to be stressed out this way.

Make time to eat meals!

I know this may sound like a, DUH! to some of you, but it is really easy to grab a bag of chips, throw the children a sandwich and keep working but, that isn’t healthy. Insert lunch breaks into your schedule to eat with your children and leave the computer. Go sit at he kitchen table and take your time. I think 45 mins to an hour is sufficient time to prepare a lunch and just relax a bit.

I have a bad habit of waking up and then jumping on the computer to check emails! This has really taken a toll on the things I eat for breakfast. If you do this as well, try waking up earlier to give yourself time to make a wholesome breakfast and prepare your mind for the day. Let’s say you want to start work at 9:00 AM, well then at least give yourself an hour start by waking up a 8:00 AM. This is what we would do if we worked outside the home and I know it helped me get prepared for the day.

Even though we work from home, we have to treat our businesses like real jobs. Use your imagination and pretend you are getting ready for work, get dressed and fix your hair, please brush your teeth and welcome the day. Taking time throughout the day to organize thoughts and relax, helps to clear the mind and makes the day go a bit slower.

Hope these tips help you! I will keep you updated on my working habits , stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,

Jarmelia Ladson