Working from home is an increasing trend these days.  We now have the blessing of the internet which allows us to connect with almost anyone in the world and do business virtually so that we can stay at home with our children and live anywhere.  What an amazing thing.

Working from home can sound like a dream.  It also can be a bit of a balancing act.  But, with a little bit of discipline it can actually be a great thing.

Over the last year of building a business I have learned a lot.  I’ve built a blog, written over 100 posts, built a Facebook page of almost 4000 followers, taken many classes to improve my skills while trying to be a good mother and wife at the same time.  I am still learning a lot, it will be a life long process.  For starters begin by implementing these 10 tips to increase your productivity at and grow your business from home.

Here is a list of my top 10 tips for every work from home mom.  

1. MAKE YOUR KITCHEN TIMER YOUR BEST FRIEND: When you’re working on a computer it is so easy to get sucked into time wasters. Purchase a kitchen timer at the dollar store and place it beside your computer at your desk and use the timer to keep you accountable.  What do I mean?  This is what I do…I set a timer for 1 hour.  I work for that hour with lazer focus. When it goes off, I get off the computer and take a break for at least 10 minutes.  It keeps me fresh and it keeps me focused.  I know I have 1 hour to get certain tasks done and I am much less likely to waste time.  Decide on how much time each day you are able to spend on work.  I usually work around 4 hours a day spread throughout the day.

2. SET LIMITS: When you work from home it’s really easy to get distracted.  Set certain times each day that you will work, stay focused and don’t let yourself get derailed by phone calls and housework.  You must schedule your “work” time and then leave plenty of time to still be a mom, take care of the home, dinner and whatever else is on your schedule. Just because you are working more hours each day, it doesn’t always mean that you are getting more done.  You may actually just be wasting more time each day.  When you set time constraints you force yourself to get work done in the time given, thus you end up working much more effectively.

3. WAKE UP EARY: Waking up early is a great way to get extra work done while the house is still quiet.  As long as you go to bed at a decent time you can wake up early and feel fresh. Try to get in an hour of work while your mind is sharp and everyone is still sleeping.  I grab a smoothie and take a shot of NingXia Red and get working early before the kids need me.

4. SPEND TIME WITH YOUR KIDS EACH DAY: When you pour a lot of time into your work you can start feeling guilty about not spending enough time with your kids.  Even if your kids are happy and occupied, moms can’t help but feel bad.  Get out and do something with your children each day.  This also goes along with setting limits and using your timer.  At the end of the day you don’t want to feel like you’ve neglected your family.  Spend quality time with them each and every day.

5. HAVE A DESIGNATED SPACE: We live in a tiny 2 bedroom basement apartment, but we do have an extra little dining table that I have put in a corner of our house and made it my office space.  I have a bulletin board on the wall, a lamp and a diffuser on my desk and room to spread out my books, papers, day planner and anything else I need.  Having a defined space will help you stay in work mode.

6. KEEP A CALENDAR: Go to the store and pick out a good sized day planner where you can keep track of your daily, weekly and monthly goals and tasks.  Keep track of what you get done each day and focus on that.  If you don’t get something done push it to the next day and don’t stress out.  Building a business from home takes time, persistence and a lot of work. Just make sure you are making progress each day, focus on the positive.

7. MAKE SURE YOU’RE DOING SOMETHING YOU LOVE: When you are building a business it is imperative that you are PASSIONATE about what you are doing.  When I first started out the focus of my website was very narrow and after time I realized it was too narrow, so much that I did not like working on my blog at all.  Now that I have branched out and am focusing on holistic health and essential oils which have been long time passions of mine, I am much more excited about work.  You don’t want it to feel like boring hard work, but you still treat it as work.

8. TREAT IT AS A BUSINESS NOT A HOBBY: You need to get serious.  Do you want to make money, are you building a business or is this just for fun?  If it’s just for fun, that is fine!  Hobbies are wonderful, but you need to treat hobbies as hobbies and your business as a business.  If you’re building a business you make time each day to work at it.  You stay focused, you set goals and you don’t let any little interruption derail you. Even if you are not YET making money from your business, treat it as such.  Every business starts out from ground zero.  Hit the ground running, stay organized, keep learning and you will be able to succeed!

9. DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS: This is so difficult, especially when you’re doing work online it’s easy to compare your website to another’s, you compare your social media following to others, you get all hyped up thinking how behind you are and how everyone else is so successful and you’re dead in the water. DON’T GO THERE! You could spend hours each day reading other peoples blogs and feeling bad about how they write better or more interesting articles, or they take prettier pictures of their food, or they have a hundred thousand Facebook followers…so what?  Everyone is different.  We each bring different skills and strengths to our businesses.  Even if someone else is in the same business as you, you are still different people and attract different readers, clients and followers.  It’s ok.  Don’t waste time, don’t make yourself feel bad, and slow your own progress. Stay focused.

10. GO EASY ON YOURSELF: Building a business takes time and patience.  Some days it may feel like you’re getting nowhere and all your work isn’t paying off.  Don’t give up!  One thing I do is read positive books every single day.  Read books about successful people.  You begin to realize they didn’t just fall into success, they didn’t get lucky, they didn’t have a rich family, they WORKED for their success.  It took time.  They failed, learned from mistakes and KEPT GOING.  You’re not going to know how to do everything but you can figure out everything.  

I hope this list provides some help for the work at home mom. It’s a balancing act for sure but it can be really fun too.  If you have any other tips please comment below.  If you have any question please don’t hesitate to ask, I love to connect with readers!

Have a wonderful healthy day:)

~Hannah