HomeOf course ALL moms are working moms, but those who run a business from home often have the most difficulty balancing all their roles. Unlike an outside office, a home office leaves you open to constant potential distractions, both from children and from nagging household chores. Clarifying your responsibilities (business and personal) and implementing good time management are both keys to success.
First, what are your short-term goals for your business? Here are three options for the types of goals you may want to set:
• Financial - exactly how much money do you need to bring in over a particular time period?
• Task-related - what specific actions need to be taken?
• Time-related - how much time can you devote to your business, daily or weekly?
It helps to pick one of these three, then clarify exactly what you intend to accomplish. This way, you know what you're working toward each time you sit down. Without specific goals, you'll likely feel that you've never accomplished enough, or spent enough time at your job. Goals give you the ability to determine when you've completed what you need to for the day (or week or month), so you can then give yourself permission to stop.
Whether or not your goals are exclusively time-related, it's important to figure out how much time you can work in a given day, in light of your other roles - particularly that of being a mom. A good general rule is to come up with how much time you think you should have, and use half of that as a realistic expectation. With young children, you often have to squeeze a lot of productivity into small windows of time, and finding periods that are free from interruptions can be a challenge.
Here are some additional things to consider:
• What is the most important use of your working time? Prioritizing is critical when time is limited.
• How do you best create blocks of uninterrupted time? Can you capitalize on naptimes, get up earlier than your children, work when your spouse can watch the kids, or bring in a sitter for a few hours per week?
• How do you best keep yourself focused and on-task? During your working hours, it's necessary to set aside housework, personal calls and e-mails, just as you would have to do in a regular office.
• If you need more specific direction, many resources are available. Among these, I'm offering a workshop in Roseville starting August 20; for information, please visit www.clarityandbalance.com/solopreneur.
Working efficiently, with set times and clear goals, streamlines your workday, giving you more time to focus on your most important job - being a mom.
Your assignment: Take a good look at your business - how could you better use your time, increase productivity, or set meaningful goals? Pick one area that could use a little help, and focus on making one or two specific improvements over the next week.
Ready to take the assignment? Want to talk about this? Share your ideas and thoughts at M.O.M. Balance forum.
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