BALANCING YOUR WORK AT HOME

SCHEDULE

5 Reasons Why You Need A Work-At-Home Schedule

One of the attractions of working at home is the vision of freedom it invokes -- no time clock, no time sheets, and no one to account to for how you spend your time. Yes, it is an attractive proposition, but like so many attractive propositions there is a heavy downside -- you are likely wasting a lot of time. My husband spends time every day filling out these large spreadsheets to account for his day. He works for a large engineering company and his day often encompasses work on a variety of projects for different clients. He loathes the activity and I have always dismissed it as a waste of time -- that is until my home business recently took off and I realized there simply wasn't enough hours in the day to accomplish all my goals. I now have my own spread sheet and agenda for the day and I have improved my productivity and reduced my stress immeasurably. If you don't think you need a schedule for your home business, then think again -- and read on. After a spate of relatively unproductive days when my "To Do" list seemed to grow exponentially every time I looked at it I knew something had to change. Granted I was going through a rough patch. My home business was experiencing growing pains and taking up more than the usual time, my four-year-old was only in preschool part-time, my

husband wasn't pulling his weight on the home front, and my extended family was experiencing a number of crises. But I'm also old enough to know there is never a perfect time in life -- you just live the one you've got. These are simply the problems I'm dealing with this year. Next year these problems will be traded in for new fresh ones. After studying my time and chatting with some other work-at-home folks, I discovered five reasons to embrace the schedule: 1. It's too easy to waste time doing nonpriority tasks 2. It's too easy to get sidetracked or distracted from your current task 3. Unscheduled work time can often overlap into your free time until you don't have any free time at all 4. Your free time can overlap into your work time until you fall behind with important projects 5. Concentrating your time and effort on highest priority projects means more gets done I'm not the only work at home business person encompassing the schedule. I recently took part in an online forum where men and womenhad moved to embrace it -- and found it more freeing than restrictive. After all, you are still the one setting the schedule so you are free to schedule yourself off for a 3-hour lunch, an afternoon, or a whole day whenever you choose. If you find it difficult setting up your schedule and priorities for the day and week then perhaps your significant other or a friend can help you set your schedule.

7-tips to Work at Home Successfully Congratulations! and welcome to the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it. The thrill of growing your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business.

Now that you've decided to start your business, you might be wondering "How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?" These seven tips will help: 1) Set up a separate working space in your home. It doesn't matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room. The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream. 2) Stock your working space with materials. This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have

easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy, too. 3) Speaking of time management, your third step is to define the parameters of your business. What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all of this straight? 4) Balance action with planning. One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning. Stated another way, this means that you confuse "being busy" with "working on important projects." The best approach is to plan your next couple of goals and then work backwards to create step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it's time to take the action. 5) Network like crazy. One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people can't buy if they don't know you're selling. 6) Present a professional image. If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with. 7) Automate your business as much as possible. Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details. This might work for now, but won't work into the future as you get busier and busier. It's best to set

up automatic systems and processes right from the start to free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities. These seven tips will get your home business started (and growing) in the right direction.

Balancing Your Work For The Home Business

With so many young people trying to work from home on the Internet it is amazing just how many of them really do not have the slightest idea of the workload they have got themselves into. Many of these people did not even sit down and assess what it is that they see as reasonable personal goal. This is a huge mistake on their part. You must know what you want in order to find a way to obtain it. It must be clear to everyone willing to jump into the Internet marketing world; if you are not sure whether or not you have the drive and a willingness to succeed you might want to save yourself some time, money and much aggravation. It is easy to desire something, and you may think you know how to get it, but there is this little issue about dedication and determination, do you have it? Why put yourself through the troubles of failing and wondering exactly where you went wrong.

The great Winston Churchill once said, “If you find yourself walking through hell, just keep going”. This idea of the struggles people face, in business and in life is just that. Struggles, the winners will survive and the weak will fall. This has been a true facet in life since the beginning of time. Basically staying power in the Internet marketing business is about keeping your face off the pavement.

They also do not get the fact that because it is their business and not someone else’s responsibility, that they in turn will have to work probably much harder to keep it going. When these people hear the nonsense about working 1 hour per week and striking it rich, I truly feel sorry for their heads and wallets when they inevitably re-enter the earth’s atmosphere, and hit the ground with a screeching halt. Again this may be

nothing more than naivety, and not total stupidity. The unfortunate part for most people new to the scene is that they have absolutely no idea just what it entails on a time basis. What must be remembered is that success cannot be bought in a can. It is the single marketing plan and strategy that is doomed to fail. You must be able to walk many avenues in order to reap the benefits of the successes it can yield. Buy into what you truly feel will get you ahead, listen to what other marketers are saying in the forums and try to catch on quick. This field is extremely fast and waits for no one. The best way to do business is to spread out your resources as much as possible; the best way for exposure is to be out in the middle of the field, if you do your research first, then i have no doubt you will be successful.