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October 1, 2018 0 Comments

5 Tips to Improve Your Writing

Writing is an important part of marketing and advertising these days. Even if you aren’t doing either of these things, you might still have a personal (or business) blog, or simply want to improve your writing skills. Whatever your reason for writing, we can always improve!

If you’ve ever wanted to expand upon your writing skills for personal or professional reasons, read along for some of our top tips.

Practice

If you want to improve your writing, you have to practice! This can begin with reading others’ writing – blogs, newspapers, books and magazines, to name a few, and going from there.

It might be helpful to start your own personal blog, or a blog based on your current industry.  If you don’t feel ready to publish for the world to see, write on your own time. You can create your own daily journal, or write a short story that’s updated on a weekly basis.

The more you write, the more comfortable you become. Once you’re comfortable writing, you can work to improve sentence structure, grammatical errors, and flow.

Gather feedback

When we write our own pieces, it’s hard to disconnect.  Ask a friend or family member to review your writing for errors, flow, and any other suggestions.

They can also let you know if you need to be more concise!  Sometimes we get on a roll with writing, and we tend to get a bit too wordy.

Develop your own style

To find your own style, begin by writing in a variety of ways.  From standard AP style to casual blogs, it all requires some different perspectives.  If you really want to improve in general, try to incorporate them all.

From here, you can discover what you like best! Discover your own style. Is it more conversational in nature? Do you enjoy technical writing?  You might stumble upon a skill or career that you never knew you had!

Tell stories

The best writing and presentations includes telling stories. People want to relate to you, so it’s important that you incorporate details that allow them to do that. Stories are always more interesting and give your audience something to relate to.

Whether you’re writing a more “dry” piece or writing for an entertainment magazine, short stories are intriguing.  You can write about the subject(s), something that happened to you, or a story from history that supports your premise.

Put yourself out there

Writing doesn’t have to be scary, nor do you have to be a professional to get started! You can create a free blog on sites such as WordPress, and it takes almost nothing to get started – just some time.

If you have a message or story to share with the world, put yourself out there on a regular basis. This can only improve your writing, as well as keep you writing on a consistent basis.

When you write often and always look for improvement, you’re well on your way to developing more skill and accuracy as a writer!

Keep learning. Keep growing!

At HireMyMom we want to help our Mom Professionals continue to learn and thrive in their business. We often provide free online training. Learn more about our memberships and how you can join a supportive faith-based community of Mom Professionals!

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August 6, 2018 0 Comments

4 Tips to Work From Home Successfully

Working from home is a dream scenario to most – more flexibility, no commute, and more time with family. But once you’ve landed a home based job, how are you successful in it?  It’s not quite the same as a traditional office job, so different things need to be considered.

Read along for some of our tips to ensure success in a work from home position.

Clear distractions

As much as possible, clear distractions from your home and work time. If you know you’re going to be on an important call, place a note on the door to ask people to not ring the doorbell. If you have dogs, exercise them early and put them in their crates or on beds when you’re trying to get work done.

If your kids are home on summer break, work out some playdates or child care when you really need to focus.  Often times we can manage to fit all of this into our work days, but sometimes we need a break. Keep in mind, if you worked in a traditional office, you wouldn’t have the same distractions.

Be independent

Being a successful home based employee comes down to working independently.  Sure, you may have a supervisor or head boss that you report to, but it likely isn’t regulated the same way as an office job.

To get work done, stay on track, and avoid overwhelm, it’s so crucial that you manage yourself.  Keep tabs on how you’re spending your work time with a simple spreadsheet, and make to do lists your friend!

However, independence doesn’t need to carry over into your personal life. Be sure that you’re making time to be social and get together with co-workers or other home based workers when you can.

Manage yourself

Along with being independent, in a lot of cases you might have to manage yourself. Some home based positions tend to be more freelance in nature, so while you have a “boss,” it’s not in the same way.

Manage yourself with to do lists, as well as clear check ins with your immediate supervisor.  Whether it’s a daily summary of work or a weekly check-in call, it’s up to you and your boss. You can create a schedule of communication that works for all involved, and this will allow you to stay on track with your employer.

Motivate yourself

Working from home offers a host of benefits, but motivation can be hard to come by.  It can be tempting to spend the day watching Netflix, or doing something fun with your kids.  While this can be part of your day from time to time, you are still working from home.

Do your best to save other activities for breaks or after work hours. When you commit to a typical workday and a set amount of time and hours, you’re providing yourself with the structure and boundaries to get things done.

Staying motivated to do your work will come from having a solid schedule and process for accomplishing tasks.  This may be challenging at first, but once you find your rhythm, it’s easy to stay on track!

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