Blog Archive – Page 2

three women sitting and facing each other

How many times have you heard someone mention that they work from home and you wished you could work from home as well. We’ve all wished that at some point. The traffic-filled commute and nosey co-workers make office jobs hard to stick with. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, people who work from home oftentimes long for the days when they could go back to working in an office environment.

Source: themogulmom.com

It’s actually funny because it’s the perfect example of the grass not always being greener on the other side of the fence. People who work from home want to go back to the office and people who commute to the office want to work from home. It’s more common for people to want to work from home though. Working from home definitely has more pros than cons but for those who are complaining about it, it’s because they’re having a hard time focusing on their work.

From your kids whining and your dog begging for attention to the TV being extremely loud and your nagging need to wash those dishes that have been sitting in the sink for the past day and a half, working from home is full of distractions and it can be hard to put your focus on work when you have a million other things taking fighting for your attention.

When running a home-based business, you, of course, will need to set yourself up with all the right tools and resources you need to achieve success. Creating a business plan, having enough money to fund your business, and finding a platform to host your website are all things that you can easily prepare yourself for but establishing a level of discipline to actually focus on your work isn’t something you knew you had to prepare for.

Nonetheless, lack of focus isn’t something that should prevent you from running a home-based business. Why? Because there are ways to make it work and people do it all the time… you just have to know the hacks that will help you to focus and hone in on your tasks at hand.

Staying Focused

When working for the big companies, it’s easier to stay focused on your work. Your bosses are in close proximity, you have meetings to attend, and constant deadline reminders, making it virtually impossible to put your focus on anything but your work. When working at home, especially if you have children at home with you each day, you’re going to need to feed your family, be tempted to clean something, and convince yourself that you need to watch a little TV to clear your mind… if you were in an office environment, you wouldn’t even be thinking about those types of distractions. If you truly want to be successful at running your home-based business, you have to cut the distractions and learn to focus on the business. These are the tactics that actually work!

Create a Home Office and Close the Door

When running a home-based business, one of the first things you need to do is find the place in your home where you’re going to conduct business… you have to create the right working environment at home. Ideally, you want to pick a location (preferably a room) in your home that’s away from potential distractions like towards the back of your home and away from the kitchen and living room. Once you find that room, always close the door when conducting business… by having the door shut, that will let people know that you’re working and don’t want to be disturbed.

Create a Daily To-Do List

Your daily to-do list isn’t like your “honey-do” list. Your daily to-do list pretty much the lifeline of your business. Running a home-based business can definitely be the breeding ground for pure chaos but by creating a daily to-do list, that’s going to give some structure to your daily routine.

You actually need to plan your day, the day or evening before. For instance, if it’s Sunday, you need to take 30 minutes out of your Sunday to plan your Monday. Then, by the end of the workday on Monday, you need to mark down everything you got done for Monday and transfer the remaining tasks that you didn’t get done to Tuesday’s to-do list.

Each time you mark off a task on your to-do list, you’re going to feel a sense of accomplishment. That feeling of accomplishment is going to inspire you to accomplish even more goals throughout the day, which in turn enhances your focus and increases your productivity at work. Because feeling a sense of accomplishment increase your productivity, people will engage in certain activities on a daily basis that gives you a sense of accomplishment.

According to the Huffington Post, meditation, volunteering, and facing your fears are all ways to feel accomplishment which can then push you to accomplish things in other areas of your life like work.

Hire a Nanny

Most home-based entrepreneurs think that they’ll be able to save money on childcare by working when their kids are sleeping. In theory, that sounds like a good idea but if you want to have a typical eight-hour workday like most people, that would mean that your kids would need to be sleep eight hours of the day and you know that’s definitely not going to happen!

You have to treat your home-based business like you would any other company you had to commute to. If you went into the office every day, you wouldn’t be bringing your kids with you… you would drop them off at the babysitter’s house or take them to daycare. You have to have that same mindset even though you work from home.

People tend to think that just because you work from home that you don’t have to work as hard because of the freedom you have but the reality is that when you work from home, you have to work even harder because you have more distractions and responsibilities, especially with kids. You don’t have to hire a nanny the entire week every week but if you bring a nanny in at least twice a week, that will allow you to get two days in where your attention can solely be focused on work and that’s priceless!

woman sitting on brown wooden chair while using silver laptop computer in room

Guest Post: Angie Hibben is the President/CEO of the Oswego Area Chamber of Commerce and the owner of AJ Creations, her crochet/jewelry business (and her sanity many days).

Original Source: foundingmoms.com

I am a daughter, sister, wife, mom of four, grandmother of five (soon to be six!), wife and entrepreneur – not necessarily in any specific order – depending on the day.

It’s never too late to achieve a goal

I’ve been a preschool teacher, concession stand supervisor, and restaurant/banquet manager also in my lifetime. When I was in my late 40’s, I went back to school and finally got my degree – all online and while working full-time for the chamber. (P.S. Algebra should not be an online class.)

Thanks to my son-in-law and my son, I survived four years of online school and achieved my Associates in Business. I needed to prove to myself and show my kids that it is never too late to achieve a goal or change a career. I finally believe I am where I need to be.

I spend my days meeting entrepreneurs – many of which are women – trying to make a difference and my evenings either networking or being at home with my husband.

While at home, I never just sit: I just don’t know how. I go from jewelry to crochet to basketweaving and such nonstop. I love to learn new things and try new patterns; I can crochet while holding a conversation or watching TV.

I love to make things for people and see their smiles. There is nothing better than seeing someone post something they bought for themselves, a loved one or a pet, and talk about how much they love it.

Lessons I’ve learned from being an entrepreneur

Never devalue your worth or what you do, but you can always choose to donate. One of my businesses reviews donation requests once a month to choose who and if they will donate to an organization. Choose who and what you give to and don’t always expect something in return.
There are certain people and certain organizations that I willingly commit to and donate to and not bat an eye on cost or time. These are people and organizations that matter to me and everyone’s choices will be different in that regard. Set yourself a dollar amount and/or time commitment to give to and make your choices that way. Figure out whom and what you want to support, then sell the hell out of your product or service the rest of the way.
Being an entrepreneur is also being an active member of the community and giving back without expectation of return within reason. I do it because it takes a village to raise a child, to keep a community strong, and to make the world a good place.

As a mom/grandma/entrepreneur, find time for yourself or you will burn out. I have a group of friends and we go out once a month to eat and drink. We support each other, we laugh, we cry and we have fun. I wish I had that as a young mom.
Also never apologize for being a mom entrepreneur! I am a better mom because I worked. It is not the amount of time you spend with your children – it is the quality of that time. Put down your phone, turn off technology, and play a board game. Any client who doesn’t understand that you are taking family time is a client you don’t need.
Don’t be afraid to fire clients! A few years ago one of our chamber members said that once a year he goes through his client list and fires clients. I thought that was a horrible thing to do – fire clients. We need our clients to pay our bills, why would we fire them? Then I sat down and really thought about what he was saying and doing. We all have that client that doesn’t understand the boundaries of personal time/family time/work time, who is never happy with your product or your service. You need to look at your clients, look at your ROI on these clients and make choices. We, as women, who tend to give, give and give and try to make everyone happy and fix things have a hard time firing clients, but we must. I would rather have fewer clients and be able to spend more time on them. In turn, they will recommend me to others.

There is more to be done

I come from an era where most women stayed home – my mom not only had a job but owned her own business. I have seen society change and there is more to be done. There are so many women-owned businesses than before. In downtown Oswego, over 90% of businesses are women-owned and that is such an awesome thing to see and experience.

There are so many opportunities out there but in all this – don’t forget about you, why you wanted to be an entrepreneur, and your passion.