Written by
February 25, 2020

6 Statistics Proving the Benefits of Working at Home

Did you know the number of people who work from home has increased by 140% since 2005?

Over the past decade, technology has really transformed the business world. Now, more and more businesses and individuals are discovering the benefits of working remotely from home.

With small businesses driving 44% of the total US economy, it’s easy to see how allowing employees or contractors to work from home would be beneficial and cost saving. It is a great solution to growing companies who seek an alternative to hiring, training and finding space for on-site staff. 

We at HireMyMom, already know the amazing benefits of working from home but let’s look at the benefits the Industry Experts have to share on remote work: 

 

1. Working at Home Saves Money

One of the biggest benefits of remote work is cost savings. According to Global Workplace Analytics (GWA), businesses can save up to $11,000 per employee each year by simply allowing them to work from home.

There is also less absence in the workplace when an employee can work from home. Again according to GWA, unscheduled absences cost employers $1800 per employee per year. The American Management Association realized a 63% reduction in unscheduled absences.

 

2. Working from Home Saves Time

Remote work can save a lot of time (and stress) because it eliminates the need to commute. According to the State of Telecommuting, part-time remote employees save around 11 days a year by not traveling to work. This means the employee is less stressed, less tired and can commit more time to performance rather than having their energy drained in rush hour traffic.

 

3. Working at Home Improves Productivity

It is true that distraction decreases productivity. There is nothing more annoying to an employer than seeing staff doing more chatting than working. But according to 2018 statistics, the majority of surveyed employees feel there are fewer distractions when working outside of the office.

Forbes.com relays that 77% of those who work from home get more done in fewer hours thanks to fewer distractions like meetings, conversations, and noisy coworkers.

When Highfive.com conducted a study, remote workers accomplished 30% more work in less time. 

 

4. Working from Home Helps Improve Employee Retention Rates

Keeping employees happy is the key to a successful and productive business. If employees are not happy, the quality of work often suffers significantly and could lead to employee loss.

A huge part of employee happiness comes from:

  • less travel time and commuting costs
  • less distraction from their co-workers
  • the ability to have a more flexible schedule and;
  • a comfortable work environment

According to Global Workplace Analytics, a poll of 1,500 technology professionals revealed that 37% would take a pay cut if they could work from home.

From an employer’s perspective, 95% report that working from home has had a high impact on their employee retention rate.


5. Working at Home Improves Health

Remote work can improve employee health both physically and mentally. Monster.com reports that when Staples conducted a study in 2011, they found employees who worked from home experienced 25% less stress. They also reported being able to maintain a healthy work-life balance and experienced improved eating habits as well.

Working from home also means being less exposed to viruses and other airborne illnesses that can sometimes heavily impact the workplace environment. It’s much easier to self-quarantine one person than an entire office. Less sick employees mean less disruption to productivity and in turn can lead to companies saving thousands of dollars each year. This is an especially timely topic given the outbreak of the Coronavirus. 

 

6. Working from Home Is Better For The Environment

According to the State of Telecommuting, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through telecommuters / remote workers is equivalent to 600,000 cars.

When employees eliminate the commute to work every day they help reduce the amount of pollution. By eliminating the commute, working from home drastically reduces the carbon emissions created from driving. In Entrepreneur.com’s article “How Telecommuting Reduced Carbon Footprints at Dell, Aetna and Xerox” it’s stated remote work, even if it’s only done on a part-time basis, can still reduce over 54 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.


At HireMyMom we help businesses hire talented, affordable, virtual team members and freelancers while at the same time, assist mom professionals in finding flexible, legitimate, home-based work to help create the perfect work-life balance.

If you’re interested in using our services to find your next remote employee you can visit our registration page here.

 

Continue Reading

Written by
December 16, 2019

10 Qualities To Look For When Hiring a Remote Contractor or Team Member

The world has gone digital and as an Entrepreneur, you now have the ability to put your products and services in front of the right people across many digital channels.

This means, that your business could grow substantially overnight. If you’re not prepared for that growth, you’ll find yourself completely overwhelmed with the many day to day tasks required to operate and maintain your company.

Que the rise of remote contractors.

What is a remote contractor?

Just as the name describes, this person works from their own office space (often out of their home) and uses their own equipment and software.

 

Why consider hiring a remote contractor?

  • They can start immediately
  • Require very little training
  • Have little to no onboarding costs
  • Are more productive and
  • Can save you time

When deciding on “how” you want to expand your business, you should focus on filling the voids of your company. 

What does that mean?

Well, if you carefully assess all the tasks you’re doing right now and break them down by priority, the ability to do them yourself, and whether you like doing them – you’ll soon have a vision for your new hire.

Whether you’re hiring a bookkeeper, marketer, content writer, or assistant, here are some common traits you should consider when hiring a remote worker.

 

10 Qualities To Look For When Hiring Remote Team Members

 

1.  Strong Communication Skills

Communication is key to any successful working relationship. It’s especially important for a remote employee-employer relationship because most of your conversations will be taking place through text, phone, email, and/or video chat. You should also keep in mind, the time zone your remote worker lives in, their first language, and their response time when you communicate with them.

Because a remote employee can’t just walk into your office to ask for help whenever a situation arises and vice versa, you have to be able to effectively communicate. Without this core competency, it’s impossible to succeed with a remote employee. 

 

2. Independent and Self Motivated

The last thing you want to be doing is micromanaging your remote worker. He or she should be independent, self-motivated, and be able to complete most tasks assigned with very little direction (unless the task requires it).

Successful remote workers must be able to motivate themselves to stay focused with little distraction seeing each task from start to completion.

Because you can’t be there in person to ensure your remote worker is staying on task, independence and self-motivation are must-have qualities when finding the best fit for your organization.

 

3. Flexibility and Availability

A huge benefit for a remote employee is the flexibility of the job. For remote employees who are parents, this means they can drop off and pick up the kids from school, attend soccer games, school plays and more.

Just as flexibility is a benefit to the remote worker, the remote worker should be flexible with you, the employer.

Your remote worker should be flexible with your schedule and also available when you need them. If they are not a designated remote worker, they should be able to attend necessary meetings and communicate with you in a reasonable time frame with proper notice.

If you run a business that has a lot of tight deadlines, consider a designated, full-time remote worker over a freelance part-time one.

 

4. Ability to Organize and Prioritize

Strong organizational skills are extremely important for a successful working relationship with a remote employee.

They should be able to take a list of tasks given, organize, and prioritize them with minimal direction and be able to carry out this task on a continuous basis.

If your business uses a Project Management software, your remote employee should be able to navigate through it with ease. If they have experience using the software, it’s even better as there’s less of a learning curve if at all.

 

5. Tech Savvy

Because the world has gone digital, your remote employee should be tech-savvy, especially since their work is done on a virtual level.

Your remote worker should be fluent in common software applications such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs.

Because your remote employee will be performing many of the day-to-day tasks on a shared software they should have a good understanding of how to use it. If training is needed, they should be able to learn the software from you personally, YouTube or other online training.

 

6. Excellent Time Management Skills

Effective time management is fundamental to the success of any business. When you hire someone with excellent time management skills, they will be able to complete more tasks for you in less time which translates to saving you money.

Remote workers with great time management skills will create and maintain daily to-do tasks, they have designated workspaces so they can perform their work with minimal distraction and will find ways to optimize their time on the tasks they are given – including learning new software applications.

 

7. Honest and Reliable

Remote work requires a level of trust between yourself and your remote employee. You will likely be giving them access to your software, email inbox, website, and more.

It’s important to properly interview and screen your candidate before you hire him/her and depending on the nature of your business, a background check might be needed as well.

An honest and reliable remote worker will tell you when they don’t understand something, they will be honest if they make a mistake so it can be corrected quickly with minimal negative impact to the company.

They operate themselves with the highest level of integrity which is reflected in the work they do for you.

 

8. Remote Experience

It’s important to select a remote worker with experience. They should have a designated workspace, their own reliable technology to work on, the key software programs such as Microsoft Office as well as anti-virus protection to keep their computer (and your sensitive information) safe.

Remote workers with experience are also ideal because there is less transition and training required when it comes to onboarding them.

 

9. Administrative Experience

One of the most in-demand types of remote workers for small businesses are Virtual Assistants (also known as VA’s).

You can incorporate virtual assistant duties into almost any role. Often there is an overlap in VA tasks whether you’re hiring someone to help manage your social media, conduct bookkeeping or maintain your website.

Some common VA tasks include: 

  • answering emails,
  • entering invoices,
  • managing calendars / setting appointments,
  • research,
  • updating blogs,
  • customer service,
  • travel arrangements,
  • answering phone calls.

 

10. Positive Attitude

Sometimes it’s not the talent but the attitude of a worker that helps you determine whether or not they would be a good fit.

A remote employee who has a positive outlook will provide you with higher work quality than one who is negative.

They will take any constructive feedback you provide in a positive light and not become defensive or offended. This, in turn, leads to a continuous improvement of work quality and flow.

 

As the small business community continues to grow, the demand for remote workers does too! At HireMyMom, we have a large selection of remote workers to choose from. The benefits of our workers are that they are often in similar time zones, speak fluent English, and are typically work-ready within 24-48 hours of you hiring them.

We hope you’ve found this article helpful. We have another great article that you might like called “ 7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses”. 

If you’re ready to get started with a remote employee, you can post your job here. If you need to hire but are overwhelmed at the task, consider using our VIP Small Business Concierge program and allow one of our HR Specialists do all the work for you! 

 

Continue Reading

Written by
November 25, 2019

5 Questions Every Small Business Entrepreneur Should Ask Before Hiring A Virtual Assistant

As an entrepreneur, you may have reached that point in your small business where you are thinking you need some help. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for you to check and respond to emails, field phone calls, create social media posts, create email blasts, manage your calendar, research topics, manage day to day operations, and on and on.

There are many advantages to having someone who can assist with tasks that feel overwhelming so you can focus on the more important, revenue generating activities of your business. And working with a virtual professional can help you focus on GROWING your business and help you leverage your time better.

Before you jump in feet first and start the scouting process to find a Virtual Assistant (VA), there are some things to carefully consider.

Here are 5 questions you should ask and answer before hiring a Virtual Assistant or a Virtual Professional.

1. Do You Know What You Need?

Take some time to decide what tasks would be most beneficial to have someone else do. Make a list of the job duties you don’t like or don’t have time for as well as any tools or programs needed to complete the tasks.  As you create your job post, this list will help you refine the duties to help you find the right person for the job.

Are the tasks suitable for one type of assistant or should you hire more than one person? It may be that you need a part-time administrative assistant as well as a part-time social media manager, bookkeeper, blogger or customer service specialist depending on the tasks and duties you need to have done. Many businesses start out small and hire someone for 5-10 hours per week until their business grows and they need more help in various areas.

 

2. Are You Looking for a Certain Personality?

You will be working closely with a virtual assistant, so it’s important to find someone who gets you. Are you a Type A driven personality who works better with similar personality types? Are you more laid back and work better with someone who is too? Do you procrastinate too often and could use a no-nonsense person to help keep you on track? Do you run a faith-based business and want someone who shares your Christian values?

Knowing your personality type and what type of person you are looking for in a virtual assistant who will complement that is essential.  If this is important to you, you may consider having the applicants submit their scores to a personality assessment test.

 

3. How Will You Work With Your Virtual Assistant?

You will have the most success working with a VA when roles and communication are laid out clearly. There are a lot of project management resources out there like Slack, Asana and Trello to help with task tracking, communication, and project management. Or you may choose to keep it simple with daily or weekly check-ins by email or Zoom calls, sharing via Google Suite or DropBox folders. Decide up front how you will work best to ensure efficiency for you both in work and communication. But remember that communication is key and that no one will be able to read your mind or do a good job if they are not taught, show and directed early on especially.

 

4. What Skills Do You Need in a Virtual Assistant?

Having a list of tasks to delegate is a solid foundation when you are ready to hire a virtual assistant. Keep in mind, though, that hopefully this will be an individual who can grow with you and your business to form a great long-term working relationship. Think about what kind of skills you want a virtual assistant to have and what would bring you the most value as your business grows over the next two or three years.  If you are unsure, try searching the internet for Virtual Assistant (or whatever role you need) job duties to get an idea of what others are hiring these assistants to do and what skills may be needed.

 

5. Will They be Dealing with any Private or Sensitive Information?

If you need someone to help with parts of your business that include sensitive or private information to you or to your clients, you should consider not only checking references but also doing a background check or requesting a Trust Badge from a service such as SafetyPin Technologies. In today’s remote economy, it is important to do the extra work up front to reduce the chances of someone having access to sensitive information or business assets that turns out to be less than trustworthy. It is wise to get to know the person before allowing them full access to your business. Start small and allow them to prove themselves. The extra work up front may save valuable time and headaches in the future.

  

And when you are ready to hire, HireMyMom can help you find a great Virtual Assistant or Professional.  We believe Moms make great virtual employees or contractors.

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

What are the benefits of hiring remote employees or contractors from HireMyMom?

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Save on office space and office equipment.
  • Save Your SANITY!
  • We do NOT take any commissions from You or our Job Seekers!
  • You will have more time to focus on your clients and improve your business.
  • Your project or job is posted to our entire pool of talented work from home candidates saving you valuable time.
  • You save money by not paying high salaries and benefits for traditional employees.
  • You interview, evaluate and decide which candidate is best suited for your business (or you may choose our Small Business Concierge program and allow us to do it all for you).
  • We provide the candidates. You provide the work. We get out of the way.
  • We’ve been around since 2007, and as moms and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are committed to helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and moms find mutual success!

FIND A TALENTED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

 

What Types of Professionals Can You Hire?

Here are some of the more common job types posted with us:

  • virtual assistants / administrative assistants,
  • blogger / writers / editors,
  • social media marketers,
  • marketing / public relations / advertising,
  • legal & real estate assistants,
  • researchers,
  • graphic designers,
  • accounting / bookkeeping,
  • web designers,
  • customer service reps,
  • sales,
  • e-commerce specialists,
  • human resources, and more!

FIND YOUR NEXT VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL NOW!

If you need help with hiring, try our Small Business VIP Concierge service and we can do all the hard work for you!

 

=

 

Continue Reading

Written by
November 12, 2019

7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses

Running your own business can be very rewarding but it can lead to you doing absolutely everything in order to run it effectively. This is where bringing on part-time employees or contractors can be very beneficial. Knowing what you do well and then outsourcing or hiring team members to do other things gives you the opportunity to focus on your strengths AND grow your business. 

So why do MOMS make the best workers for small businesses…..

💪🏼Because there’s probably no one more motivated to make a remote work opportunity work like a mom.

💪🏼Moms deeply desire freedom and flexibility in order to be more present for their kids and family.

💪🏼Having remote work is a huge blessing for moms, and therefore, we believe they go ABOVE and BEYOND to do a great job to make sure they can continue working from home. 

💪🏼Moms typically have been working in their careers for some time, unlike students who are just starting out.

💪🏼Moms possess life skills that a small business can benefit from such as……

 

Time Management

From household chores to diaper changes, from homework help to getting dinner on the table – Moms sure do a lot! Time Management becomes an essential skill for Moms and something they have no choice but to quickly learn in order to keep up with the demands of family, kids and running a household. 

This skill becomes highly beneficial to your business. Moms have no time to waste and that means a reliable and dedicated worker you and your business. Moms know how to use their time wisely.

 

Organizational Skills

A Mom quickly becomes the organizer in the family. From vacations to birthday parties, Moms are really good at planning and executing.

They are also great with rolling with the punches and can be quite flexible when things fall out of line. They are great at coming up with a new plan that keeps everyone happy. Moms know they must be organized to get all the things done! This is why Moms are great Virtual Assistants especially for Small Business Owners like yourself. We have a great article about how VA’s can help you grow your business here.

 

People Management

From tantrum-throwing two-year-olds to grumpy teenagers, Moms have to deal with many personality types and different levels of maturity.

Strong listening skills, empathy, and conflict resolution go hand in hand with people management. This makes a Mom a really great candidate for your business’s customer service. Moms can handle customer complaints at all levels of your marketing funnel and offer win-win resolutions for all. 

 

Negotiating Skills

Children quickly learn from a young age how to get what they want and can get quite creative about it too! This is where the power of Moms negotiation skills can really come in handy. Moms become experts in compromising and trading.

Because Moms are good at negotiating, they can make a great addition to your company’s Sales Team. 

 

Problem Solving Super-Heroes

Some problems are completely predictable while others can come as a complete surprise. Moms deal with new problems each and every day and it’s amazing how they can still stay calm, cool, and collected throughout the solution process.

This makes Moms ideal candidates for small service businesses that are focused on “solving problems” for their customers. 

 

Master Multi-Taskers

Moms always have more than one project on the go … literally! They are great at handling a phone call while prepping dinner and helping their child with his/her science project all at the same time.

In the workplace, this often translates to being on the phone with a customer while typing in the customer’s account info and facilitating their transaction from start to finish. Moms are great at multi-tasking and getting things done efficiently and effectively. 

 

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of hiring a Mom, where can you find one? Right here at HireMyMom of course!

Click here to post your job to our talented pool of Mom Professionals.

Or let our HR Specialists do all the hard work for you! Check out our VIP Concierge service. 

It only takes a few minutes to create an account with us, post a job, and then wait for the resumes to come in. We have some pretty amazing Moms on this site ready to work with you.

You can see what other Small Business owners have had to say about HireMyMom here. 

 

 

Want More Great Remote Work / Virtual Team Tips?

* indicates required


User Type


Continue Reading

Written by
October 28, 2019

3 Important Reasons Small Business Entrepreneurs Should Avoid Mega Job Sites

As a small business entrepreneur, you no doubt have been faced with the demands running a business requires. There is always a to-do list a mile long from tracking expenses, updating your website, email marketing and creating social media content with just not enough hours in the day to tackle it all. 

Maybe you have reached that pivotal point in your business where you can begin to set aside a budget and outsource the tasks you either don’t have time to do, don’t have the skill set to do (and don’t desire to learn) and/or don’t enjoy doing so you can focus on more important tasks like revenue generating activities. It’s an exciting step to reach in your business but it can also be a scary and overwhelming one. 

Now that you are ready to spend your valuable time looking for and interviewing potential candidates who are qualified and a good fit for the mission of your business, it’s tempting to turn to mega job sites like Freelancer and Upwork as they can seem like a logical place to start but they aren’t always the best option for small business entrepreneurs and here are 3 important reasons to think about:

 

  1. Overseas Workers

Many of the freelancers and subcontractors you find on mega job sites live outside the U.S. and while you may find their rates to be cheaper than a U.S. based worker there are important factors to consider such as:

  • Language and Culture Barriers. If you are looking for someone to respond to or create emails, social media comments and blog writing, you could be spending more time proofing and rewriting content than actually creating it yourself. Hiring someone to create content on your behalf should have a good understanding of how to represent your brand voice and business. Language and culture barriers can make finding a qualified candidate well versed in U.S. business culture difficult.

    For example, it may be customary and an understood practice in the U.S. for a client and contractor to have a co-creative working relationship with good communication being a “no brainer” but in other countries, this practice is not well understood resulting in you finding yourself constantly having to follow up with your contractor for status updates. Spending more to hire a high quality U.S. based candidate is well worth it in the long run. 

 

  • Legal and Tax Ramifications. You may not be hiring a part-time or full-time employee but that does not exempt you from legal or tax obligations and when you hire workers from other countries those rules and regulations can become even more complex. 

 

  • Time Zone. Hiring workers that are half a day ahead of you can often work against you. Let’s say you are just getting your day started at 10am and wake up to an email from your contractor who is delivering you the project you asked for but it’s plagued with mistakes and issues but unfortunately your contractor is 12 hours ahead of you and are already offline for the day. Now you have to decide if you are just going to fix it yourself or wait another day for it to be corrected versus working with a U.S. based contractor who can respond much quicker and not delaying your project.

 

  1. Mega Job Sites Take A Percentage Of Earnings

Here’s a recent email we received:

“Hello, I am a freelancer who currently uses Fiverr and UpWork to gain writing gigs. I write website content and articles for businesses. I am tired of paying out 20% per project…..”

As a small business entrepreneur, you may not be aware that mega job sites take a percentage of earnings from the freelancers you hire. For example, if a person’s rate is $20 per hour, they can expect to earn around $16 per hour which means freelancers on mega job sites will actually charge more than they should for their work and skill set in order to help offset the fees that are deducted which means you pay more for the quality work you can expect to receive. 

 

  1. Scammers.

Anyone can create a free profile on mega job sites so quality and legitimacy are not guaranteed. As can be expected on such an open platform with millions of job seekers from all over the world, there is the potential for scams: 

  • Freelancers who do not perform the work themselves (so you are hiring someone based on their credentials and they are in turn outsource it to someone else who is less qualified but still charging you a higher rate. Yes, this happens.)
  • Freelancers who have fake reviews in their profiles and they can actually remove negative feedback as well (yes Feedback Removal is a real thing). 
  • Freelancers who have fake identities and therefore claiming to be of different nationality than they actually are. 

This means you will spend way more time than you need to in order to weed through applicants to verify they are who they say they are and can do the work they claim they can do. 

As a small business entrepreneur, don’t let this process overwhelm you. We have talented North American-based mom professionals ready and qualified to tackle your jobs and projects so you can focus on growing your business. The candidates on HireMyMom pay a small membership fee to receive these job leads so they are more serious job seekers who are willing to invest in themselves which also means you will not get 100s or 1000s of applications from a platform that lets anyone sign up and apply for free. 

At HireMyMom.com we are mom owned and mom run. We are entrepreneurs running our own small business. We understand the needs and challenges of both sides and we aim to create a platform that works perfectly for both. Unlike the mega career sites and platforms, HireMyMom.com focuses strictly on home-based jobs and projects that work perfectly for today’s savvy entrepreneurs and modern small business owners just like you!

Over the past 12+ years, HireMyMom has helped thousands of small businesses find the perfect candidate for their projects while helping place thousands of mom professionals in their dream jobs. We do that by providing a platform that brings the best group of qualified and passionate women together with the best group of successful and growing companies who are looking for highly qualified virtual professionals with skills, experience and expertise. 

 

Why Post Your Jobs Hire My Mom

We all know….. Moms are awesome. Moms are reliable. Moms are dependable. And moms make great virtual employees or contractors.

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Save on office space and office equipment.
  • Save Your SANITY!
  • We do NOT take any commissions from You or our Job Seekers!
  • You will have more time to focus on your clients and improve your business.
  • Your project or job is posted to our entire pool of talented work from home candidates saving you valuable time.
  • You save money by not paying high salaries and benefits for traditional employees.
  • You interview, evaluate and decide which candidate is best suited for your business (or you may choose our Small Business Concierge program and allow us to do it all for you).
  • We provide the candidates. You provide the work. We get out of the way.
  • We’ve been around since 2007, and as moms and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are committed to helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and moms find mutual success!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

Who are HireMyMom Professionals?

They are talented, experienced freelance professionals looking for real work from home jobs in a variety of fields including:

  • virtual assistants / administrative assistants,
  • blogger / writers / editors,
  • social media marketers,
  • marketing / public relations / advertising, 
  • legal & real estate assistants,
  • researchers,
  • graphic designers,
  • accounting / bookkeeping / payroll,
  • web designers,
  • customer service reps / sales,
  • e-commerce specialists,
  • human resources, and more!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

 

Continue Reading

Written by
October 8, 2019

How Smart Entrepreneurs and Mompreneurs Use LinkedIn to Attract New Clients

With over 562 million members in 200 countries and across all industries, there is no denying LinkedIn is the top professional networking site. Facebook is where you have a strong circle of friends, Pinterest allows you to tap into evergreen marketing and boost your blog content but LinkedIn is where you can take your business to a whole new level.

LinkedIn is indexed by Google so when it comes to marketing your personal brand and your business, LinkedIn is definitely an important tool to leverage in your marketing efforts. LinkedIn also gives you the ability to search for and connect with your ideal client. 

Here are some tips to help you fully leverage LinkedIn as a smart entrepreneur / mompreneur!

 

  1. CREATE AND FULLY COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE

Your profile is the most important aspect of your LinkedIn account. It’s the first impression people have of your personal brand and business. 

  • Ensure you have a high quality photo and make sure your face is 50% of the size of the circle. 
  • Create a banner image that will be displayed at the top (Canva.com has lots of free templates to help you). Think of this a free highway billboard and use it wisely to promote you and your business. 
  • Add your name and you can also add a title with it to let me know right off the bat what you do. For example “Amanda Jones | Digital Marketing Professional”
  • Add a short bio
  • Complete the ABOUT section. This is a great opportunity to highlight what you do and the ideal client you are looking to work with and use as many characters of the max 2,000 as you can. Think of LinkedIn like Google. Your goal is to create a profile that comes up in search results. And remember, most people will only see the first 3 lines so make them count. 
  • Complete all sections to add your experiences, work history, education, volunteer work, skills and website
  • Add samples of your work or blog posts

It’s important to spend quality time on this and to fully complete this before moving on and connecting with other professionals. Feel free to hop over to my LinkedIn profile to see how I have set up my profile and I would love to connect with you too while you are there! 

 

  1. ENDORSEMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Once your profile is fully complete you can reach out and connect with people you know and have worked with on LinkedIn. People you already know is a great place to start because you can ask them to leave you an endorsement and recommendation. This helps to edify you to new people you want to connect with. Be sure to return the favor and leave a recommendation for others as well. 

 

USING LINKEDIN

  1. MAKE NEW CONNECTIONS

Now that you have created your profile, connected with people you know and received some recommendations and endorsements you are ready to start making other connections, especially with people who are your ideal client. Think of LinkedIn as an online network group and search engine. Let’s say for example you are a logo designer and you are wanting to network with website designers who can refer clients to you who will need a logo designed for their website. 

You can go to the search bar in LinkedIn and type in “website designer” and have it filter for “people” and it will pull up search results for those that have “website designer” in their profiles. LinkedIn will filter the results by mutual connections you have with other people. 

When you click on the “connect” button, you will have the opportunity to type out an invitation before sending. LinkedIn will have a generic one but it’s important that you personalize every invitation you send. Take the time to look at their profile and make the invitation all about them not about you.

“Hi Lori, I see that you are a website designer and as a graphic designer in the same industry I would love to connect and know how I can support you and send referrals your way. Look forward to connecting with you.”

People will be a lot more likely to accept your invitation to connect if they feel valued and not like you have an agenda. 

 

  1. POST UPDATES

Make LinkedIn part of your daily marketing routine. Use LinkedIn to share your blog content and other articles that would interest your network of connections, tips, resources and to highlight your work. Remember as with any social media platform, the goal is to tell instead of sell. 

LinkedIn also has an app that can make posting and the time you spend networking easier too. 

 

  1. CREATE A SOCIAL VIBE ON LINKEDIN

Ensure you are engaging with your network through their status updates too. You can’t expect to post and not spend time supporting others on their posts. Social media doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Set a timer to spend 10 minutes to like and comment (5+ words on any social media platform shows the algorithm that your comment is a real genuine comment and not a bot).

 

  1. THE POWER OF GROUPS

LinkedIn has a lot of great groups that you can join to connect with more like-minded people and share your expertise. You can use the search bar to search for groups in your niche. Be selective and only commit to joining groups that you feel you can actively participate in. You will need to send an invitation to the moderators for them to approve your request. Once they do, be sure to read the group rules and be a respectful member of the group and give value. It’s a great opportunity to find more people to connect with. 

Take the time to implement these tips and you should see some great connections and future clients before too long!

 

ABOUT HIREMYMOM…

Over the past 12+ years, HireMyMom has helped thousands of small businesses find the perfect candidate for their projects while helping thousands of mom professionals find in their remote dream jobs. We do that by providing a platform that brings the best group of qualified and passionate women together with the best group of successful and growing small businesses who are looking for highly qualified virtual professionals with skills, experience and expertise. 

How is HireMyMom different?

  • As more of a boutique site, candidates on HireMyMom do not have to compete with 100s or 1,000s of other applicants and our small businesses do not have to wade through 1,000s of applicants, 
  • We do not take a percentage or commission of earnings from virtual professionals OR the small businesses,
  • HireMyMom is more than a job site; we are community offering personalized services, training, support and virtual high-fives,
  • Our site is primarily for those in North America and native English speakers familiar with U.S. Business culture and in or near the same time zones,
  • We offer our Small Business VIP Concierge program where our HR Specialists will hand select top candidate(s) for our Small Business clients.

Mom Professionals looking for legitimate, remote jobs and projects, start here. 

Small Businesses looking find high-quality, independent candidates, start here.

Continue Reading

Written by
September 23, 2019

3 Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help Grow and Scale Your Small Business

When it comes to starting your own business there’s a lot to think about. Although being your own boss can be very rewarding, it also comes with a lot of responsibility which often translates to you wearing ALL of the hats.

In the beginning, this can be manageable however, as your business starts to grow, so do the “growing pains”. There’s only so much time in a day and there’s only one of you!

Bringing someone onto payroll involves training costs, costs for additional office space, furniture, and supplies plus, don’t forget there are government rules and regulations to follow before and after you hire.

This is where having a Virtual Assistant could really come in handy. If you don’t have the funding to grow your company internally, a VA can provide you with the support your business needs at an external level.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is a real person. They are professionals who provide support to your business from a remote aka “virtual” location. They have their own equipment and space to work in. This means a VA could start working for you almost immediately with minimal cost.

What can Virtual Assistants do?

A Virtual Assistant can help in many ways but typically, they take on the mundane tasks, business maintenance, and customer service that company owners are often too busy to keep up with. This includes:

  • Filtering and responding to emails
  • Managing social media
  • Bookkeeping
  • Fielding and making phone calls
  • Appointment booking and tracking
  • Market research
  • And more

3 Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help Grow and Scale Your Business

Now that you know what a Virtual Assistant is and the common tasks they perform, let’s talk about the many ways they can help your business scale and grow.

There are three stages to any business’s marketing funnel – customer acquisition, customer after care, and customer retention.

A Virtual Assistant can help you scale and grow your business at each level. Here’s how:

  1. Customer Acquisition

    At a lead generation and customer acquisition level, your VA can:

  • Create and manage your social media accounts.
  • Help you stay up to date with sales and promotions and website content.
  • Perform market research and competition tracking.
  • Help plan and organize events you might host to attract new clients.
  • Answer any emails that come in from potential customers and guide them towards booking an appointment with you (service business) or purchasing a product (e-commerce business).
  • Your VA can also help you form alliances with other businesses by reaching out to them on your behalf.

  1. Client follow up and after care

Once a customer has made a purchase, you want to ensure they are happy and this is also the best time to upsell and promote other services and products you have. You can use your VA to:

  • Contact your customer after the purchase or service to make sure they are happy.
  • Reach out for a customer review or testimonial.
  • Offer an upsell or friend referral incentive.

  1. Customer Retention

    A lot of businesses spend most of their time at the acquisition level but, customer retention is important for company sustainability and is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Your VA can improve your retention rate by:

  • Reaching out to your customers when they are nearing the end of their product supply or coming close to needing service, to encourage purchasing or booking again.
  • Circulate blog posts, new content, newsletters, and more to help keep your existing clients in the loop.
  • Your VA can help spread the news to your existing clients whenever you have a sale or promotion. This will encourage repeat business and/or referrals.
  • You can create a customer appreciation event and have your VA spearhead it from start to finish.

Whether you use your virtual assistant to market your business, handle your books, or manage your emails, they can really help alleviate the stress and workload that so many small business owners face.

Ready to find the perfect VA for you? Here are some important things to consider:

Time Zones: Make sure that if there is a time zone differential, it’s compatible with your schedule and your company’s operating hours.

Languages Spoken: You want to make sure your VA can speak and write fluently in the languages you prefer. At HireMyMom, our site is primarily for N. America so English is the native language of job seekers.

Education, Experience, and Skills: You want to make sure that your VA is qualified for the tasks you need them to do. Graphic Design or Accounting? Customer Service or Ad Creation? It’s important to hire someone who is strong in the areas you need them most. You wouldn’t for example hire a sales and marketing VA to do your bookkeeping and accounting. Carefully screen your VA applicants and keep an open mind. They are there to help you after all. If you find you don’t have time or don’t care to go through the lengthy hiring process, check out the VIP Small Business Concierge package available to hand-select virtual professionals for you.

Tools: You may want to consider providing a useful assistant tool or two to maximize productivity and ensure all the necessary work can be completed on time.

At HireMyMom.com, we’ve had a lot of success matching employers and VA’s. Here’s what some of our happy employers have been saying:

“I have been a great fan of your service for many years. The quality of the people who I have found have been consistently exceptional, and at very affordable prices. I’ve also referred HireMyMom.com to many of my friends and colleagues, and will happily continue to do so.”  Paulette Ensign, Tips Products International

“I was able to grow my company with your service and were now in 5,000 stores. We have five moms with us. Always referring my friends who are business owners and telling them how smart these women are and amazing to work with.”   Chris-Tia Donaldson, Thank God Its Natural

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I submitted my request for a Web Guru to HireMyMom and I have to admit, I was blown away with the response. The quality of the applicants far exceeded my wildest expectations! It is very apparent that each applicant is highly qualified for my project. I am very excited to be working with such talented professionals. I am spreading the word to my business associates. HireMyMom.com is a real wealth of professional talent.”  Teri Hurley, Owner/Operator, Endless Love Travel

Are you ready to take the next step to help grow your business? Click here to post your job and find the perfect VA for you and your company.

Want More Helpful Small Business Tips?

* indicates required


User Type


Continue Reading

Written by
August 5, 2019

10 Ways A Mompreneur Can Kickstart Her Business

Before we dive in, you may wonder why momentum matters in running a home-based business. As a mompreneur, momentum increases your belief, solidifies your confidence and assures that you are taking the right action steps to fulfill the mission and vision of your business. 

Maintaining momentum in spite of your obstacles and setbacks is essential to keeping you motivated while allowing you to recover from those situations and circumstances easier and more quickly. 

Here are my top 10 ways a mompreneur can kickstart her business:

 

1.RE-EVALUATE

To give your business a good kick in the pants, spend some time thinking about what has worked in your business the last 90-120 days and what hasn’t. You can’t expect to keep doing the same things that aren’t creating results you want. Yes, this will require some self reflection and honesty. If your goal is to make $5,000 per month in your business but you are spending 10-15 hours a week on actual revenue generating activities (sorry, scrolling social media every week may feel like you are working but it’s not exactly a revenue generating activity) then it’s time to admit those goals and actions steps don’t align with one another. 

With that said, now is not the time to beat yourself up over it. It’s a fresh start to make a new plan and get moving in the right direction. 

 

  1. KNOW AND LIVE YOUR PRIORITIES

Life gets crazy especially for us moms. Add a business into the mix and things can quickly spiral out of control. You probably won’t be able to achieve perfect balance in your life and you don’t need to but you can stay grounded through it by knowing and living your priorities. 

Instead of having a mile long to-do list every day that overwhelms you from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed, set your intentions for the day by what qualifies as a priority. By knowing and living by your priorities each day, you’ll improve your focus, keep your sanity and be more present for what matters most. The results will not only increase your productivity but decrease frustration and mom guilt. 

 

  1. GET FEEDBACK

As you work to kickstart your business, ask people you know and trust for feedback. A fresh set of eyes can help point out copy on your website, for example, that makes perfect sense to you because you wrote it but it’s not coming across well for someone who is not that familiar with what you do. Constructive feedback can be a great asset to you as you work to create new products, freshen up your social media and website before you start working on those areas so you know exactly where to focus your time and energy. 

This can be a hard exercise to go through. It can feel scary to open yourself up to people’s opinions, I get that but it will also prove to be invaluable. The goal is to help you figure out what works in your business and areas that need improvement so you can reach your goals. 

Some of the feedback will be good and some of it won’t be and why it’s important to have a plan on how to sort through and how to handle it. Here are some quick tips to make this process as positive as possible: 

  • Start by thanking the person for their insight and honesty. Those who give you negative feedback probably won’t be expecting you to thank them but by doing so you will earn even more respect and appreciate their honesty even though it was probably uncomfortable for them to do so. 
  • Don’t take it to heart. Just because someone criticizes an aspect of your business doesn’t mean they hate everything. You asked for their help so take it for what it is, something that you need to look into further and look at with a fresh perspective. Nothing more. 
  • Ask questions. Is there something you could do better? Do they have suggestions for improvements?  You never know what helpful solutions someone would share if you take the time to ask some simple questions. 

 

  1. CREATE A PLAN

It may sound cliche but “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is a very true statement. As a mompreneur, you have to know what generates leads, results and revenue for your business (and what doesn’t). Don’t put it off, create a plan today around those activities and commit to them every day without fail. Keep your plan on your desk, in your day planner, set a calendar alert each morning to help keep you from distractions, wake up an hour early if you need to before the house is filled with chaos so you can focus and feel accomplished going into your day. The point is to find what works for you and stay committed to it. 

If you are struggling with this part of your business, check out our post 10 Strategies To Land Your First Client to help you create a plan around activities that will help kickstart your business. 

 

  1. TURN UP THE SOCIAL MEDIA

Have you been using social media the last few months to its full potential? Your ideal client is out there and they need what you have to offer but they have to be able to find you. You don’t need to master every platform either. Leverage your strengths and put them to work for you. 

Love doing live video? Use Facebook live to give tips, a how-to that can solve a problem for your client (when they realize they don’t want to do it, they can reach out and hire you!), create a blog post with a tutorial and share it on your social media pages. Whatever route you choose, the goal is to be consistent. You can’t expect to show up on your social media pages once a month and have potential clients flooding your in-box. 

Instagram is a great tool for networking, creating a community and collaborating. Be sure to check out these practical tips for leveraging Instagram. 

 

  1. CREATE A WEBSITE

If you aren’t generating enough leads in your business and don’t have a website, it’s probably time to start one. It doesn’t have to be complicated and you don’t have to spend thousands designing one. There are great platforms out there like Wix and Squarespace that are user friendly and can help get you started quickly to showcase your work, client testimonials, products and portfolio. Having a platform to market is important to your overall success. 

If you have a website, maybe it’s time to take it up a notch by freshening it up, add a new blog post, client feedback, project examples and create a freebie that can help build an email list. 

 

  1. COLLABORATIONS

To kick start a business there is nothing like forming great partnerships and collaborations to help you do that. Reach out to fellow mompreneurs in your field and ask them if there are ways you can support them and feature them in exchange for the same courtesy. I believe in being blessed to be a blessing and when we support others, it comes back ten fold. 

Make this a regular thing on social media. For example, every Monday you could do #MompreneurMonday where you feature another mompreneur to highlight in your Instagram stories or #FeatureFriday where you feature a mompreneur and a cool project she is working on. If you do logo design work, reach out to a website designer at the beginning of the week and let her know that you are working on a #FeatureFriday post and would love to highlight one of her projects. Ask if she would be willing to do the same for you and feature one of your logo designs. Be intentional and set a time for the two of you to post on Friday so you know there is a mutual commitment (morning posts seem to do better than afternoon or evening posts).  

You will find collaborations like this can be a great way to support others and get exposure for your business too. As a bonus tip, on Fridays you can also use the #FridayIntroductions hashtag. Whatever you decide, be creative and have fun with it!

 

  1. FEATURE YOUR PREVIOUS PROJECTS

Don’t be shy about showcasing your work. Once a week create a post on social media to share a project you worked on for a client. Share some fun facts about the project and give your client a shout out in the process by tagging their Facebook page and Instagram accounts. 

 

  1. SPECIAL PRICING

To give your business a kickstart, put together some quick products and services you can offer for a special price. The key is to create urgency by giving the special pricing an end date. “Now through the end of August, I am helping eCommerce clients get started or rebrand with a custom logo for $_____ but this special pricing is only good through _________ {end date}.”

You are probably not the only business owner out there who needs to give their business a jump start and special pricing with a limited time offer could be exactly what your potential client needs to take action. 

 

  1. HIREMYMOM

Did you know for the past 12 years HireMyMom has been helping freelancing women and moms just like you find quality, legitimate work from home jobs and clients? By joining our community, you can confidently share your skills and look for high quality positions and clients as well as have access to more training and resources to help you build your business. Click HERE to learn more about what we have to offer and become a member today.  

 

Continue Reading

Written by
June 20, 2019

Do Your Rates Reflect Your Value?

Guest Post by Loren Fogelman

Ready to Raise Your Rates?

You chose to ditch the 9 to 5. As a business owner, you have options that aren’t available to you as an employee. You can flex your hours, do things your way and set your rates. 

Over time you realize you’re undercharging. Your thoughts about pricing raise more questions than it solves. The “raising your rates” dilemma challenges businesses of all sizes. 

Like most entrepreneurs, Nancy started out wearing all the hats in her business. By the end of her second year, her team had grown to seven. As a result, she now straddles between the role of business owner and technician. 

Money isn’t her primary motivator. What drives her is the difference she makes for her clients. She loves calling the shots and the freedom to do things her way. 

Winging isn’t a Business Strategy

Leaving her steady paycheck and benefits took courage. During the past two years, she hustled to grow her business to where it is today. Sometimes she doesn’t juggle her personal and business responsibilities that well. Burnouts beginning to seep in from being overworked and underpaid. 

Nancy admits she’s not a savvy business owner. Her technical skills far exceed her business skills. Until now, she grew her business by winging it. 

Of course Nancy wants to earn more money. Her current fees barely cover operating expenses. We spoke candidly about her rates. They simply don’t reflect her expertise. 

As a new business owner, she set her rates below the industry average. This totally overlooks her years in the industry. Until this changes, the only way to earn more is to work more.  

The Courage to Raise Your Rates

Charging more raises money-specific fears. The decision feels difficult. Her self-worth and beliefs around money influence her prices. 

Her primary concerns include:

  • Nobody will pay those fees.
  • No one else charges that much.
  • I’ll lose my clients.
  • How can I justify this?
  • I don’t have enough experience or credentials.
  • What if I can’t meet their expectations?

Do you share her concerns?

Discover How to Get Paid What You’re Worth

Nancy did all the jobs during the start-up phase. Staff took some things off her plate. But, she continued to remain involved in the day-to-day operations of her business. 

This positioned her as a skilled laborer. Because of that, she rarely had time for higher level advisory services. 

The One Degree Solution

Her business didn’t need a complete overhaul. A couple small, yet strategic changes, immediately brought relief. 

First, Nancy discovered the truth about value. When approached from a service-oriented mindset, it removes the worries about greed or scarcity. Instead of thinking she’s taking money from her clients, she formed a new, positive perspective. She deeply connected with what her clients gain from her services.  Her solution liberates them up from their problems. 

Get Paid What You’re Worth

These 5 steps empower you to get paid what you’re worth:

  1. Start with your strengths.  We started with a strengths list. Nancy discovered how she differed from others in her industry. It’s easier to get paid what she’s worth when clients realize the value they receive is greater than the price they’re paying for her service.  Here’s what I mean: Nancy helps her clients increase their profitability. What they earn from working with her is three to four times greater than what she charges for her services.   
  2. Separate fees from time. Nobody wants a client who watches the clock. Tying her fees to time categorizes her as an expense in her client’s mind. Partnering with her clients for a result, instead of time, positions her service as an investment.
  3. Success is messy. The thought of doubling or tripling her rates brings up fears. “Who will pay for this? How will I justify this? Can I meet their expectations?” Yes, mistakes occurred along the way. Each time Nancy signed on a client at her new rates, her confidence grew. 
  4. Stand out as the go-to expert. Rather than compete for all clients, she now selects to only work with ideal clients. Nancy’s clear about the process she developed for getting consistent results. Everything she talks about focuses on how her clients benefit from going through her system. Nancy is now known as the “go-to” expert. 
  5. Solve a need. This is the #1 action which separates her from the competition. Her consultation highlights the client, and their needs. Nancy’s updated business model solves a specific need. Her clients invest in the solution. 

Success occurs from the inside out. Once Nancy owned her value, all the resistance melted away. 

Her new clients value solutions. Over the course of our work together she doubled, and then tripled, her prices. Each change directly improves the client experience and separates her fees from time. Ditching her hourly rate offers the solution she craves – she simply didn’t realize that when we first met. 

Nancy now focuses on supporting her clients growth. The trust she gains from her clients, in turn, supports her business growth. 

The Possibilities are Limitless

Your rates are a reflection of your self-worth. Claiming your value is uncomfortable at first. Doing something new, rather than sticking with something familiar, challenges long-held beliefs. 

Your hourly rate positions you as a commodity rather than an investment. When you lead with what you do, it’s difficult for a potential client to determine why they ought to hire you. It minimizes your expertise. 

Your clients hire you for what you know; not what you do. 

Like Nancy, start to transition from technician to problem solver.  Along the way, you’ll realize where you give your knowledge away for free because you don’t know how to charge for it. 

Leading with value, rather than competing on price, uplevels your business. You deeply connect to the benefits your clients receive from your service. That’s when you no longer need to compete.  What are you ready to let go of to get paid what you’re worth? 

Join the LIVE conversation with Hire My Mom and Loren Fogelman, pricing and profit coach, for an exclusive FREE webinar on How to Raise Your Rates without Losing Clients on Wed., June 26@ 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Register NOW. 

Continue Reading

Written by
May 8, 2019

Top 10 Productivity Hacks Every Mompreneur Needs For Her At Home Business

Figuring out how to get “all the things” done might just be the biggest achilles’ heel as a mompreneur.

It’s easy to look at our never ending list of to-dos and feel anxious and overwhelmed at the thought of how we will ever get it all done. Along the way, as a mompreneur, I have learned a few tricks and hacks to getting more done so I can be more productive and move my business forward.

Let me share with you a little secret about doing “all the things” right up front before we even dive into these productivity hacks.

You will never get it all done.

I know, I know. Not what you wanted to hear.

The truth is, your list will never be completely wiped clean and you will never feel all the way done for the day. It’s just the reality of being a mompreneur and business owner.

But what I will tell you is that even though you won’t ever really get it all done, you can implement these 10 productivity strategies that will help you not only get more accomplished during your work day but also focus on the most important tasks that will help to make your business profitable and successful.

 

1. BRAIN DUMP

Most of the time, overwhelm simply means that your brain is a jumbled mess of thoughts, ideas and tasks. The best strategy that I have learned to calm the chaos is to dump it all out on paper (or Evernote or OneNote if you are more of an electronic app kind of person).

There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Just dump every task, to-do, strategy and creative thought that is bouncing around in your head.

I always end my work day with a brain dump of what I want to get done the next day (or even for the upcoming week on a Sunday night). I immediately feel better once my cluttered thoughts are down on paper. I can see things more clearly and can make an informed decision about what gets my attention and what has to wait for a later time.

 

2. EAT THAT FROG

Now that you have dumped everything that feels like a chaotic, unorganized thought onto paper, it’s time to decide what to tackle and in what order.

This “eat that frog” process is based on Brian Tracy’s wildly popular book Eat That Frog. This strategy will help you take all those things off your brain dump and put them into an ordered list that makes sense for your business.

The key to “eat that frog” is to focus on tackling the hardest, most important tasks first. These are the tasks that are the easiest to procrastinate about because they are usually the ones that push us outside our comfort zone. But they are almost always the tasks that will move us forward in our business and are the most important.

From your brain dump, place an A, B, C, D, or E next to each item on your list.

  • An “A” item is something that is very important, something you must do to move your business ahead
  • A “B” item is a task that you should do, but it only has mild consequences either way. Reviewing email would probably be considered a B task, depending on your business.
  • A “C” item is something that would be nice to do but there are no consequences to your business success if they they get done or not. Calling or meeting a friend for coffee would fall under the C category.
  • A “D” task is something you can delegate to someone else. The rule here is to delegate everything that someone else can do so that you can free up more time for the A tasks that only you can do.
  • An “E” task is defined as something you can eliminate all together and it won’t make any real difference. These may be tasks that you should have gotten rid of a long time ago but because of habit haven’t done so yet.

Now that you have labeled every task on your brain dump, it’s time to get to work immediately.

The key to making this method work is for you to discipline yourself to start immediately on your A tasks and then stay on each task until it is complete, not moving on to another task before hand. And…most definitely, not moving on to a B task until all of your A tasks are complete.

In essence, you have “eaten that frog”. You have done the hardest, yet most important tasks first. Look at how productive you are!

 

3. BATCH YOUR WORK

Batching your work simply means that you are clumping together all of the similar tasks and tackling them at the same time. Here are a few examples of business related items that can be batched together.

  • Blog writing
  • Writing email newsletters and sales funnels
  • Social media posts
  • Sending out invoices
  • Checking email
  • Creating products that you sell

Look at your list of tasks and decide what items can be batched together.

For example, instead of checking email each time a notification pops up, set aside a chunk of time in your day twice a day, like morning and late afternoon for example, to focus on reading, responding and organizing your emails. This is key! Otherwise, so much time can be wasted switching your brain back and forth between tasks!

 

4. PLAN YOUR WORK DAY AROUND YOUR ENERGY LEVELS

Knowing when you are the most creative and have the most energy is crucial to hacking into your productivity as a mompreneur. Plan your day around your highest energy levels. When are you the most creative? When are you the most focused and less distracted? When does your energy start to lag?

Knock out your “A” tasks during your highest energy times and leave your “B” level tasks (checking email and returning phone calls) for those times when your energy starts to lag.

 

5. HAVE SET WORK HOURS

Now that you have identified your highest energy times of the day, make it a point to work during those hours. My most productive work time is from 9-12 each morning so those times are blocked out on my calendar as “focused work time”.

During these high energy hours I am focused on knocking out my “A” level tasks. I also know that after lunch, I am less focused and my energy starts to lessen. That’s when I focus on responding to email and other tasks that don’t require as much focus.

My best hack for sticking with your designated work hours is to put them on your calendar as a non-negotiable. Because you run your own small business, it can be easy to schedule doctor’s appointments or lunch dates during your most effective work times. Consider blocking out Monday-Thursday for work and saving Friday afternoons for errands and appointments.

The key to this strategy is to schedule work time and schedule it during your most energetic and creative times of the day and week.

 

6. HAVE ONE MEETING FREE DAY EACH WEEK

Interruptions and a lack of focus can be the biggest downfalls of controlling our time spent working on our business. What would it mean for your productivity if you have one day a week that you keep free of meetings and appointments?

My designated day of the week is Monday. I try my very best to protect Monday and keep it free of meetings and appointments. It is my day to crank out a ton of work projects and set myself up for success for the rest of the week. I know that if I am able to crush it on Monday and mark a ton of tasks off my list on this first day of the week, I feel more accomplished and energized to tackle the rest of the week.

 

7. CREATE WHITE SPACE ON YOUR CALENDAR

Because you run your own business and are your own boss, it can be easy to let obligations and commitments sneak into your work time. If we aren’t careful, we can say yes to too many things and find ourselves bogged down with commitments and our available focused work time is cut in half (or more).

White space is the available space on your calendar or schedule where you don’t have other obligations. If you feel overwhelmed just by looking at your calendar, take some time to reflect on how you are spending your time, what you have said yes to that is adding overwhelm and stress to your life, and how much focused time you have saved to work on your business.

It might be time to say no to some things so you can say yes to your business more often.

 

8. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS

One of the biggest challenges for mompreneurs is distractions. There is a misconception that as moms who run a business, we should be great at multitasking.

Think about the last time you sat down to tackle an important task for your business. Usually, like I talked about earlier, the hardest tasks are often the most important and the ones that we can want to put off until later.

Did you find yourself checking Facebook, email and watching a stream of Instagram stories while you were “working” on that important business task?

In order to be the most productive and tackle the most important tasks in your business, it is important to head off the temptation to procrastinate by eliminating distractions.

Shut down Facebook, turn off email and put your cell phone in “do not disturb” mode. Whatever is distracting you the most and allowing you to procrastinate, shut it off for the duration of the project you are working on.

A popular method to getting disciplined and focused work time is the Pomodoro Technique. This method allows for some break time and helps you stay focused on the task at hand, with a little bit of down (reward) time throughout.

 

9. CREATE AN INVITING WORKSPACE

Where you work is as important to your productivity as all the other hacks I have shared so far. Your workspace should be designed to help you get work done. It should be a place that you are drawn to, a place you find inspiration and enjoy being in.

The environment in which you work is as important as the space itself. Choose colors, furniture, and decor that speak to your soul. I actually painted my home office to match my fun branding colors, and I love it! You may also want to consider adding a house plant or two to bring life to your office. Your productivity will thank you!

 

10. MAKE YOUR HEALTH A PRIORITY

As a Mompreneur, your health is usually the last thing on your to-do list. But the right foods and exercise are key to your productivity. You might think otherwise, that you don’t have time for a run or taking your favorite Zumba class at the gym, but even going for a brisk walk can make a huge difference in your mindset, energy level and overall productivity.

The key to this hack is to actually value the time you spend with your own self care.

What helps you recharge, gives you energy and keeps you healthy?
Exercise, eating your fruits and veggies, reading a good book, etc.?

Whatever it is for you, make it a priority.

 

What are some productivity hacks that you use to up your game and get more done as a mompreneur? Will you implement some of these productivity strategies to help you better tackle your to-do list?

Contact us and let us know. Would love to hear from you!

 

Are you a Mompreneur looking for more freelancing opportunities and client work to build your home based business? Check out more of what HireMyMom.com has to offer!

 

Continue Reading