Balancing Home and Work can be a Challenge!
For Moms that work at home, balancing home and work can become quite a challenge at times...
Learning the art of time management can make a huge difference!
Raising a family and growing a business are both full-time careers!
As a home business entrepreneur, your work place is often within a few feet of your family space….
Having a schedule has helped me a lot in balancing home and work... I am a homeschooling mom as well as having joined the ranks of the moms that work at home, so I really need a work schedule!
One of the biggest challenges I have is knowing when to lay my home based business aside and switch from being a ‘work at home mom’ to simply a ‘stay at home mom’!!....
One of the biggest tips that I can give anyone in trying to balance home and work is to have a schedule…
…first of all… Prioritize your life…for me, my priorities are…
God
Family
business
Use a monthly planner of some sort, if you need to, and fill in the spots that you know you need to be there for your family, school events, etc…
It took me awhile to get this thing figured out as I had always been a stay at home mom and was not very organized ~ in fact, my husband would tell you, I STILL need training on that end!-lol ~
…a peek inside my daily schedule…
6:30am – wake up and get daughter off to high-school, (we live about 30 miles from town so she has a long bus ride!) I check emails etc. while I make sure she has everything she needs..
7:00am – fix a cup of coffee and relax a bit, have some quiet time...
7:30am – work on computer , respond to emails, etc…
8:30am – get the 3 youngest up , have brex and get homeschool started
9am – as they do their schoolwork, I do odd jobs on computer between questions and also pick up around the house, etc… I do a lot of multi-tasking as they do their lessons!
noon – we are usually done with school by then, and they are off doing other chores, or playing…
2pm – 5pm – My work time – I am usually doing phone work during these 3 hours, but because I work from home – there is always the occasional interruption…
6pm - ? – dinnertime, etc…family time…church activites…
I do administrative work in the evenings as time permits… and also that is when I like to plug into personal development training …
Your schedule may vary a lot from this but once you start implementing a few simple home business time management tips and strategies, you will find that balancing home and work can be a breeze ~
And you will be able to relax and enjoy your new career as a home business entrepreneur!
Kim is a single parent who has spent years unsuccessfully trying to balance her work life with home life. In December 2004, she got started working from home - she has been able to achieve that balance. "I traded in two jobs at 70+ hours a week to work 20+ hours a week from my home and, get this, I have been able to double last year's income! ~ My home based business = Financial and time freedom for me and mine!
...One of the most common complaints from other family members against us as work at home moms is that sometimes we don't know when to stop!
After dinner, the temptation often is to rush off to the computer to check emails, maybe do some book keeping chores or perform a hundred other business-related tasks – instead of interacting with the rest of the family members.
Scenarios like these could result to resentments from other family members and becoming the common source of family arguments, especially in the early stages of your business.
Remember, you need your family’s support, even if it seems as if your family has no idea what pressures you’re facing!
After all...our family IS our number one priority - Right?
And as Christian work at home moms, learning how to balance work and family is crucial to the spiritual health of the entire family - not mentioning our own sanity at times!
One solution is to set aside a special time each day or week that is designated as “family time.”
During this time, you will accept no phone calls, set no appointments, and not even think about your business.
You will probably not even want to stay near your home office!...
Think about going to dinner and sharing the three best things that happened to each family member during the week....
Give the same respect to your family as you do your business - if you expect your kids to not interrupt when you are on a business call, then give them the same respect of not accepting any business calls during family time!..(that's what answering machines are for, by the way - lol)
Click here to watch a beautiful movie on balancing home and work...
Feel free to share it with family and friends. They will love you and thank you for it!
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