The journey to success in your home based business
Work at Home Success -- How do you measure the success in your
life? As a home-based working mom it's so different than the
outside corporate world. I know for me, one day it can be a call
from Borders that they are accepting one of my books, where
another day it can be that I finally got my 8-year-old to go on
a field trip at school. The last two she had missed being too
scared to attend and instead spent the day home, sick. Both
days, I consider huge successes! Both days, I felt a real
winner!
Home based success can mean the little things such as a day we
get all our work done while attending a sick child, or being one
of the only parents able to attend a school function that your
daughter so eagerly anticipated. That's what we are trying to
achieve in our home-based business, the best of both worlds. And
having worked at home since 1985 I can truly say, it can be done.
So how can you achieve this success for your business and
family? How can you make more good days than bad? Here are some
tips:
Start Early: I find that by getting up an hour or so before
everyone else, I can accomplish so much more. That allows me the
extra 10 minutes of devotional time, a few minutes to enjoy my
coffee alone, and then time to dig into my work. I usually save
my peak work for this time as this is truly when I'm at my best.
Regroup and Rebalance: So often home-based moms feel overwhelmed
and unable to accomplish anything because of this. Try breaking
it all down. Take a day or two and write down your typical day.
What can you change to make it better, to make it work? Often
when it's down in writing, it's clearer to see where changes can
be made. Try to lump together tasks and delegate any tasks you
can. And above all else-avoid Guilt.
Eliminate time-robbers! We still have to cook dinner, (I tried,
it didn't work!) but I don't have to talk to my friend, who
doesn't work, for 45 minutes during my workday. Say No!
Also, with my kids I found some of the work I actually could
take outside or in another room. There's no rule that says I
have to work at my desk. Perhaps you can create different
workstations around the home. Be creative.
Shortcuts To Success: What can you do to make your business run
smoother? Constantly be thinking of ways to improve upon your
business. Organization is naturally a big one. The more
organized you are, the better you'll be at many things.
Another shortcut for me was to create different books of
materials that I frequently used so I didn't have to reinvent
the wheel each time and it was right in front of me. Thus, I
created different 3-ring binder books of marketing letters,
press releases, etc. Anything that I frequently use and would
save me time, I'll implement. Think about things that you can do
for your business. Things that you use often, that you could
print out and possibly make a collection of, and then look to as
a resource. Or what other times savings tip could you think of
that would help your business?
Another thing I do is buy paper that has 3 ring holes already in
it. When I print out a client's e-mail, or client's article,
I'll immediately put it into their binder categorized by topic.
I'm now able to find things more and also can see clearly all
I've done with the clients. Focus on Success: Continue to see
yourself as a success and focus on your goals. Success is within
your reach when you continually focus on your goals, both for
your business and your family.