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August 3, 2020

Back-to School Tips to Help Parents Survive and Thrive this Fall

As summer sizzles toward the end and the calendar turns to August, many parents start to think about the start of the school year. Starting school always brings new blessings and opportunities along with new routines and new challenges. With the ongoing pandemic, the start of this school year is different than years past–very different.

With many schools opening virtually or partially, home learning will be a key fixture of the fall term. And, with many offices still closed, more parents will work from home than in years past. This means parents and children all sharing the same work areas for the foreseeable future. While this autumn holds the potential for challenges, it also holds prospects for new blessings and discoveries about ourselves and our children. 

A plan to get through the day-to-day challenges can go a long way to making the situation more successful for you and your family.  After years of working at home, here are our best tips for thriving this fall–including a back-to-school to-do list that will help you prepare for the new learning environment.

 

Communicate Early & Often

This will be a fall like no other. So, the usual back-to-school chores need to be updated to reflect our current circumstances. Before we tackle the list, the first step is a series of frank discussions about how to best manage school and work as a family. These discussions are more valuable if they happen early and often, as communication is the key to success.

 

Plan it Out

The first conversation is adults only. Sit down with your spouse and discuss your likely workloads for the next few weeks. This can (and will) change each week, but having a sense of how much work each of you faces in the near-term is important. 

For example, if your spouse knows that you have a capstone project due in October, it’s easier to make day-to-day plans that allow for success. Likewise, if one of you is less busy right now, it may make sense for that person to serve as the primary parent as school starts. If you are single, map out how your workload looks in the near term to give you a better sense of what’s on the horizon. While it’s impossible to predict everything that may come up, talking about likely scenarios will help you prepare for the weeks and months ahead.

Once you have a good handle on your work obligations, share them with your children. Depending on their age, some kids may not realize that mom and dad have work obligations that must be met. Spelling these out in an age appropriate way is important for setting expectations.

 

Consider School Expectations

Once you have a handle on your own work and that of your spouse, turn to school expectations. Knowing how the school schedule will work and the obligations of each student are important first steps. Many schools are sharing specific objectives for home-learning days. For example, some require a minimum number of contact hours each day or a certain amount of online assignments turned in each week. 

 

Set Family Goals

Armed with knowledge about what the school expects, add your own expectations for the fall, and ask your children what they’d like to achieve. As a family, discuss goals for the fall semester, including personal, school and family goals. For example:

  • Meet all school-issued objectives.
  • Start school work by 8 each morning.
  • Complete school work without being reminded.
  • Do chores in a timely manner.
  • Learn three new skills outside of class work.
  • Limit time on phones, video games and other devices to X hours per day/week. (See section below for more on this.)
  • Set aside designated family time each week.

 

Back-To-School To Do List

Your normal back-to-school to-do list likely includes buying school supplies, finding the right backpack and picking up a back-to-school wardrobe. While some of those tasks may be on hold, here are a few things that can help make the back to school transition easier and more productive under these extraordinary circumstances.

  • Set ground rules for school days. When school was unexpectedly moved online last spring, it took families by surprise. This made it difficult to set ground rules. This fall, having rules in place will help make remote work easier and more productive for everyone. You don’t want to spend a good portion of your work day negotiating screen time with your kids. Decide on your ground rules early and make sure that all family members understand them.

 

  • Establish a policy for use of electronic devices. One area where many parents struggle is with the use of electronic devices. This is tricky on a number of levels. A lot of school work is completed online. But, as many parents found in the spring, a child who is sitting at his computer and looks engaged may be playing video games instead of completing online assignments. In addition, text messages and social media notifications can easily divert the attention of the most well-intentioned students.  Before the first day of school, agree upon rules as to when/how electronic devices can be used. One option is to follow the same rules that your local school uses with respect to phone and technology use. Make sure you, your spouse, and your children are all on the same page for device use during the school day.

 

  • Share your expectations with your family. Based on your family’s goals, outline the expectations you have for your children to get their school work done in a timely manner. Be clear about the work you expect your child to do on his/her own and how and when to ask for help during the work day. Share the specifics of your schedule with your children (based on their age) so they understand when a parent is available for help. Consider a sign for your office door (or back of your computer) that lets your children know if you are available or not.

 

  • Outline a typical day. Routines help make days go more smoothly by adding automaticity. To get into a daily routine more quickly, consider how you’d like a typical school day to look this fall. Maybe you like to rise early and start working during the quiet morning hours. If so, perhaps  you’d like your kids to serve themselves breakfast and read until a certain time. If your kids are older, they may have their own schedule preferences. There’s no right or wrong day. The important thing is to have a shared sense of how the days look. Talking about how typical days might unfold can get you there sooner.

 

  • Divide the house work. Acknowledge the extra work created by having more people in the house each day. Discuss a plan for kitchen clean up, laundry and cooking with an eye toward ways to share the work across the family. Sharing chores can be a wonderful learning opportunity for kids. Consider assigning tasks to lighten the load on everyone.

 

  • Establish feedback channels. Regular family meetings about school work progress and expectations are an important tool for success. Share feedback with your kids and ask them to share feedback with you about how things are going. Prepare to be flexible as you learn what works and what doesn’t. We are all learning as we go and some things are bound to work better than others. Keeping the lines of communication open makes it easier to focus on the positive and correct things that aren’t working.

 

  • Take a Deep Breath. This experience is a foundational life experience for you and your children. As we embark upon a school year like no other, let’s remember we are all learning new things this year. It’s an opportunity for you to get more involved with your child’s education and to watch them learn new skills–like time management–in real time. But learning can be difficult, so extending  extra grace to our kids, our co-workers, our spouses, our teachers, our communities, and ourselves can help us thrive during these times.

 

Drop us a line to share your experiences, ideas, successes and struggles. And if you are seeking work from home options, be sure to check out some of our recent job posts. 

 

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June 22, 2020

3 Powerful Ways Remote Teams Can Help Your Small Business Grow

If you are a small business owner, chances are you’ve faced the challenge of how and when to hire someone to join your team. Many small business owners start out by themselves or with only one or two others, but as the business grows so do the roles and needs. And with the recent mandatory shift to working remotely, more businesses are seeing the benefits of a remote team. But what many may not know is there are many other positives to this virtual work approach.

 

More for Your Money

You get a bigger bang for your buck when hiring remote workers. Job seekers looking for remote work value their freedom and flexibility over an office job and may be willing to work for less than a traditional employee. And many small businesses have found they can fill many roles with independent contractors which is more cost effective than hiring an employee with benefits. 

The average cost of health insurance for U.S. employees is close to $15,000 according to SHRM. When you consider those cost savings, hiring independent contractors for remote work sounds even more advantageous.

The IRS has set guidelines for determining if someone is an employee or an independent contractor. In general, if the business owner is paying for the result of the work, rather than the ability to control how the work is performed, then the position is likely suitable for a contractor rather than an employee.

 

More Specialized

Instead of hiring one person to do a variety of jobs, having a remote team allows you to hire multiple team members each with a unique set of skills. Many virtual professionals today work for more than one person and therefore get very good in a set of skills. No longer do you have to hire an “all-in-one” candidate to do customer service, administrative tasks and social media.

Instead, you could look for specialized talent like:

  • A Facebook ads specialists to create and manage ad campaigns to bring more sales and customers to your business.
  • A customer service person to respond to your customers needs and questions.
  • A content manager to create and manage content for social media, blogs and email campaigns.
  • A marketing person to create lead magnets and other marketing ideas to grow your business.
  • An email marketing specialist to create email campaigns for your customers or to improve the client onboarding processes.
  • A YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest specialist to increase brand visibility, drive traffic, grow your email list and increase your customer base.
  • A virtual assistant to manage your day to day tasks such as email, phone calls, and other routine tasks so you can focus on your business.
  • A project manager to oversee your projects and keep them running.

 

Better Retention 

With remote positions, you can attract and retain quality professionals. In a recent study, 95% of employers reported that working remotely has had a high impact on their employee retention rate.

For moms, working remotely provides the ability to have a better work / life balance. For instance, if a child is sick, mom can continue to work while monitoring their child. In the same way, she can take a break to go watch her child’s school performance and make up the time if needed. Having the ability to work remotely is hugely valuable to moms which makes remote positions very attractive. 

 

Having the ability to hire the right person for the right job and pay a fair rate enables small businesses to grow faster than having to hire full time employees. When combined with all the additional benefits, establishing a virtual team becomes a real advantage for many small businesses.  If you’re looking to grow your remote team, we’d be grateful to help! 

 

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May 4, 2020

Is Remote Work the Way of the Future?

The year 2020 has turned out to be far different than anyone could have ever expected. Outside of essential services, the survival of many businesses now rely on their ability to run remotely. Remote work is now one of the best and only ways a business can survive through these trying times. 

But even before COVID-19, remote working was starting to flourish and become a worldwide phenomenon.

Let’s dive into how remote work has transformed from optional to essential. 

Growing Populations = Increased Commuting Time and Costs

With the populations of our major cities increasing at a rapid rate and the methods of transportation to and from work becoming increasingly strained, many businesses started looking at ways to diminish travel time, expenses and stress that derives from commuting to and from work each day. This is one of the reasons remote work options started to come into play.

The Benefits of having a Remote Workplace for Businesses

Many employers have been choosing to have remote workplace environments for many reasons including:

  • lower operating costs,
  • the advancement of tools and technology,
  • improved productivity and quality of work and;
  • access to a broader spectrum of qualified workers.

 

Leadership and Communication in the Remote Workplace

As stated above, there are many benefits for companies who choose to create remote work environments for their employees. The key to having success in these remote working situations relies heavily on two things; Communication and Leadership.

Remote work success starts at the top of a company’s organizational chart – the Leadership. It’s up to the leaders to set the bar for policies, and procedures in remote work. 

There should be a clear and well laid out structure of supervision to motivate work from home employees and aspire them to hit their productivity goals and provide them with flexibility at the same time so they can create the perfect work-life balance. 

Strong communication is key to the success of any company but due to the lack of physical accessibility in a remote work environment, having clear communication protocol is essential. 

Two considerations when laying out your policies and procedures for communication include; access to important information and the right tools and software to communicate with.

Remote Work as an Emerging and Essential Trend

Ten years ago, remote work was almost unheard of. This is because over the past decade there has been some key technological advances made and an influx of software options available for remote workers that has made running a remote work environment much easier and affordable to implement. 

In some cases, it would cost a company more to NOT work remotely and have to source out office space, equipment and other in house essentials.

One of the biggest challenges for employers on the fence between remote work and in office work environments is not having the ability to monitor and implement strategies for sustaining productivity amongst their employees.

Some case studies however, have emerged reporting favorable findings that remote workers are more productive than in-office workers. Take CoSo Cloud for example; their survey reported a 77% increase in productivity within their remote workers.

 

COVID-19 and Remote Work

Many years ago, remote work was not an option because of the lack of the right equipment and technology to do so. 

Fortunately, we are in a position to transition to remote work almost immediately which helps sustain a business when faced with a crisis like COVID-19.

Not only has this type of work become essential for our economy, but it’s also important to the health and safety of helping businesses survive.

Remote work can help businesses operate while governments have been closing non-essential service storefronts and emphasizing the practice of social distancing and self isolation. 

 

What the Future Holds for Remote Work …

There is an endless amount of software offerings that support almost every aspect of business from logistics to accounting to marketing to sales and customer service. 

Of course some exceptions to remote work abilities include businesses that rely on human to human physical contact such as health and wellness companies and manufacturing facilities.

For those companies in a position where remote work is a possibility, NOW is the time to do so. 

The key takeaway to this article is that time is of an essence and there is no time for debate. The future IS in remote work environments in order to sustain non-essential businesses that would be forced to shut down if not providing remote work environments. 


The Benefits to Doing so far Exceed the Setbacks. 

If your business is ready to take the next step to hiring remote workers, HireMyMom has become a go-to source for finding skilled, trained, and highly qualified employees to help businesses grow and sustain. Here are 7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses.

Review what companies are saying here or if you’re ready to start your search, you can get started here. 

 

 

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April 1, 2020

5 Ways Working From Home Promotes Healthy Work-Life Balance

One of the greatest benefits to working from home is the flexibility. Because you can work from anywhere, remote work has been for the longest time, considered a luxury.

Now however, remote work is a necessity. A few months ago, the world was hit with COVID-19 and suddenly, many businesses were faced with the decision to either close down completely or find a way to transition their staff to remote work.


For today’s blog, we’re going to talk about how this new situation can promote a healthy work life balance. 

 

The Importance Of Work-Life Balance

Having a good work-life balance is important for your overall happiness and ability to stay motivated and driven to produce your best work at all times.

If you find that you are constantly working and have little time left over to take care of yourself, socializing with friends, and spending time with family, this can really impact your mental, physical, and emotional well being. 

Finding a healthy work-life balance has always been a difficult thing to do, especially when the average person puts in an 8 hour work day and factors in commuting time on top of that.

With remote work becoming the new frontier for employment sustainability, it’s never been a better time to embrace and adapt to this new way of work.

For those of us who weren’t expecting to be working from home, keep in mind that for many years, remote employees have reported seeing a great improvement to their emotional, mental, and physical health as a result. A study from Staples found that those who work from home experienced 25% less stress. 


Here Are 5 Ways Working from Home Promotes a Healthy Work-Life Balance

 

Working from Home Allows You To Create The Office Environment You Want

How many times have seen those cubicle style office spaces featured in movies and tv shows? The truth is, that those spaces depicted have been a reality for many people over the years.

The average office space consists of 3 portable walls, a desk, computer, phone and maybe a filing cabinet. Paint color, artwork, and the type of chair you have are all depicted by the employer. Workers are expected to be in their “office” for 8 hours a day or more.

With remote work, your office can be as big as you want, your chair can be as comfy as you want, the color of your walls, artwork and accessories can all be determined by you. Your home office space can be as bright and cheery as you want and can reflect your own unique personality. You can even bring in some natural light by putting your office in a room with windows. The world is your oyster when you work from home and this can lead to both comfort and contentment.

 

Remote Work Provides Flexibility For Personal Time

Because remote work is flexible, you can start earlier or end later depending on the routine of your family and the needs of your clients or employer.

When school and extracurricular activities return to normalcy again, you’ll be able to drop off and pick up your children from school and/or daycare as well as take your kids to their gymnastics, soccer games and attend school functions. You won’t have to ask or request the time off from your employer just as long as you are providing consistently good work, delivering it on time and it doesn’t interfere with calls,  meetings or deadlines.

 

Working from Home Minimizes Socialization Stress

Let’s face it, there’s nothing more disruptive than someone barging into your office, or you getting caught in the “water cooler conversations” when all you wanted was to refresh your coffee.

Though it’s healthy to have a social life, it can be very distracting and disruptive to your workflow throughout the day.

Working from home gives you the perfect balance of isolation and socialization. You can chat with co-workers during conference calls and in your online communications but now, the social gossip is at a low and more productive conversations are at a high.

This improved level of working means you get more done in less time. In fact, a study by ConnectSolutions reported 77% report greater productivity while working off site. This can lead to your work day wrapping up sooner, giving you more time to spend with your friends and family.

Having said this, it’s important to expand your social network when you’re a remote employee. There are many online groups you can join that offer encouragement and share ideas on how you can improve your remote work lifestyle. At HireMyMom we have an online community on Facebook to help members connect and have a virtual support team.

 

Remote Work Eliminates The Stress And Time Loss From Commuting

Let’s address the elephant in the room … commuting. The time lost, the cost, and the stress of commuting has been one of the biggest realized benefits to working remotely.

Before remote work ever came to be, we were all forced to find a method of transportation to get to work each day.

For some of us, this meant driving during rush hour traffic with honking and shouting from other drivers and for others, this meant getting on buses or trains being exposed to hundreds of fellow commuters (and whatever communicable illness they could be carrying). 

Being exposed to less stress, less sickness, and gaining more personal time as a result keeps us healthy and happy on all levels.

 

Working from Home Allows You To Take Breaks When You Need Them The Most

It’s really great that during a typical work day for the most part, we get lunch and a 15-minute break however, depending on the location of your employment, you were most likely taking those breaks in a lunch room or worse still, at your desk.

It’s so healthy for us to be able to get up and move around. Sitting in the same position for long periods of time is bad for our posture, our circulation and more.

When we work from home, we can move our office as needed (for example you can start your work day at the kitchen table and move into your designated office space in the afternoon). You can stretch as you need to and your 15-minute breaks can be a walk around the block.

You also can take your breaks when you need them the most. Rather than being dictated on the time frame, you can go with your body’s natural rhythm and flow.

This includes lunch breaks as well. For those who didn’t before, you now have access to a fully equipped kitchen so that fresh, healthy meals can be prepared right at home daily.

This minimizes the desire for grabbing “lunch to go” at a fast food chain. Not only is there a cost savings to doing this, but it’s also much better for your physical health too.

 

The reality is that COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. This new way of working might be hard for a lot of people, but it’s necessary in order to flatten the curve. The benefits of remote work even before this crisis situation occurred was so great that most considered this as being the “dream” lifestyle.

We now have a chance to come together and work towards a better future, an overall healthier lifestyle, and more time with the people in our lives that matter most. If you are searching for work from home options, check out our most recent job posts here.  And if you are a small business seeking to hire virtual professionals, click here to post your job. 

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January 6, 2020

5 Ways Online Groups Can Help You Succeed Working From Home

Working from home offers many benefits but, at times there can be some small drawbacks as well.

Unlike an office environment, remote work at home often involves minimal daily interaction with others. There’s also a lack of support, and it’s up to you to create a good workflow, be disciplined enough to follow through with it and to be able to tap into the right resources when you’re presented with a challenge.

This is where having a solid “tribe” or community comes into play.

Your community can be your most precious commodity. Having a place to turn to (especially one with like-minded people) can be the difference between liking work at home and loving it!

So, where can you find a work from home “tribe” to call your own?

For some, it could be in the form of a local networking group. Networking groups often meet in person on a weekly basis and may require a membership fee in order to join. They actively support each other’s businesses by getting to know the products and services each member offers and by providing referrals to each other’s companies. 

Because remote workers can perform their job anywhere and are considered more self-employed, restricting yourself to just local business interaction might not be the best choice.

This is where Facebook and other online communities can come in handy. Online support groups are often free to join and can be accessed virtually 24/7.

 

Here are 5 benefits to joining a Community Group that supports remote work from home individuals:

 

1. Job Leads

Depending on the group you decide to join, others may post their job leads or requests within the community. This allows you to have access to leads that may not be posted elsewhere on the internet. 

You can also share job leads and others can share the ones they have found with you. This creates a place to find quality job postings without turning to mega job sites that expect more for less (we share more about that in our article “Why Moms Looking To Work at Home Should Avoid Free Job Sites“).

 

2. Tips & Pointers

Your community group can be a great place to learn and grow. Are you looking for the best ways to keep your home office organized? How about being able to manage your routine tasks more efficiently?

When you have access to a group of other workers who, just like you, face and overcome the same obstacles, they are more than eager to share their experiences, life lessons, and wisdom.

What better way to learn how to grow and sustain your remote business than through the minds of others who can offer their insight and expertise.

 

3. Valuable Resources

When it comes to living and working in a digital world, there are many benefits however, the drawback can be all of that “digital noise” we get flooded with on a day to day basis. When you’re subjected to hundreds of posts, photos and ads daily, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and confused. 

You can also lose precious time having to sort and navigate through the “junk” to get to the information you want and not get distracted.

If you choose to be a part of a community support group, you’ll find many helpful articles, information on upcoming events that might benefit you and more.

 

4. Inspiration

Let’s face it, we all need some inspiration from time to time. When we are inspired, we feel motivated, creative, and action-oriented.

When we are motivated we tend to do a better job and have a more positive mindset when it comes to getting the job done.

Your community support group is like your own personal cheerleading squad that can help you push through the day with a better outcome compared to doing it all alone.

 

5. Friendships

Remote work can feel very isolating so it’s important to build friendships and stay connected. 

Some of the best friendships start with common ground. Interacting with other remote workers (and Moms) just like you can make you feel like you’re not alone in this journey of self-employment.

Because an online group is primarily virtual, you can access your friendships more frequently as it fits into your schedule. You can break up your workday over a coffee and Skype chat with a fellow stay at home Mom worker as an example.

There you have it, 5 benefits you can experience firsthand from joining an online community group. 

Our Hire My Mom Facebook Support Group is full of amazing women (like you) who are passionate about their careers, their families and their HireMyMom tribe. Interested in joining? You can find a link to our group here. We would love to see you join us!

 

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December 2, 2019

Get Out of Your Own Way! Face Your Fears & Rise!

Face Your Fears and RISE!

Do you think you are the only one who deals with fears? Nope not even close. According to a study by EMC Corporation, 84% of people hold on to irrational fears, not even real fears. “Irrational fears, ranging from using the coffee machine to wearing the wrong clothes, are keeping people awake and preventing them from being successful,” according to research commissioned by Mozy® by EMC.

That last part is what I want you to see: fears are preventing you from being successful.

Is that you? Do you have some fear, real or irrational, that is keeping you from being successful?

Perhaps you have a fear of:

  • Failure?
  • Success?
  • Not being good enough?
  • Being a bad parent?
  • Not making or having enough money?

What is it you are believing about yourself?

Because these fears are causing you to have limiting beliefs about yourself and your abilities.

So what can we do about it?

 

Action Item #1: Disprove the Lies

Think about what fears or thoughts you are believing.

Maybe there are several.

Write them all down.

Now I want you to write down at least 3 things that disprove that lie.

Example: I doubt myself and my abilities.

Truth: I have overcome so much in life.  I was:

  • raised in a single parent blue collar home,
  • a first generation college student graduating with honors,
  • then awarded a full scholarship to obtain my master’s degree in Scotland, 
  • started my business at age of 29

 

So FEAR is: False Evidence Appearing Real

Once you dissect your fears and see that they are mostly if not all false, you empower yourself in huge ways!

Why?

You need to overcome your fears and believe in yourself and what you do. If you don’t believe in yourself / your services, how can you expect anyone else to?

What you believe will dictate what you think on a moment by moment basis…  which leads to my next action item.

 

Action Item: Just Do It

Whatever you’re fearing, decide today to do ONE thing that will move you in the direction of overcoming that fear.

Because action is the antidote to fear.

You need to take action every day! You are only one decision from the next big thing.

We make tiny decisions all day long that can lead us in the right direction or in the wrong direction. Make a choice which direction you will allow your thoughts to take you.

Know that you may never FEEL like doing something, DO IT ANYWAY!

Practice the 5 second rule which says “if you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it.

When you feel yourself hesitate before doing something, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and move towards action.

Stop trying to wait until you’re perfect or your product or service is perfect. Start now!

Another acronym for FEAR is Face Everything and Rise.

So my challenge to you is to Face it and RISE!

There is a reason God tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We make are thoughts align with His truth.

Take action today to move away from fear and towards your goals.

You are worth it!

 

Ready to work from home? Get training to be a VA, a Bookkeeper? Post a job?

What is YOUR next step?

We’d love to help!

 

 

 

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August 26, 2019

Parenting vs Working: How to Create Work-Life Balance in Your Home-Based Business

Guest Post by Justin Chapman

Becoming a Virtual Assistant is often a choice made by parents who never want to miss the big moments in their children’s lives. One of the biggest struggles parents will face as a virtual professional is work-life balance. Often, as a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Professional, when you have a home office, you can easily get caught up working long hours because of your focus. As a professional, you want to get work done and saying to yourself “just another 10 minutes”, can quickly turn into another two hours. Conversations with your spouse can quickly turn into conversations about your new client or the project you are working on. Following the steps below can help you create work-life balance in your home-based business.

Schedule Your Hours

Flexibility in your hours is an attractive piece of becoming an at-home professional, but sometimes in that, you have to make sacrifices. These sacrifices can be made in your personal or professional life. If you have a tight deadline, you may have to sacrifice watching your child’s soccer game. If you can’t miss your mother’s birthday, then a couple of hours of work may have to be done early one morning. Knowing your schedule at least a week in advance will make you more productive.

Whether you are taking care of children, or visiting your parents, entrepreneurs will always have their business in the back of their minds. Having a schedule will create work-life balance. A schedule assists in reducing stress; knowing that you have eight uninterrupted hours tomorrow to get work done allows you to enjoy the night before with family or friends. Make sure you take advantage of a schedule, and put as much as you possibly can in it.

Design a Home Office

If you do not have a spare office with a door, you do not have to be a contractor to build one. Purchasing “hush panels” or office boards to section off even a small work area can make a massive difference. Many Virtual Assistants set up a computer in a multi-purpose room. It is important to have that room act as an office during your working hours, or to have your station sectioned off from the room.

Conversations about work need to happen in your office, even with your spouse. Don’t allow work-talk to take over every conversation in the house. If you want advice from your spouse or a friend on a project you are working on, bring them into your office. Ask questions where you can take notes or show them what you have created already. Practicing this will build a sense of separation and create work-life balance.

Get Organized and Set Goals

This is one of the best tips to help you answer the question: how to create work-life balance in your home-based business. If you have ever taken any at-home post-secondary courses, such as CanScribe’s Virtual Assistant Program, you know how important setting goals can be. When you have a project, you have one ultimate goal: complete the project.

Creating smaller goals will help you complete the project effectively. It can also help you schedule your time around your family. Make sure you know what goals you have and how long each task will take. Rather than just “doing work”, you are working effiectively and not wasting time. Similar to knowing your schedule, you are able to reduce stress and enjoy time with your family and friends because you know what needs to be done, how long it will take, and when you are working on it.

Creating a work-life balance is important to success both as a family member, and as a professional. Scheduling your hours, building an office, and keeping organized can help become successful at both. Focus on your family while keeping attention on your work priorities. These tips help show you how to create work-life balance in your home-based business.

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June 18, 2018 0 Comments

5 Tips for Work Life Balance

 

We often hear of work life balance, but how do we achieve it?  Bridging the gap between work, family, relaxation and social time is a challenge in our busy world, but it’s crucial to quality of life.

According to Small Business Trends, “66 percent of full-time employees say they don’t strongly believe they have a work-life balance,” which is a huge figure.  It’s important that we take the time to find a balance for better health and happiness.

What’s important?

The first step to work life balance is establishing what that looks like for you, along with what’s important in your life.  If you say it’s family but spend all your time working, it’s time to reevaluate your priorities. If you’re truly in a time period when getting ahead at work is crucial, you may have less time for family and friends.

Finding a balance starts with what’s ideal for you.  Is it important for you to have a few hours at night to do nothing?  Do you need to be done working at a certain time to get to your child’s game?  Lay out a perfect week that allows you to include those things that are non-negotiable.

Time management

For work life balance to be successful, you must manage your time! It’s easy to get distracted during work and outside of work, and that cuts down on the time you have left for you.  Break down your work tasks by time, and always leave room for breaks and downtime.

When you know where your time is going, you’re better able to re-adjust as needed.  Take inventory of where your time is spent, and take steps to rearrange some things if needed.

Stay social

So you don’t always feel like you’re in work mode, staying social is key! Make time for your friends and family, even if work is your current priority.  You can still take some time out of your days or weeks to see friends and family.

This is a great way to recharge your batteries, see where your priorities lie, and strengthen relationships.  It’s almost always known that we feel better after interacting with those we love! Make time for this – work will be there when you return.  When you get time away from work, you come back more refreshed and ready to do a better job.

Turn it off

Especially on weekends, it’s important to turn off electronics! Weekends should mostly be reserved for fun, relaxation, and recharging.  Your phone and computer can be used personally, but try not to get too involved with anything with work. It’s important for the brain to shut down for a while and not focus on work.  

It gets tiring for your brain and body to look at a screen constantly, and you seriously blur the lines between work and play when you end up working all weekend, even if it’s just through your computer.

Do your best to make weekends work technology free! Again, you’ll come back feeling ready to tackle your tasks on Monday if you didn’t spend the whole weekend working.

Remember downtime

Downtime is so important! Doing fun things with your friends and family is also crucial and valid, but spending time relaxing is very important to quality of life.

Whether you enjoy spa days, a leisurely walk, or just some time lounging by a pool, it’s important to have downtime where nothing is on the agenda.  We live in a very structured, scheduled world, and while that’s great for productivity, or figuring out where your time is, eventually you have to shut that off for a while.

 

You can even look at your schedule early in the week and ensure that you’ve carved out some time to do absolutely nothing!

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June 11, 2018 0 Comments

3 Challenges with Working From Home – and How to Solve Them

Working from home has many benefits, from more time and flexibility to a non-existent commute.  Although it’s mainly a positive experience for most, there can be challenges involved, especially in the beginning.

Check out this week’s blog for some tips on working through those challenges successfully.

Kids or Family

While kid, family, pet and friend time can be a huge bonus to a more flexible job, they can also require a lot of time.  Sometimes you’ll need to have focused work time, meetings or conference calls that demand your attention.

For your kids, ask your mom friends or moms in your groups if there are any play groups during the day.  You can exchange playdates while other moms need to get things done as well.

You can also take your work outside! Since most home-based jobs involve only a computer, you can bring your office with you.  Take your kids or the dogs to a park while you work.

Distractions

Distractions are part of every job, but can be even more prevalent at home.  Between the aforementioned family members and dogs, there’s postal deliveries, homes to be cleaned, and TV shows that can be a little too tempting. If you struggle at all with independent work, it can be even more challenging.

Instead of eliminating these things entirely, give yourself breaks to do what you’re tempted to do during work time, such as watch a TV show, put in a load of laundry, or start dinner.

Your distractions can become a healthy part of your life, as long as you work to manage them while still getting things done.  Create a schedule that allows time for the extras or “distracting” parts of your day while still completing your work.

Socialization

One of the first concerns when accepting a work from home job is the possibility of isolation. Whether you have kids or not, it can still be lonely to not work out of a traditional office.

To combat this, it’s important that social interaction remain part of your life.  Can you plan to work with a friend at a coffee shop? What about a weekly happy hour date with a friend or family member?

If you can, look into co-working spaces and spend a few mornings or afternoons working from Starbucks.  Even though you might not be working with anyone else, the energy from others, as well as social interaction, will help you feel a bit more normal.

Also, if it’s possible in your situation, be sure to meet up with your co-workers from time to time.  If you aren’t local to each other, schedule frequent Skype dates. Video conferencing can still feel like an in-person conversation much more than the phone!

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May 7, 2018 0 Comments

4 Tips to Make Summer Fun

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Summer is almost here! School will be out soon, and we move on to one of the most fun times of the year. Although it’s summer, work doesn’t usually stop.  It may be lighter in the summer months, depending on your industry, but work still must be considered.

Enjoy this time of year while still being productive! Read along for some of our best tips to do just that.

Mix up your days

As we mentioned before, hours and schedules are often lighter or more flexible in the summer.  More people are traveling and taking time off with their kids, and there’s a general air of relaxation.  If this is the case for your job or industry, adjust your hours! Maybe you can set it up so you have some time with your kids in the afternoon for activities, and you can start earlier in the morning or go later into the evening.

Plan something fun

Summer routines are fun – the pool, swim team, sports, and cookouts – but it’s still a routine! Plan something fun with your friends and family, and try to make it something you can’t do in the colder months.  Plan a trip to a local amusement park, take a road trip for a fun event, or plan a staycation that gets you out of your immediate area.

Utilize this time of year to get out of your comfort zone, and do something that you will look forward to.

Take it outside

It’s summer, so by all means – get outside! If you’re working, you can still appreciate the outdoors.  Bring a comfy chair on your deck or the patio and work outside for a few hours. It can feel like a mini vacation to simply breathe in the warm, fresh air for a bit.

If you’re used to meeting up with friends or co-workers at coffee shops or over lunch, maybe suggest a picnic.  You could also work together outdoors at a nice, quiet park, or even outdoors at the cafe. It’s a great time of year to mix things up a bit, and enjoy the sun and warmth while it’s still around!

Involve the kids

Since your kids will likely be with you during the summer, involve them in your day to day.  As we said above, it can be as simple as leaving some time during their most active time of day to swim together, see an outdoor movie in a park, or take a hike on a local trail.

Of course you can still do these things after hours as well, but it can be kind of fun to break free from the norm.

Summer is all about relaxation, having fun, and leaning in towards more flexibility.  Take time to spend with your friends and family, and make sure you’re doing some special things that make this time of year even better.

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