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Analyze Your Productivity

March 28, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

As a business owner, you are both the boss and the employee.  Some people can thrive in this type of situation and achieve more than they could in a traditional work environment.  For other people, this situation can spell disaster.  To be a successful home business owner you need to increase your productivity in your business. Every once in awhile you should stop and ask yourself the following questions to ensure that you are staying on track with your business goals.

Are you focused on your business?

It can be easy to lose focus when you work at home, as there will always be other things competing for your attention.  It is difficult to work at home when there are other things that needs to be done also. To combat household distractions, set an hour timer for work followed by a 15 minute break to tend to small household distractions. If the distractions are thwarting your productivity, take your business elsewhere. Mobilize your business and go to a coffee shop or park. With less distractions around you will be able to concentrate more. Remember, it is okay to let the house cleaning wait for a few hours while you work on your business. A clean house can’t pay your bills, but those few hours you put into your business could reap you many financial rewards.

Not only is focusing on business tasks important, but it is important to be focused within your business.  It is easy to get sidetracked with new business ventures and other ideas. It can be hard to spread your time and energy over too many projects. If you find yourself working on many projects, concentrate on the projects that are primary to your business needs. Other projects that are not as tightly woven within your target market can be set aside for the time being. Focus on your business priorities first by write down all your projects and prioritize them by importance.

Are you being productive?

At the end of the day, do you ever feel like you worked all day but accomplished nothing?  Take a look at the tasks you are working on, and whether they are actually important to your success.  If you find yourself getting sidetracked by surfing the web, chatting in forums, or reading blogs, try to schedule time for those activities after your “real work” is done.

On the other hand, if you feel your time is being sucked away by answering email, updating your website, or collecting research for an upcoming information product you are working on, try outsourcing those tasks to a virtual assistant.  This will help you free up some time to work on business tasks that need more attention.

Are you reaching your goals?

If you find that you are constantly missing your goal deadlines, you may want to take the time to revamp your goals.  Create an action plan that will be easy to follow and help you get to your end result.

Filed Under: Blog, Starting Out, Stay Organized, Time Management, WAHMS

10 Tips: What is Successful Time Management?

April 4, 2009 By admin

By: Isabel Baldry

What is successful time management? This is all individual, but it always involves these elements:

Good organization and structure, clearly defined and prioritized action plan, and finally some kind of satisfaction or enjoyment from the task.

Here are 10 time management tips

Tip 1. The secret to successful time management is closely related to the clarity of the goals you have set. Learning these basic secrets will surely benefit you so you can do all the things that you want to accomplish in a day and in a year. You need to be extremely clear in your mind as to what you try to achieve.

Tip 2. Make sure that your goals are achievable. Some people set unachievable or over-ambitious goals, which can seriously mess up schedules and interim goals. It is vital that you set your goals correctly.

Tip 3. Asking the correct questions to yourself can help you determine your achievable goals. Learn to be honest in your answers to accomplish realistic goals. Asking questions is one of the basic elements in successful time management. Asking yourself is a therapeutic technique to help you find unanswered questions.

Tip 4. You need to have an action plan. Managing your time means putting in some serious action – using your skills and intelligence in achieving it. A clearly defined action plan is one vital step in organizing your time. The action plan should include a lists of your goals and your specific actions towards each goal – along with detailed responsibilities allocated to each step of the plan.

Tip 5. Time to get organized – and start with your PC. If you are storing files on your computer, make sure to have a tracking sheet on what you are saving and what are the files that are not needed or that needs to be updated. Much time is wasted searching for nuggets of gold on your PC among hundreds of unnecessary documents.

Tip 6. Learn to prioritize things. Write all the things that you need to accomplish in a day. Once you have the list, mark the most important things. If you have a long project, you need to break them into small projects where you can squeeze some on your daily activity. Remember to use the rule of important activities first. This is not a new rule of the thumb, but it is proven to be very effective.

Tip 7. Once you have categorized all the things that you need to do in a day, you need to put the amount of time you will spend on each daily task and activity. This is very important, so you need to put the exact and realistic amount of time where you can accomplish each activity within your day. Never waste time.

Tip 8. Don’t overwork you time management and get caught in “paralysis by analysis”. There are people who spend the whole day figuring out and making list of the things that they should do in a day. Bottom line, at the end of the day, they have a beautiful list but no real accomplishments.

Tip 9. Keep in mind that you are making a realistic goal to achieve your purpose. Remember that every plan have flaws. When you plan for your goal, you need to have actions. You need to plot your plan; you ask questions, are part of the plan and focus more on the results. This way you will be achieving your goal in no time. Once you have reached your goal, you will realize that you have achieved your goal and stick with your plan as predicted in a very effortless manner.

Tip 10. Find enjoyment in what you are doing. Even if the task is not that fun, try to find some nugget of learning – or focus on the bits you do enjoy. Procrastination usually happens when we are bored – so try to add some enjoyment into your tasks. If the task really isn’t inspiring, add enjoyment by allowing yourself to celebrate once the most boring tasks are completed. Just add 5 minutes of something you really enjoy as a celebration, before hitting on the next boring task.

So now you know how to manage you time. Time to go back to work!

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Isabel Baldry is covering a wide range of interests for various publications. What is successful time management? To know, please visit http://www.acetimemanagement.com/

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With:

6 Time Management Tips for Moms

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank

Many of you have expressed the challenge of not having enough time to accomplish all your needed tasks and not being organized. Having good organization and management skills is absolutely imperative to your business. Being well organized can greatly affect your success.

Applying a few of the following tips will help you become more organized and make better use of your time.

1. Learn to delegate. Most of us are mothers and as moms we tend to automatically take on everything and are used to doing everything ourselves. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with delegating different tasks.

2. Set business hours. One way to keep yourself and your business organized is to set regular business hours. You know Monday through Friday 1 – 4 or whatever times works best for you and your family and try to stick to it as much as possible.

3. Keep your office organized. Have a place for everything keeping like things together.

4. Group like activities/errands. Keep track of errands that need done and try scheduling most of them on the same day.

5. To-do lists. Having a to-do list keeps you motivated and lets you know what needs done at all times.

6. Plan for tomorrow. Make it a habit to review the following days schedule at the end of each day.

Take a few minutes right now and start a list of everything you need to get done. Take that list and re-write it by placing the things that most need accomplished and place them at the top of your list. Once you’re finished get back to work and cross off tasks as you go. Not only will you find yourself getting more accomplished you’ll also find a sense of fulfillment.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. Learn how you can be successful in your company by visiting: http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you do not change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Stay Organized, WAHMS Tagged With: , , ,

Time Management in your Home Business

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Andrew Jones

One of the most valuable resources in your online home business is time. We each get the same amount of time each day, but it’s what we do with that time that is so very important. You can spend that time on frivolous tasks and “whittle” away the hours or, focus your time and energy on tasks that will grow your business and bring you closer to your goals. Especially working from home, it’s too easy to be lazy and waste your time.

Now something that I have just started applying recently and that has worked wonders for me is 8″ x 5″ Systems Cards. I saw this tip in a forum awhile ago (can’t remember who that was to give them credit) but basically you write down everything that needs to be done on these cards. So simple and yet so powerful. This is easier and more immediate to be able to write things down as they occur to you rather than typing things into your computer.

So how do we work this? Well basically, whatever your goals or special projects are, you write down this goal/project at the very top of the card. This is the “Big Picture”. Then you “chunk” this down into detailed tasks and place a small checkbox beside each task. Then all you have to do is get to work, complete each of the detailed tasks on the list and tick each item as it’s completed. Once you have completed all the tasks, the “puzzle” is finished and your goal (big picture) has been achieved automatically.

Now, you may be wondering, “what’s so special about this?” The point is that this is so dead easy and yet if you actually do it there is so much clarity about what has to be done, how it is to be done and your target remains in your sights the whole time.

Ok, so what if you have many projects on the go or some big projects to complete? My recommendation is to allocate a certain amount of time each day, whether that’s 8 hours, 4 hours or whatever, that will be up to you to decide. Then break that down into one hour chunks and no matter what, just do that one hour of work on that project and then move onto the next project and do one hour on that, and so on. You will be amazed at how much work you get done and after a few days you will look back and marvel at the number of projects you have completed.

I have a number of different cards for different things. I have a separate card for each project or goal that I want to complete; a card for article topics that I keep with me at all times so that any ideas that occur to me, I can write it down immediately; a card with my marketing plan on it; and a separate card for each day of the week. Each day will have routine tasks that are performed every day such as, check emails and reply to any queries, forum time, traffic exchanges, checking stats, blogging and project/goals. Make sure that you allocate a certain amount of time for each item and tick them off as you complete so that you are accountable.

And then you will have certain tasks that are completed, say once a week. Such as, write and submit an article, check all your links are active, check your subscriber lists, and research, (example for adwords or adsense). Note: just make sure that it is research and not aimless surfing. You can allocate each of these tasks to a different day of the week on the daily cards. Finally, there will be tasks that are done on a monthly basis such as, submitting your link to the directories, tweaking web pages or sales copy, and planning your time. Have these on a separate card and tick off and date each item as it is completed.

The last card that I have is an “ideas list”. Any ideas that I have at any time, I write it down straight away, no matter how crazy or stupid the idea sounds. This card (and the other cards) has the effect of actually freeing up my mind and my time so that whatever I’m doing in that hour, I can focus 100% in the moment and stop worrying about other things that have to be done. I’m more effective and less stressed than ever before.

Now, it seems like a lot of work to set-up these cards but once you do, and get into the routine of using them, it’s actually far less work than not using them. The added bonus is that you are more effective in your home business and get a lot more completed and achieved. As with everything, consistency is the name of the game.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Andrew Jones has been a business owner for the past 10 years, and is now a Plug-In Profit Site owner. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: ,

What's so scary about Business Planning?

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Anne Maybus

“So you’re in business for yourself?  How did you start off?” “Well I had an idea and then I did a business plan to see how I could make it work.”

Oh-oh.  Just mention the words ‘Business Plan’ and watch the conversation fizzle out right in front of you.  You can hear the trample of feet dashing to the exits and smell the scent of fear in the air.

What is it that makes people glaze over or disappear when you mention those words? In particular, why does it make women flee?

Visited a Business Forum yet?

Have you ever visited some of the online business forums?  These forums are the place to hang out for people who are in business, or are looking for a start.   Take a look at the topics on the message board.   What is one of the quietest topics?  Yep, business planning.   Yet if an aspect of business planning is listed under a different heading, for example ‘marketing plans’ it can be rushed with responses.  Is marketing so much more glamorous than Business Planning?   Why the fear?  These are the very people who need or have a business plan.  This should be an active topic.

What is the purpose of a Business Plan?

A business plan will help you to decide if the business is viable before you even start.  It could save you thousands of dollars by thinking it through before you rush in.  How much money do you have to set up your home based business?  If you’re like many of us the answer is little or none, so why waste the little you do have on a business venture doomed to fail?  A plan will also paint a picture of where you are heading and why.  Simple.

The statistics.

Business Victoria shows that 95.7 percent of Victorian businesses are small businesses (96.4 percent throughout Australia) and that at June 2001, an estimated 181,800 (65.2 percent) of all Victorian small businesses operated from or at home.  We know too, that home based businesses make up over two-thirds of the total small business picture in Australia.

That’s a lot of businesses plugging away to make an income.

Figures from the mid 1990’s show that 6.1% of businesses ceased operating in Australia for reasons other than a change of ownership. 6% isn’t very high, but 23,200 businesses sounds a lot more, doesn’t it?  Remember too, that these figures are 10 years old and we’ve had phenomenal growth in the area of small and HBB since then.  Scary thought, isn’t it?

Many HBB’s probably never even make it to the statistics as they are so small and invisible. So if they fail, who will notice?  Did they have a business plan?

Image problems.

If a business plan is so worthwhile then why do so many people shy away from it?

Business Plans have an image problem.  They’ve been associated with big business and high finance for so long they deserve to have their own little collar and tie.  Doing a business plan involves financial projections, cash flow, and all those hard to work out figures doesn’t it?

Short answer?  No, they don’t always have to involve the numbers.

If you need a start up loan, a grant, or an investor, then yes, you’ll need to do the numbers.  After all, who’s going to give you money when you can’t tell them how much you will need?  Find yourself a good accountant to help you with the financial side of the plan because that’s what they are good at.

If you’re really serious about building a business then it makes sense to do some numbers anyway.  It would be nice to know if you’re going to make a profit, wouldn’t it? Keep it simple.  If you know you have a profit of $5 per item and you need to make $100 per week, then you know you need to sell 20 items every week.  Can you do that?  If the answer is ‘no’ then you’d better look for something else to do.

The Living business plan.

I divide business plans into two distinct categories.  There is the Traditional business plan which is so loved by banks, and then there is the Living business plan.

The Traditional business plan is the one you keep in your filing cabinet after your merchant facilities or start-up loan have been granted.  The Living plan is the kind of plan you can use on a daily or weekly basis to keep you on track.  It should set out your ultimate target, list the goals you will need to achieve along the way, and some strategies you need to have in place to meet your goals.  It doesn’t have to be set in concrete; neither does it wear a collar and tie!  It doesn’t have to be typed or printed.  It just has to mean something to you.

My favorite Living business plan is a collage of images all representing things the owner is striving to achieve both personally and professionally.  It has a series of images beneath it depicting the steps along the way.

How inspiring is that?

My own plan is in the shape of a step ladder with my Ultimate Business Heaven at the highest point.  On each rung I have listed the things I will have managed to do by then.  That gives me a map to my goals and also allows me to see when I have reached each rung.   When I have another of my ‘you-beaut’ ideas the plan will help me to see if the idea will take me up or down the ladder.  I am very attached to my great ideas, but why waste my energy on them if they won’t get me where I want to go?

Your choice.

Business plans are a necessity; there’s no question about that.  The only decision you have to make is why you want the plan.  If you need to show it to someone else, then go the whole way with a traditional plan.  If it’s for yourself, then do what really means something to you.

Just because it’s in pictures doesn’t mean it isn’t a business plan.

So what’s scary about that?

Now let me talk to you about statistics………….zzzzzz

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Anne Maybus [B.A., GradDipBus (HRD)] has 15 years experience in human resources.  She is the owner of www.cleverstreak.com.au, a website aimed at increasing the confidence of women returning to work, and is the creator of a  business women’s network at www.businessbyplan.com.au.

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Starting Out, Stay Organized Tagged With: ,

7 Summer Survival Tips

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso

Will Your Business Survive Summer Break?

Summer is approaching and soon the children will be out of school. Is your schedule ready?

Some of you may know from past years, when the kids are out for the summer your “quiet time” during school hours is no more. Here are some tips to keep the school age children busy while you keep up with your business:

1. Plan family days
Take a day each week to spend the entire day with your kids. Make it a weekly event. Do things such as go out for ice cream, going to the zoo, etc. Try to plan it for in the middle of the week.

2. Set aside nights and weekends
In addition to your weekly outings with the kids, make sure you set aside your evenings and weekends to focus on them.

3. Hire Local Neighborhood Kids
Is there a responsible child in your neighborhood? Hire them to take your children to the pool, the park, or other areas in the neighborhood. Preteens are always looking for a way to make some extra money, or someone to pay for their day at the pool.

4. Have crafts and movies lined up
Avoid the “I’m bored” comments by having several activities set aside for children to do for at least 2 hours, giving you enough time to finish a project or two.

5. Take breaks outside
Since the weather is nice, children will be begging to go out. Make sure you take a break daily to go out for even just an hour. Remind them when it’s time to go back inside they will be able to go out again when you are finished working.

6. Trade Babysitting
Talk to other mothers in your community and trade babysitting. Remember the first tip? Take someone else’s kids on your family day out, and ask if they will watch your children on another day.

7. Hire Babysitters
When all else fails and you need to get major work done, send them to daycare once a week. Don’t feel guilty – it’s only one day! Your kids need a break from you too sometimes, and the chance to play with other children.

Good luck surviving the summer, and don’t forget to enjoy it yourself!

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/ for free weekly tips.

Note: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: ,

3 Easy Steps To Improving Your Business

April 3, 2009 By admin

By: Kara Kelso

I know we are all on the look out to try the newest marketing method or jump in to another way of promoting. Before you do start some new method of promotion, read this first.

Not only will this help you stay better organized, but give you direction as well. Follow these steps to build a better business right from the start.

1. Make a list
Start by making a list of what ideas you would like to put into motion. Go over your current marketing plan. Do you have a newsletter? Build it more. Do you have a website? Tweek it so it converts better. Do you book parties? Set a goal to book more. Regardless of what methods you are working on, focus on building on them.

2. Organize your list
Take your list, and put those ideas in order and decide where you should start. For example, let’s say you have a personal website you want to work on, a newsletter, and you also want to work on bringing more visitors in to the site. Your first task should be working on the website to make sure it’s pulling in enough sales. Working on increasing your traffic is going to be a waist of time until your site is working like it should.

3. Stick to it!
With so many marketing ideas out there, it’s hard to focus on just one. However, making a goal to work on just one type of idea can be a huge benefit.

If you are lacking in ideas or direction, you may consider picking up a copy of Direct Sales Success Kit to help get you organized. Good luck!

Article Source: http://wahm-articles.com

About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. For more Direct Sales Success Tips, visit: www.directsaleshelpers.com/newsletter.html

Filed Under: Stay Organized, Tips for Success Tagged With: ,

It's All About the Schedules

March 12, 2008 By admin Leave a Comment

“How do you do it?”

I get asked this question daily by everyone from friends, to colleagues, to perfect strangers. When most people find out that I work from home, with children – they are impressed. When I let them know that I typically work around 40 hours per week – they are amazed. When they find out that I have five children…well, that’s when they are blown away. Inevitably, the next phrase I hear – “Wow, you are my hero…”

There is absolutely nothing heroic about what I do from day to day. My time used to control me. I was tired, stressed out, and wondering what exactly about working from home was good for me and my family. After some time however, it became apparent to me that balancing family, home, and career simply comes down to one simple word. Are you ready? Schedules. I now know every minute of the day, what I am doing, and when I am doing it. Sound complicated? Not really, once you take a step back and look at your day, you’ll realize you already live by a schedule for the most part.

So how do you create a schedule? I will share with you what I did. And no, it isn’t an overnight process, but anything that is really worth it never is. But, you can trust me, follow these few simple steps, and you are well on your way to being organized – with your time anyway.

Before you can create a working schedule for yourself, you need to define the times you spend during the day doing certain tasks. The easiest and most practical first step to defining this time is to create your family schedule. Why? Because this is the schedule you already keep, without realizing it.

First, figure out what you do in a typical day for your family. Don’t make any special effort to be scheduled or organized, just live your day the way you normally do, and take notes. What do you do through out the day? When do you do it? Are there typical things you do every day around the same time? If it helps, keep a notebook, and for the next few days jot down when you – and your kids – do certain things. For example, if your kids are anything like mine, you can set the clock by the time they wake up in the morning. For me, it’s 6:30 AM. After they wake up, a chain of events is put into place…diaper changes, change of clothes, get dressed, and breakfast. Take a note of the time, when did you complete this chain of events? For me, it’s around 7:30 AM. Track all repeating daily events, include nap time, lunch time, play time, and dinner.

Keep your notebook with you for the next few days; you’ll be amazed at the similarities from day to day. Once you locate the similarities, you are going to start creating your schedule. I entered mine into an excel spreadsheet and color coded family events in green. For example, the block of time from 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM on my family schedule is blocked out in green. I know that every morning from 6:30 to 8:00, the kids and I are getting ready to start our day.

Next, you need to analyze the time you devote to your career. Repeat the same steps from above, only this time through, pay close attention to the tasks you complete each day to run your business. Don’t necessarily pay attention to the times you do them, but rather WHAT you do. The whole purpose of working at home is to fit your career around your family, not the other way around. Look at your workload, what is it that you do? Are there client calls to be made? Do you spend a large amount of time returning emails, and written correspondence? Do you have your list? Good.

With the list in hand that you just created, look at the blocks of time in your schedule that are now reserved for family time. Do you see large blocks of time between events? On my schedule, between 8 AM and 10:15 AM there is a large block of time that does not have a daily repeated event. Now is the time to fill in your career duties. Let’s look at scheduling time to make client phone calls. With your schedule in front of you, look for periods of time in your day when your house might be quiet enough to make a professional call. For me, it’s between 10:30 AM and 12:00 Noon – why? This is when my two year old takes a nap, and my three year old has “quiet time”. I blocked this time out on my schedule to make and receive calls. Continue through your working tasks, and identify times on your schedule that you can complete them. When can you return emails? What is a good time to research new projects? Do you see things falling into place?

Now, look at your schedule. There may be times left in there that are “free”. If that’s true, then you aren’t done yet – and if it isn’t true, you may want to take a second look at the tasks you do have scheduled. The “free” time is the most important time in your day. What is the “free” time for? This is time for your family, for your kids, for your home, and for you. We all made the choice to work from home so that we could be closer to our family. A lot of times it is difficult to draw the line between work and home, especially when they occupy the same space. This “free” time is the time you use to remind yourself why you decided to work from home in the first place. We use the time at our house to build play-dough creatures, color, and play Candy-Land. Sometimes we even go for a walk, or go to McDonalds. “Free” time is also used to clean house, go to the store, and impromptu visits to the library.

Finally, test your schedule out. The most important factor to making it work is to live by it. When your time is up on a certain task, you must move to the next. A schedule doesn’t work unless you live by it. I am not saying that every day is going to fall into place, and every task is going to run smoothly every day. The fact of the matter is, we live in the real world and in the real world – things happen. However, when you have a schedule to go by when these “things” happen you will know what you have coming up, and figuring out a time to manage it won’t be such a daunting task.

Like I said, I’m nobody’s hero. I just took the time to figure out what others need of me, and when I have the time to do it. I now have control over my time, it doesn’t control me – and that is an amazing feeling.

About the Author: Tamara Hancock, owns and operates her own small business, and also works as a Virtual Administrative Assistant from home. She designs and maintains several websites, enjoys baking, scrap booking, and creative writing. She and her husband live in Phoenix, Arizona where they are raising their five children.

Filed Under: Blog, Time Management Tagged With: