time management

July 16, 2024

Holly jolly

Working during the holidays can be exhilarating, but more often than not, it’s also stressful, tiring and overwhelming. If you find yourself constantly overbooked or doing more than you should to make sure the holidays are perfect, it’s time to get some perspective and say no to some things so you can enjoy the holidays and your family more fully. Here are three tips on how to balance work and the holidays so you can create a less stressful holiday season and still achieve all your holiday goals.

1) Prioritize

Create two lists: one list of things you have to get done such as work tasks and a list of things you want to do such as creating crafts with your kiddos. Prioritize these based on your schedule. Now, we aren’t saying you have to give up one to do the other, but it does help to write it all down on a calendar so you can figure out what to do. For example, if you need to make cookies or wrap gifts this week then plan accordingly. If time permits and you are looking forward to making those items, that’s awesome! Give yourself permission to go back and forth between the different lists; if there is time left over at the end of the day then feel free to jump into wants from have-to without guilt. This method helps cut down on holiday stress which means more quality time with family during December!

2) Set Boundaries

We are all guilty of overbooking ourselves and over committing to work projects and holiday parties. If you find yourself in this position, it’s okay to say no to some things so you can focus on being with family and friends during the holidays. Be proactive and communicate your boundaries to others. There is nothing wrong with turning down projects or events when they conflict with important time off during the holidays.

What if I have already agreed to do something? As difficult as it might be, if there are conflicts between obligations that have already been agreed upon, then talk them out openly. If a project is too much work without having time for family or if a party will be too much without also having time for self-care, then there is not enough room in your schedule and you need to let go or renegotiate expectations. You’re not obligated; you’re choosing what matters most to you.

3) Simplify

Work and family should be able to co-exist, but this is easier said than done. The holidays are a time of celebration and togetherness, but it can be difficult to balance work obligations with spending quality time with your loved ones. Sometimes it helps to just simplify your schedule and what you want to do. Do you want to spend the time solely with family? Take off work. Do you want to get a couple of extra work projects done before the end of the year? Block off time where you will only be doing that and nothing else. Just remember, keep things simple and whatever you do not need to do, don’t do it! Save it until next year! And remember, don’t stress yourself out because you do not want to fall ill. Take time for yourself to rest and relax too.

How do you stay stress free with work and family during the holiday season? Let us know!

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December 5, 2022

‘Tis the Season to Say No: 3 Tips for a Less Stressful Holiday

1) Prioritize

2) Set Boundaries

3) Simplify

How do you stay stress free with work and family during the holiday season? Let us know!

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October 17, 2022

Preparing Your Team for a Successful Holiday Season

The holiday season can be stressful and tiring, but it doesn’t have to take a huge toll on your employees. Get your team in the right mindset before the holidays begin by following these tips to prepare your team so they can enjoy the holidays and come back without feeling overwhelmed. You’ll all start refreshed and ready to hit the ground running!

Set Clear Expectations

As the holidays approach, it is very easy to get into “holiday mode” and out of “work mode.” After all, everyone wants to enjoy the time off with their families! Going into the holiday season, set clear expectations for your team. Tell them which projects should be finished before the holidays and which they can push until after. Give parameters for time off such as when they can leave for the holidays and what sort of schedule there might be — think of the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve as an example. Should employees be ready to work that week? Or will your company take that time off? It’s good to figure all this out ahead of time so you aren’t left scrambling at the last minute.

Schedule a Check-In with Employees

Schedule time to check in with your employees periodically so they don’t have to keep their holiday worries bottled up and can ask questions or seek guidance. Plus, scheduling time will help you make sure they’re not feeling overwhelmed. Encourage them to find someone they trust to share their feelings with, whether it’s family, friends, other coworkers, or someone else. They might also want to make changes to their schedule such as rearranging work tasks so they can avoid the busiest days at the office before and after the holidays. If an employee does become overloaded with work during this busy season because of pressure from management (e.g., responding to more than ten emails per day), then scheduling a check-in is the perfect way to discuss expectations to ensure your employees are happy and healthy!

Set an End Date Early

Start by thinking about the roles in your organization and prioritizing which members will be able to take time off. Some people may not be able to come back until after the holidays, but it is important to think about how long people can be away from their jobs because each job may require different amounts of prep before someone can come back. For example, if you work as an art director in a design firm and no one else on your team is working on anything holiday-related, then you may want to come back early (because the holiday season only lasts so long) whereas someone who works in HR may want to extend their time off through January. However, don’t forget that you will need some level of staffing during this busy season! If you plan on closing for holidays completely, make sure you have a plan in place to let customers know your holiday hours.

Define Parameters Around Discretionary Tasks

To ensure that you take care of all your business duties, tasks related to personnel and operations are given higher priority in the weeks leading up to the holidays. This doesn’t mean, however, that these work tasks can’t be handled after the holidays as well. Preparing your team and planning ahead will allow them to go home on time this year and re-enter work with refreshed minds the next week. Make sure they know what they should do when they come back from the holiday break. Take care of projects that need attention before then if possible so there is no chance of things falling through the cracks.

Take some time off for yourself during this period too; being burnt out can lead to feeling overwhelmed and not wanting to go back at all!

How do you prepare your team for the holidays? Let us know!

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October 3, 2022

The Busy Mom’s Guide to Creating a Work-From-Home Schedule

When you work from home as a stay at home mom, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have all the time in the world to get everything done, when in reality time seems to slip away from you and then you’re behind on everything and don’t know how to catch up. In order to create structure and balance in your life, create a schedule that will allow you the freedom to work from home while still getting everything done around the house and providing enough time with your family.

Set Up A Routine

Creating a routine can be difficult when you work from home. The best way to get it started is by simply waking up and deciding what your goal for the day will be. Maybe your goal is cleaning the house, or editing photos, or even sending out emails. Set time goals, be specific with yourself and keep reminding yourself of those goals so you don’t back down midway through your day. And always remember: It doesn’t matter how many times you fail; it only matters how many times you get back up!

For some it helps to create a to-do list so you can create a new schedule each day. For others, they stick to a strict time limit, setting a certain amount of hours per day to work before clocking off or switching tasks. No matter which way you prefer, make sure you have something in place, because if you try to wing it, more often than not you will find yourself falling behind and getting distracted.

Adjust Your Routine Based On Your Kids’ Needs

Staying home with your kids can be challenging when it comes to keeping your schedule intact. But by adjusting what time you work and what responsibilities you have during the day, you’ll find the perfect balance that works for both yourself and your family. Here are some tips on how stay at home moms can manage their time:

Figure out when you’re most productive, and schedule your work for that time. If you’re a morning person, get up early before the kiddos and get work done. If you’re an afternoon person, schedule time to work while the kids are down for a nap.
Organize set days (such as one weekday, one weekend day) where you work from home. For instance, if you choose Monday as your workday, then don’t have any other commitments or appointments on Mondays so that you can focus solely on getting things done. The same goes for weekends; if Saturday is your day to work from home, make sure there aren’t any activities planned for Saturdays so that you won’t feel guilty about spending all of your time working.
Start simple — figure out the three tasks in each category of responsibility so that everything gets completed but not overly stressed about finishing everything.

Develop an Exercise Routine Too

Plus, you’ll need to make time for yourself as a mom. Exercise can help relieve stress and be relaxing, so take the time to do it every day. You should aim for 20 minutes at least 3 days a week. Not only will you start feeling better and look better, but it will also help you keep the house cleaner too! Set aside a 20-30 minute chunk of time in your schedule each day to work out–a very productive way to spend that time when you are working from home.

Keep A Daily Journal Of Everything You Do

It is important to keep track of what you are doing so that you can set goals and also look back on your days. Even though it can seem like one day blends into the next, you will be surprised at how much you get done if you stop for just a minute each day and write down what you did. When the week is over, your journal will help remind you how productive your week really was! It will also help you prioritize what you need to do in the coming days.

What are some tips you have for creating a schedule and sticking to it as a work from home mom? Reach out and let us know!

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January 3, 2022

Three Easy Things to Stop Doing and Three Smart Things to Start Doing Right Now

Our team at HireMyMom works with amazing small business owners every day, and we see all the love, sweat and tears that go into running and building a small business. We know that it’s a labor of love.

Every business is different, and every leader has her own style. But, we also see a few consistent practices across all our partners. A few guiding principles apply universally, whether you run a small Virtual Assistant business, a thriving online store, or a quickly growing accounting firm.

Here are three do’s and closely related don’ts we’ve observed over time.

Do Remember Why You Got Started

No matter how successful a small business is, there will be tough days, rough weeks, and even difficult years. Likewise, there will be beautiful moments, incredible months, great projects, and unbelievable years. No matter the season of your business, it’s important to remember why you went into business. The memory of your initial inspiration and drive can help sustain you as your business ebbs and flows and your life changes over time.

Don’t Lose Sight of Why You Keep Going

Your reasons for getting started may be different than the reasons that keep you going. Maybe a desire for more time with family prompted you to launch your business. Or, perhaps you felt constrained by the more traditional career routes. As time goes on, your reasons will likely change. Maybe that initial desire to spend more time with family becomes a plan to pass on a legacy, and a passion for a different type of career becomes an effort to open new career avenues to other people.

No matter the reason, when the going gets tough, remember why you signed up for this line of work and why it matters to you now. This will help ground you as you work through the day-to-day noise.

Don’t Go it Alone

Running a small business can be lonely. You make many decisions and often do the job of several people–especially when you are getting started.

But, no entrepreneur is an island. Finding the support of other people can make the journey easier and more enjoyable. It takes some effort to locate the people who can support you on your path, but we promise it’s worth it.

Do Cultivate Resources and a Network

Here are some ways to get started:

Connect with the U.S. Small Business Association. The SBA is operated by the federal government. The service and information are free and top-notch. Its excellent website features information to help you plan, grow and manage a small business. Visit the local assistance tab to find out more about resources in your area.

There’s a special section for women-owned businesses and an opportunity to get free business counseling from a partner organization.

Your local Chamber of Commerce is likely another good source of information and contacts. Often, the chamber keeps a list of retirees or seasoned executives who are willing to mentor business owners. Getting this level of support can help you clarify your thinking about your business and gain new perspectives.

Go to conferences and events to help you make industry contacts and to meet people involved in the same business. A deep bench of industry contacts will make it easier for you to know what’s happening in the field, provide an expanded group of people to reach out to with questions, and help you meet like-minded entrepreneurs.
Join a group like HireMyMom’s Mastermind for Small Business Owners or get a coach. We are excited to offer both coaching and a Mastermind group for small business owners. HireMyMom’s SBO Mastermind program can help bring out the best in your business and your life. You may benefit from one or both of these programs in your business journey.
Coaching: An experienced, independent, outside voice can help provide feedback on what’s not working and give you the clarity you need on the best way to use your time and energy. A coach like our own Founder and CEO, Lesley Pyle, can help you define what success means for you and guide you as you grow your business.

Research shows that working with a coach is the most effective and efficient way to experience the breakthrough you need to grow personally and professionally. You can benefit from Lesley’s 25 years as an entrepreneur and her insights into balancing work and family from a wife and mother who’s been down the road you are traveling.

Coming soon! Small Business Owners Mastermind, which is designed to support entrepreneurs as they grow their business. The group will start in 2022, but you can sign up for the waitlist now. When you join this group, you’ll have access to a peer group that knows what you are going through because they face similar challenges.

Through weekly meetings, you’ll develop authentic relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs who will become friends as you support each other and grow together.

Don’t Try to Do it All Yourself

As you launch your business, it’s tempting to want to do everything yourself. And it makes sense on one level–you are passionate about your business. You care deeply about its success, and you know you’ll work hard at any and all tasks. What’s more, it’s challenging to spend money on staff when your work is in the start-up phase.

But, even the most talented entrepreneur needs help and support with some tasks. (Think social media management, operations, routine administrative work.)

It makes sense for you to focus on the things you do best and the things that will make your business succeed, especially as you grow. You don’t need to focus on mastering every task. As the executive and founder, your focus belongs to the core business and making it succeed.

Do Hire The Right People

When you run a small business, your team is your ride or die. Whether you are a team of two or a team of 20, the people you hire are key to helping your team grow. One of the best ways to find the right people is to look for moms who want to work flexible jobs from home.

There’s an army of highly-skilled professional women out there looking for flexible jobs that help them support their families while working from home. When you tap into that network, you get access to a vast swath of top-notch talent that can help your business soar.

To find mom professionals interested in remote job opportunities, partner with a niche job site like HireMyMom to access a dedicated pool of professionals looking for remote work. Because HireMyMom charges job seekers a fee to access job listings, all our job seekers are serious about finding work. And, the volume of resumes that flow in is more manageable than the numbers that arrive when jobs are advertised on free job sites.

Employers love us because they know they can find high-quality, highly motivated candidates who want to work from home by partnering with HireMyMom.

Share Your Do’s and Don’ts

Does this list sound right to you? Tell us what you’d add!

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November 1, 2021

How a Social Media Manager Can Help Reduce Your Stress and Make Your Online Presence Soar

As a business owner, you have a full plate. Chances are some of the things on that plate include managing your social media accounts and conducting promotions. Social media promotions are the lifeblood of many businesses. They also require time and expertise and may not be your strongest suit or even an area of interest.

You can’t quit social media. But, you can hire a social media manager to make your life easier and increase the quality and effectiveness of your social media presence. If you think that sounds expensive or like a lot of work, hear us out about how bringing a social media manager onto your team can reduce your stress and workload while changing your online presence for the better and creating meaningful results for your business.

The Basics

There are four main steps to running a social media promotion. At a high level that includes:

Setting goals for the promotion.
Creating an offer and making a plan.
Communicating the offer.
Assessing your results.

Let’s look at how a social media manager can enhance each of these areas for better results.

Setting goals

Ideally, your social media promotions will drive more business, reach new customers, and cement loyalty with your base. Because it’s essential to identify what you want to achieve at the outset of any communication activity, goal setting is the first step for online promotions.

As you embark on a promotion, your goals may vary. For example, your goal could be expansive–like attracting 500 new followers. Or, it may be specific, like selling a certain number of products within a particular time frame. Either way, setting clear goals for the promotion is the first step.

When you work with a social media manager, the goal-setting process grows and is more expansive. You’ll work together to take a broader look at your social media presence and think about where you want to go in the short- and long term.

The social media manager can create an overall social media strategy that broadly supports you based on your business and growth goals. Often, the strategy will include promotions with specific goals aimed at particular audiences and in distinct timeframes.

For example, a social media strategy may span six months and have four promotions across three different platforms. One of the promotions may be aimed at attracting new followers and one may seek to reward your best customers with a special offer. Each requires a different approach, which the social media manager can identify.

As part of goal setting, the social media manager will set specific desired metrics for each promotion. The metrics serve two purposes.

Helping the social media manager develop the right tactics to share the message and refine her approach over time.
Providing a view into how different promotions perform. This knowledge can drive decisions on future promotions and provide important insight into what matters to your customers.

Creating an Offer and Making a Plan

The next step in social media promotion is to create an offer. Many business owners have a feel for the types of promotions that move their business forward and often return to the same well when creating new promotions. While this approach can be practical for a while, in the fast-moving environment of social media, these promotions can fall flat and stop delivering.

When you work with a social media manager, she will include your preferences and historical offerings into the planning process. But, she also has the skill set to create new and different types of promotions that can help keep your content fresh.

With insight into the types of social media campaigns that other companies are doing and knowing more about how those efforts are working, a social media manager can identify the promotions that make the most sense based on your objectives. She can also explain the ins and outs of the process based on her experience.

In addition, she will bring you new promotional ideas–some of which may push the envelope beyond your comfort level. But, it’s still helpful to have a sense of the universe of promotional opportunities and see where the market is going.

Once the two of you agree on a strategy and goals, your social media manager will create a calendar of promotions and posts aimed at realizing your goals.

Part of this process includes selecting the right platform for your message. Social media managers understand the nuances of different social media sites. So, they can conduct detailed audience analysis to determine which social platforms are most attractive to your customers while creating plans to develop new audiences.

The calendar will include plans for optimizing your posts with keywords and the right hashtags so people can find your company and see your promotions.

The calendar may also include opportunities for paid posts to boost your exposure at crucial inflection points and with specific audiences. In some cases, your social media manager may recommend a partnership with a key influencer.

Your social media manager will look across the plan to ensure brand consistency across platforms to ensure your promotion consistently reflects the right tone. And, she will make sure that the timing of each promotion makes sense and fits into the broader plan.

Communicating the Offer

When communicating the offer, a good social media manager does the heavy lifting. She will move into creative mode to produce the media used to share your message and the specifics of your offer. This can include:

Developing social media content, such as writing posts, taking photos, making graphs, creating memes, and developing infographics.
Creating video scripts, sourcing talent, and producing video work.
Finding related content that can be cross-promoted through your sites.
Updating your company’s profile pages to reflect the latest information about your promotions.
Responding to comments and posts on your behalf. This includes answering questions and sharing regular updates with you in a summary.
Integrating customer data from other platforms and other social media sites and using email and website traffic to ensure that your promotion and message find the right audience.

Assessing Your Results

At the end of each promotion, your social media manager can analyze engagement across platforms. She will determine how each post performed and tie that work back to the goals established at the beginning of the project.

If posts or promotions are falling short of goals–or if something is taking off–she can adjust the plan and the calendar to keep you moving in the right direction.

At specific time increments, your social media manager will sit down with you to discuss progress and help set new goals.

Finding a Social Media Manager

Working with a social media manager doesn’t have to be expensive. Many excellent social media managers work as contractors and find clients through niche sites such as HireMyMom.

If you can offer flexibility and a remote job opportunity, you are well-positioned to find an experienced resource who can help your business grow and make your social media content sing.

When you use HireMyMom, you have access to a dedicated pool of professionals looking for remote work. Because HireMyMom charges job seekers a fee to access job listings, all our job seekers are serious about finding work. And, the volume of resumes that flow in is more manageable than the numbers that arrive when jobs are advertised on free job sites.

Tell us About Your Experience

We’d love to hear about your experience working with a social media manager. Please drop us a line and let us know how the partnership changed your social media presence and helped you realize your goals.

Written by Lesley Pyle

April 7, 2021

5 Ways Moms Can Delegate to Get More Done

Guest post by: Michelle Laurey

Work-at-home moms often face the unique challenge of balancing work needs with household management. Childcare, meal preparation, and household chores can eat into your work time if you are not careful.

If you postpone chores to finally get some work done, then the house is in disarray.

It doesn’t have to be like this!

Next time you’re struggling to balance your work and home life, try these five tips to delegate your workload.

1. Split Up the Chores

Your spouse and older children can each take on their own responsibilities around the house.

Delegating the household workload helps you focus more time and energy on your business.

Use the following tips to successfully delegate chores:

Assign one task to one person. Whether it’s loading the dishwasher, putting away laundry, or writing out a shopping list, designate a single person to be in charge. Sharing tasks can cause confusion about who is doing what and when.
Set goals and deadlines. Assign different tasks to different days of the week so everyone knows when they need to finish their chores. Plan errands and shopping around your schedule, and choose times when fewer people are out.
Soon your family will adjust to your routine and won’t have to keep asking when you’re picking up groceries or mailing that package.
Go through the task list with each person. Sometimes a spouse or child doesn’t know how you want a chore accomplished. Maybe they are unfamiliar with the right settings for the washing machine or where pots and pans are stored.
Walk them through the task so they can learn to do it without you around.
Put it in writing. Whether you use a smartphone app or a piece of paper on the refrigerator, keep a list of what needs to get done and whose job it is. Having a visual plan helps everyone stay on track.

Delegating chores will also reduce the stress that often affects your productivity.

2. Arrange for Childcare

First-time work-from-home parents often assume they can care for their young children while working. Unfortunately, they quickly found out that is not the case!

Childcare is a full-time job all on its own.

If you can’t afford a babysitter or daycare, consider asking a retired family member if they can watch your children a few days a week.

If no family members are available, reach out to other work-from-home moms in your neighborhood. You may be able to take turns watching each other’s children on days you’re not working.

Alternatively, you can hire a young adult in your neighborhood to watch your children while you work from home.

You can typically pay a cheaper rate, and you’re available in case of emergencies while still being able to shut the door to your home office while you work.

3. Consider Extended Family and Friends

Your immediate family members aren’t the only ones who can help you out.

When someone offers to lend a hand, take them up on their offer!

Some easy tasks you can delegate to others outside your house include:

Driving children to and from school. Coordinate with other moms in the neighborhood to take turns dropping off and picking up children from school. This provides extra time in the mornings and afternoons for you to work.
Helping with housework. If you have a close friend nearby, ask if they want to arrange dates to help each other with cleaning. One weekend you help clean their house and the next they help with yours.
This is a great way single parents can stay on top of the household workload without being overwhelmed.
Assisting with meal prep. Consider arranging weekly meetups with friends or other moms in your neighborhood to prep meals for the upcoming week. You can buy in bulk to save money and split the costs among the group.

In return, you can step in to help when they are feeling overwhelmed.

4. Simplify Scheduling and Organization

The best way to ensure everyone completes their tasks is to organize and schedule everything.

There are numerous apps that can help you make lists and remind family members of their chores.

By taking advantage of these, your family can add items to the shopping list, create reminders on the family calendar for upcoming appointments, and check off tasks they’ve completed.

This helps everyone stay on track without you needing to lift a finger.

There’s a number of apps available to help create family lists and chore charts to digitally divide up the workload and set important reminders.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Hire a Professional

If the workload is too much and you don’t have enough people to help out, consider hiring a professional.

Many services offer cheap task-based help, such as mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, and doing other odd jobs.

Several grocery stores offer pickup and delivery options to save time without spending a lot of money.

You can also purchase box meal kits with pre-measured ingredients ready to throw together quickly for a healthy dinner.

Meal delivery is another way you can get a quick lunch or dinner on the table without leaving the house.

Final Thoughts

Whether you need help with meal planning or could use an extra hand on the laundry, work-at-home moms have plenty of options.

You can outsource your chores to professionals or delegate responsibilities to other family members.

Mobile apps make it easy to create everything from chore charts to grocery lists so each person can do their part around the house.

Once your household is running smoothly, your business will too. If you need to delegate some of your work, consider posting your job on HireMyMom where virtual professionals in a variety of fields are ready to take on new jobs and projects! Or if you need more work, we can help with that too!

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Michelle Laurey is a telecommuting wordsmith who especially enjoys writing on a cloudy day at Assignyourwriter UK. Always interested in ways that can help individuals reach their full potential in life, she enjoys producing stories on entrepreneurship, productivity, lifestyle, and health. Outside her keyboard, she enjoys visiting cozy coffee shops and taking long urban strolls with her partner. Reach out to her on Twitter.

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Written by Lesley Pyle

November 9, 2020

Moms (& Dads), This is How to Work Smarter (Not Harder) in the Kitchen

Are you running through groceries at an astonishing rate and finding dirty dishes in your sink every time you turn around? Like many people, I’m surprised by how many meals and snacks are pumping through my kitchen with so many of us home due to COVID 19. Here are our best tips for taming the associated workload.

Create and Post a Weekly Menu

If I could only do one thing to ease the cooking and kitchen clean up workload each week, it’s this: Create a weekly menu that covers all meals and snacks and hang it on the refrigerator. Direct your children to the menu when hunger strikes. (Make sure that some of the snacks can easily be grabbed and opened by young kids. For really young kids, include pictures of items they can select and make them easy to reach.) Having a posted menu reduces the discussion around what’s available to eat, eliminating a distraction for you as you work. Frankly, this one action will buy you untold peace of mind and help you reclaim time every day.

If creating a menu sounds like one more task to add to your already full to-do list, help is available through online meal planning services. Several options are available, and they all let you select a week (or more) of meals quickly and easily. They cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so it truly eliminates the scramble that accompanies menu planning and food preparation. You can choose meals based on your health goals, family preferences, and budget. Good options include eMeals, SideChef, Plan to Eat, and Recipe Keeper (my favorite). Once you choose your meals, you can automatically create a shopping list for the meals specified. A few additional tips:

Cross things off the menu as people eat them–you may find that the dinner you planned for Wednesday night gets moved to Monday, no problem–swaps are easy as long as you keep track.
Leave a blank space on the menu where family members can jot down meal and snack requests to incorporate into your planning.

Make it a Family Affair

There are many good reasons to share meal planning and clean up across your family and involve the kids. For starters, it gives you a break during a season that includes a lot of cooking. What’s more, your kids can develop valuable life skills in running a home, managing a budget, and healthy living. There are many ways to delegate responsibilities between family members. For example:

Put an older child in charge of generating a weekly menu using the menu planning app you prefer. Set a budget and provide goals to consider while planning. (Bonus if the kid is old enough to go to the store and get the groceries.)
Assign a day of responsibility for planning, sourcing, and preparing all food for one day each week to older kids. (For example, Connor owns Monday meals, Lindsay owns Tuesday, etc.)
Share duties by meal, with one person responsible for breakfast, lunch, or dinner all week.
Ask younger kids to set the table, clear the dishes, or help prepare salads.

Finally, create a task-specific cleanup calendar, so everyone shares in the clean-up load. Kitchen clean up goes a lot faster if everyone participates. Assign clean up duties to each family member on a rotating basis and agree on the standard of clean that counts as done. There’s nothing worse than having to call back a reluctant cleaning crew who forgot to wipe down the counters.

Master Lunch

Let’s talk about lunch. It’s smack in the middle of the day, and people eat on a rotating schedule with different meetings and classes ending at varying times. Let’s face it, stopping to prepare a meal in the middle of the day is disruptive when you are trying to work. A little planning can go a long way toward making lunch easier for you and more convenient for everyone. Try this:

Use school lunch services, if possible. Even if school is not in session, lunch is still available through many school districts. If your school district is offering lunch to-go, consider taking advantage of the service. Check with your school for details.
Think leftovers. When you create your menu each week, plan for leftovers that family members can quickly reheat and eat for lunch. You can even have the cleanup crew package leftovers into single-serving lunch options that can efficiently serve each person when his/her lunch hour rolls around.
Go big. Prepare large pots of soups or chili and leave them simmering on the stovetop so people can self-serve when they are ready to eat.

Inject Fun!

Last but not least, try to add some fun to mealtimes. When you cook all the time, it’s easy to fall into a rut making the same things over and over. But, thinking of themes can help bring the fun back to mealtime. Here are some ideas to get you started:

A week of Tex-Mex cuisine.
Italian dinners, including an old school pasta night and lighter options inspired by Italy’s different regions.
A retro week focused on popular menu items from decades past, such as meatloaf or Salisbury steak to celebrate the 1950s. Check out old recipe books to find some gems that your family will love.
Ask each family member to pick a number, turn to that page in a seldom-used cookbook, and ask the number chooser to prepare the item that appears there.

Please Share!

I’d love to hear what’s working for you and how you are managing mealtime. Send me a note with your best meal-time tips.

Written by Lesley Pyle

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!

Written by Jessica Nicklos

August 14, 2017 0 Comments

3 Tips for Effective Time Management

We’re always looking for more time in our days, but sometimes it’s a matter of managing the time we do have in a better way. There are tons of time management tips out there, and they all work if we do them consistently.

Read along for some quick, best tips and practices for managing your time and busy schedule.

Write it down

Every success begins with writing something down. We all hear time and time again that goals, schedules, and priorities should be written down – and for good reason! When we write something down, it becomes more solidified in our minds. Also, we can visually see what we’re supposed to do or remember.

Write down everything you can in regards to managing time. A to-do list, schedule, calendar/planner, and any priorities that will keep you on track. Get into the habit of writing out your day in the morning. This will allow you to check items off as you move through the day, as well as keep you on task. Rate your tasks by order of importance, and implement your calendar to block off periods of time for work. It’s important to keep up with your workload as much as possible, as playing catch up can truly mess with your time management.

Look at your priorities

Where are your truly spending your time? You might think you’re only watching TV for 2 hours per day, but if you really look at your day, it might be more like 5 or 6 hours. It’s easy to spend time on mindless activities, so getting very clear about where your time is going is crucial.

Prioritizing also involves saying “no” sometimes, which is a powerful way to clear some time in your schedule. Say “yes” to the things that bring you joy and time with those you love, and “no” to those that are more obligatory. Prioritizing isn’t always an easy thing to do, but it’s crucial to saying sane and staying on task.

Add to your breaks

If you work from home, you’re lucky enough to be in your own home for most of the day. There’s typically laundry to be done, dishes to be put away, and hutches to be dusted. Since breaks should be a part of your day, it can be helpful to use your breaks to fit in other items.

This doesn’t need to include housework, but that’s the most common task. Throw in a load of laundry during your 10-minute morning break, fold a load of laundry after lunch, or water the garden during your afternoon break. Most breaks can seem fairly mindless anyway, so it can make you feel more accomplished to check off those little things that need done anyway.

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