Home Business Blog

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At the cornerstone of effective time management is doing what needs to be done. It’s not that most of us are really lazy(some are) it’s just we often sap our energy doing non productive things that are not any more urgent then they are required! Ultimiately if you know where you are going and what you want in life all these decisions become easier because they either help your mission or they don’t…

In essence you want to break up activities and tasks into 4 major piles.

Important / Crises

This pile here is obviously the one that should be dealt with immediately when starting this program. Anything that falls into this category should be done asap. Basically once you begin doing this your goal is to never really have anything in this pile. Why bother when it got sorted in the next section? Examples of a crisis include “start studying for an exam tomorrow”, “pay electricity before they cut me off”.

Important / Should Be Done

This is a healthy place to put down things that should be done / need to be done but aren’t at a crisis yet. This category should always have some things on the go and your goal is to get them all accomplished before they turn into crises. Examples: “Prepare quote for clients”, “Follow up cold calls”, “Write x bloggeries”

Not Important /Crises

This is things that aren’t that important but if to be done have to be done now. These could include an offer you get from someone saying buy now I’ll give you 50% off your web hosting, something you want to signup for that is expiring soon etc… Things that if they didn’t get done wouldn’t be the end of the world but they are time bound.

Not Important / Doesn’t have to be Done

Sadly this is where most of us spend most of our time. If you have a blog post you need to make at 7am it’s easy to start “wandering around the net” checking message boards, stats, checking to see if you made an affiliate commission etc… Other examples of this include going to a friends after work for a pint or two, meeting for coffee with some friends who want to gossip etc… These are not important things and they don’t have to be done to obtain your mission in life. That being said balance is needed so you shouldn’t totally cut out your friends but if you have work to do they will be there tomorrow to do the same “hanging out”. Get your priorities straight.

That’s a quick guide. If you write out your things to do / want to do on post it notes and put them in according piles you will see how much more manageable your day is and hopefully how much more productive it is as well!

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.

Good morning blogosphere!

It is 5am eastern standard time and I’m already in my office. Albeit a short commute I’m ready to work and have ~3 hours of time slotted to my online businesses before my work week even begins! I enjoy getting up at 5am because it gives me the piece of mind while sleeping that I’ll have time to do anything I need to before my day starts. Gone are the days of aimlessly clicking around until 2am trying to figure something out or come up with some genius content; chances are it’s just not going to happen.

When you are working late night in my opinion you are trying to accomplish stuff before bed but you feel like you’re up against the 8 ball. You only have say 1 hour left in your day and want to get things done. Flip side is waking up super early. I am already a paragraph or so into this blog post and have well over 15 hours left of productive time for today.

I could be working after work but find a lot of my creative juices have been drained by a day of filing TPS reports. (If you have not seen the movie Office Space – I recommend you do!) Also after work many of us do not have the option. You may have kids or a family that needs tending to and you may have to watch some television after dinner to keep the significant other happy. Waking up gives you a few undisturbed hours each day to better yourself and plan for the future where maybe your commute may just be 2 rooms over.

As the Canadian winter approaches I’ve made the executive decision to start making my coffee here. Yes it’s delicious and convenient to get one made with the perfect ratio the way you like it but going outside in the cold and doing a trip that doesn’t give the car a chance to heat is quickly loosing its appeal. Also how much more time would I have if 15 minutes wasn’t wasted? I almost feel as though ever 15 minutes of time in this bizarre and often ignored period of the day is equivalent to 30 minutes or more in other times.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

A few tips that I have regarding to waking up early would be to prioritize what needs to be done and in the order of importance and interest. Do what is important first and what interests you later. Long after you’ve done your daily rounds and are beginning to get sick of internet chores; things that interest you won’t be so bad. If you leave important things that are a bit of a drag until the end chances are they just won’t get done. Of course this is just personal experience but I’m sure this is the same for many of us.

Finally at this time of day you have no distractions even if you wanted to. Who am I going to call at 5am to a warm receiving and in-depth business chat? Who is going to call me about something totally unrelated that is going to stress me and take my mind off achieving financial independence? Heck if I look outside it is still dark! I just have to make sure I don’t befriend too many Europeans, Asians and Australians with Skype and I *should* be alright!

It’s quite weird the way the world works; I bought this blog few days ago as I’m sure many of you are aware. About a week prior to that I started a blog called Bloggerites which was going to be a personal blog with a self development / business angle. I wrote about waking up early here and than again here. If waking up early is your thing or something that interests you I recommend you read them as well.

Here are a few tips to waking up early without feeling you’ve missed your rest.

1) Try and go to bed early; preferably when you feel tired. Most of us just stay up until a set hour which is often past our prime pass out window!

2) Try not to eat too much meat before bed. Your body has a hard time breaking it down and is often working over-drive to clear it while you sleep; this ‘stress’ on your body is taking away from restorative sleep.

3) If you have real problems waking up write a list of why you are waking up; where you want your life to go and how you need that precious time to make it happen.

4) Feel a bit like a drill sergeant but just suck it up one morning. Go to bed early and at 5am get up. The hardest part for most I’m sure is just ‘getting out of bed’. Make it a fire drill where you are up and at em. No excuses.

5) Have your work clothes laid out so finding something to wear isn’t a stress. Mine are all so close to my bed that I’m literally out of bed and dressed within 1-2 minutes of the alarm – if I use it!

6) Shower at night so you are free to get to it in the morning. If you need to shower in the morning than by all means do it but don’t neglect organizing what to wear as mentioned in #5.

7) If you are a blogger there is nothing better than having fresh content streaming through your feed for your readers to enjoy with there morning coffee. Especially on a Monday!

Those are a few quick tips to anyone interested in becoming an early riser. A gentleman by the name of Steve Pavlina actually wrote a great article on early rising; if it is something that interests you than give it a read.

I think right now is a good time to push the point that before you start any online undertaking please please please make sure it is something you are truly passionate about. You often won’t see results for a while so it needs to be an auto telic activity, something you enjoy doing for the sake of doing it or you’ll loose interest before anything ever materializes!

It is now 5:45 am, I’ve done this ~1000 word blog post, have to post a fresh blog review at Bloggeries and clear the forum of spam. I’m curious as readers of this blog what time you normally get your day going? The real question is how many hours do you wake up before work? (If you still have to go to work)

Remember every action has a reaction. If you want a different life from the masses you have to be different and make a different life; no one else will do it for you.

Have a great week and stay tuned for lots more,