Top 10 Tips to Stick to a Schedule When You Operate a Home Business
Today’s post on the topic of sticking to a schedule when you operate a home business is brought to you by a friend of mine Chrissie. We’ll be seeing a weekly feature from her in the future as shes a great writer and “living the dream” of working from home.
The decision to work from home is a very appealing one for many. The phrase “work at your computer in your pyjamas” carries with it a sense of freedom and liberation that many cubicle confined workers long for. There are countless benefits to working from home, but many people don’t realize the drawbacks until they are in the business and struggling. One of the most appealing factors of working from home is the flexibility in scheduling and not having to answer to an employer. In fact, it is this very benefit that causes many home businesses to fail. Many business operating out of the home fail within their first year because this flexibility that is so appealing, is SO appealing, that home workers can never establish, and maintain, a good schedule that works for them, their lives, and their business.
I am a full-time freelancer that works from home, and have been doing so for a few years now. I am also a single mom, and there is any given day where a chance event could occur that throws off my entire schedule. This has probably happened to you as well. When one day gets thrown off, you can easily disorganize your entire week if you don’t manage that time properly.
Here are some scheduling tips that I have come up with, through trial and error, that have helped me keep my full-time business a full-time business with some scheduling how-to’s.
1. Keep two emails minimum – one for personal and one for business. Do not check your personal email during your work times. If you really want to waste your work hours, you are better off just sitting in front of the T.V. for an hour.
2. Check your work email at set times in the day. If you have a business that requires constant client communication, 3 times a day should do it. 9 AM, 12 PM, and 3 PM. Pick the times that work best for you and when you can reasonably expect to hear from clients, and have time to communicate with them. Chances are, you are not getting paid for each email that you send. So the more time you spend on email, the more money you are taking from yourself by not putting in productive work time.
3. On Sunday nights, schedule your week. Make a list of what is due and when, and fit these tasks into the days they have to be done. This way, you go into your week organized. You may get new jobs, tasks, or projects, through the week, but at least you are starting your week with an idea of what kind of time you have available.
4. You may do the same thing every day, you may have different projects or assignments every day. Every home business is different. Set your next-days schedule the day before. Only do one day at a time or you will start to feel swamped. If you can’t do this, at least write down what you must accomplish the next day. Make a list in order of importance so that you know the next morning when you start your day, what you expect of yourself. Don’t finish your work day until the list is complete. Why? Because if you don’t, you will have even MORE work the next day.
5. I find it helps to list an approximate time frame beside each job I have that day. Sometimes I get new jobs and it really can be up in the air, but beside each task you’ve given yourself, list how long you expect it to take. Give yourself cushion room here. If you think one job will take an hour, give yourself an hour and a half *just in case*.
6. Make sure you schedule breaks. Here you can check your personal mail, run errands, make dinner, or do whatever you need to do. I have my break times during school pick-ups and drop-offs because it’s just easier for me. I can still clear my head, get out of work mode for a little bit, make calls that need to be made, grab a coffee or a bite, and still swing right back into my work day when the break is over. School times are not something flexible for me, so it only made sense to me to work my breaks into it. Find the times that work for you. If you don’t take breaks, you will find yourself getting stressed very easily.
7. Do not make personal calls or answer your doorbell during your scheduled work times. This one was a tough one for me at first. Particularly when everyone and their brother knew I worked from home, it meant nothing to them to drop in or give a ring when they had free time. This is your work day. You can deal with the world when your work day is done, or when your break comes up. If this is tough for you, turn off your phone and put headphones on when you are working.
8. Leave yourself an hour at the end of each day for administration. This will serve you two purposes. For one thing, you are probably burnt out from working all day, and this is a great way to unwind but still be productive. Secondly, this is stuff that you need to get done. Even though you aren’t being paid for administrative duties, you still need to invoice, email, make calls, etc. and do this as you are winding down and shutting your brain off.
9. Don’t be afraid to set office hours with your clients. Let them know when you will and will not be receiving emails or making calls. If you have a business phone line, ensure your voicemail greeting makes callers aware of when you will be taking calls or returning messages. Again, even other businesses can have the tendency to take advantage of the home worker. No, you are not always “on” or available. Commit to this to save yourself some headache.
10. By the same token, make sure you give yourself at least one complete day off every week. That means, from the minute you get up, until the minute you go to bed, you are not working. You need this downtime, and your business will not collapse because of this. Let your clients know ‘Sundays’ are your day off or whatever day you choose. You can even have a different day every week off if that serves you better. Only you know what will work for you. If you take care of yourself, you will be better equipped to take care of your business.
Wow excellent tips indeed! These tips can be very helpful as how often we who work at home break our schedule every now and then for small reasons. The whole blog is awesome and here it is I have bookmarked your blog: http://del.icio.us/britneyvaughan
Thanks for the tips… I think this is the time for people to be more disciplined! These tips for sure will help in that!
Nice tips… It is quite useful. Thanks
I bookmark it too. I wish can read more about the kind of articles.
Fantastic goods of your stuff, man. We have understand your stuff prior to and you’re way too wonderful. Simply put i like what youve acquired here, certainly like what youre stating and just how where you say it. You create it enjoyable but you just take care of to maintain it sensible. I cant wait to see a lot more from you. This really is an incredible internet site.
500+ High PR Blog posts linking back to your site, see http://rankblasters.com/555-high-pr-blog-post-blast
It always surprises me how disrespectful people can be in their blog comments, nice blog keep it up and don’t listen to the haters!
Hi there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a honest price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!
Throughout the awesome design of things you’ll get an A+ with regard to effort and hard work. Where exactly you lost me ended up being in all the facts. As it is said, details make or break the argument.. And it couldn’t be more correct at this point. Having said that, permit me reveal to you what exactly did work. Your writing is definitely highly convincing and that is probably why I am taking the effort to opine. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. Secondly, while I can easily notice the jumps in reasoning you come up with, I am not certain of how you seem to unite your points which in turn help to make the final result. For right now I shall subscribe to your issue but hope in the near future you link the dots much better.
Hola! I’ve been following your web site for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from New Caney Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the fantastic job!
Almost all of the things you articulate is astonishingly appropriate and that makes me wonder why I had not looked at this in this light previously. Your article truly did switch the light on for me personally as far as this specific subject goes. But there is actually 1 point I am not too comfortable with and while I try to reconcile that with the actual central idea of your issue, let me see just what all the rest of your subscribers have to say.Nicely done.
Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It in reality used to be a amusement bill it. Glance intricate to a lot more brought reasonable from you! However, how can easily we talk?
It¡¦s actually a cool and useful piece of information. I¡¦m happy that you simply shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such excellent information being shared freely out there.
Wow! This can be one particular of the most helpful blogs We have ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Excellent. I am also an expert in this topic so I can understand your hard work.
Great paintings! This is the kind of information that are meant to be shared around the web. Disgrace on the seek engines for not positioning this put up higher! Come on over and consult with my site . Thanks =)
Usually I don’t learn post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do so! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, very great post.
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such fantastic info being shared freely out there.
I used to be suggested this blog by means of my cousin. I’m now not positive whether this submit is written by means of him as nobody else recognize such specified approximately my difficulty. You’re amazing! Thank you!
I am wanting to start my own business and need to know how to start a website for a cheap/free price.. I am looking to start my own photography business and want to get a website up. I am planning on using this for a way to let people know about me, give them different albams of an axample of my work and then a way to contact me. I would love for it to be cheap or free in order to get started..
I conceive you have observed some very interesting points , regards for the post.
Hiya, I’m really glad I have found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and internet and this is really annoying. A good site with exciting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this web site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
Awesome site you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get opinions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Many thanks!
This is the best site for anybody who desires to find out about this subject. You notice so much its nearly onerous to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a brand new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply nice!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was wondering what all is required to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100% positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Kudos
Hello very cool blog!! Man .. Excellent .. Superb .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally…I am happy to find numerous useful information right here within the publish, we want develop more techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing.
To properly spin comments, you have to be creative and even more creative. Convince the person that even though the statement is quite unoriginal, it’s still something they need visible on their homepage.
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all. However think of if you added some great graphics or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the most beneficial in its niche. Excellent blog!
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable information to work on. You have done an impressive job and our entire community will be thankful to you.
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you have introduced in your post. They are really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too brief for starters. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.
Thank you for sharing this good write-up. Very inspiring! (as always, btw)
Good post right here. One thing I would like to say is the fact that most professional career fields consider the Bachelors Degree just as the entry level standard for an online education. Even though Associate College diplomas are a great way to start out, completing your Bachelors opens up many entrance doors to various employment opportunities, there are numerous internet Bachelor Course Programs available via institutions like The University of Phoenix, Intercontinental University Online and Kaplan. Another thing is that many brick and mortar institutions offer you Online variations of their degree programs but typically for a considerably higher charge than the corporations that specialize in online college degree plans.
Hey would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using? I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
Wow! what an idea ! What an idea ! Beautiful .. Superb … :) http://www.pentlands.getlisted.co.nz/cheap-hotels-in-auckland-city
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
What i do not understood is actually how you’re not actually much more well-liked than you may be right now. You’re very intelligent. You realize therefore significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from numerous varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs great. Always maintain it up!
Wow! This could be one particular of the most beneficial blogs We’ve ever arrive across on this subject. Basically Wonderful. I’m also an expert in this topic therefore I can understand your hard work.