Posted by
Tamara Wilson in
Business on
November 2, 2008 |
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Working at home can be challenging, but there are things that you can do to better your chance for success. Read on to find out the top ten tips for mothers who want to work at home successfully.
- Set up your work space to match your personality. If you are bubbly and enthusiastic, use bold bright colors on your walls, and even for your mouse pad and file folders. Have matching accessories that reach out and make you want to use them. If you tend to be quiet and laidback, a more subtle approach may be more your style. Surrounding yourself with your comfort level, will actually encourage you to spend time in your home office and enjoy what you are doing.
- Be organized. Lack of organization is the single biggest time waster and energy zapper. It’s too easy to get off-track and lose focus on the task at hand when you can’t locate that crucial piece of information.
- Use a planner to organize your day, your week, and your month. Make lists, prioritize planned activities, and then set out to accomplish what’s on your list. It’s so satisfying to cross things off the “to-do” list.
- Set up a work schedule. Although this may vary from one day to the next, after all that’s one of the perks of working from home; be realistic in your expectations. Be careful not to over-schedule yourself. Working too many hours is often a bigger problem than devoting too few hours to a home business.
- Have call display (caller ID) on your phone. Only answer if it’s business related, during your scheduled work hours, if at all possible. Ask family and friends to understand that you will be unavailable at times each day, and to leave a message.
- Be professional in your dealings with your clients. Even though you are at home, maintaining a business-like atmosphere makes it easier for you to act professional and be treated like a professional, rather than just someone who is working at home.
- Have set times to read and respond to daily emails. Unless an email relates to your current project, don’t open it until it’s the designated “check email” time. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of quickly checking and the next thing you know a half hour has elapsed.
- If you find that you are having difficulty devoting the necessary time and energy to your business, here’s something different to try. Treat your home business as if it belongs to someone else. Although you love your boss, she is very demanding. You want to show her that you can do this job well, but to do that you’ll have to put forth a solid effort. Sound kind of silly? By pretending that you have a boss you may be more likely to treat your home business like a real job that you want to keep and work that much harder at.
- Eliminate distractions whenever possible. That may mean that the blinds on that window right in front of your computer are closed or that the TV in the corner is off.
- If you have small children at home, you may want to consider hiring someone to look after them for a few hours daily. It’s almost impossible to work at home and tend to the needs of children at the same time.
Keep in mind that working at home is challenging, but greatly rewarding. Following these tips will help you to overcome the challenges and become a successful work at home mom who still has her sanity at the end of the day.
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[...] rest is here: Top 10 Tips for Work at Home Mothers Posted in Online Business on Nov 2nd, 2008, 10:50 [...]
Above ten tips are really interesting and you have shown a new direction to us.
Thank for posting !
Thanks for the tips. I especially like the one about designated email times. I find that I get easily sidetracked as throughout the day I’ll open my emails and then action them straightaway. This makes it much harder to get through my main tasks for the day.
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I’d say no.9 was the biggest for me as distractions can come from anywhere. Although I do find once I am focused on something it’s a lot harder for me to get distracted. The trick is to get started and stay focused.
Tamara,
It is so nice to run into you again! These points are so important if you work at home and want to get anything accomplished either personally or professionally. Whenever I find myself getting sidetracked I know it is because I have strayed from the list of points that you outlined above.
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I agree with Caroline, distractions are definitely the biggest problem I have when trying to get anything done online. I go to a site – see something – get sidetracked and before I know it I’m on facebook talking to my mates having completely forgotten what I’m supposed to be doing. But that’s where No 3 comes in handy.
Good advice.