Are you a mother of small children who is looking for ways to get more work done on your business during the week?  Your days can be very busy, and the time that you have to devote strictly to build your business can be very elusive it you’re not careful to plan your days carefully to ensure it gets the quality time it needs so you can pay your bills and accomplish your financial goals.  Below are some tips to help you to better carve out that much needed time so you can get things done and grow your empire :-).

1.  Make a plan for your week BEFORE it begins.  This may seem unnecessary, however, when we make plans in our head, they have a great chance of getting changed because there are always opportunities for something else to become more urgent than spending time working on your business.  When you’re your own boss, there is the tendency to be “lenient” when it comes to making yourself accountable to doing the work that must be done to move your business forward.  So, if you make a schedule, you’re more likely to keep yourself more accountable to show up to work when you plan to be there.  Having small children poses another unique challenge as there are always “fires” to put out, diapers to change, and other urgent matters threatening to throw you off track.  When you create your work schedule for the week, be sure you guard that time as if you’re working for someone else.
2. Commit to your work schedule.  Quite simply, if you schedule to work 3 hours on Monday morning, show up, and then work for 3 hours.  If you’re a mom who has constant interruptions throughout the day, be careful not to try to schedule your work hours during the time of the day when your children are most active.  Are you able to schedule a couple of hours during nap time?  Can you get an hour in while the kids are watching PBS or other educational programming?  Can you get work time completed before they wake up in the morning or after they are in bed for the evening? These, and other questions are what you need to ask so that you have a good idea of when is the best time to schedule your work hours.
3. Plan Your Work Ahead of Time.  This requires you be in tuned with those activities that must be done versus those that can wait for another time or be outsourced to someone else.  Those activities that are critical are those that depend 100% on you to complete them.  In my business, examples of essential activities include writing or creating content and training for my business, making calls to leads, or following up with prospects I’ve had the chance to generate through recent outreach efforts. Those activities that I won’t spend my prime business hours on include filing, planning, or organizing.  Those are activities that don’t necessarily push my business forward, thus they cannot be completed when my energy is highest.  I would recommend that you make a list of your essential activities and keep them as a priority during your work week.

There is more that I can add, but I think that if you’re struggling to make the time to be more productive in your business, then you can focus on these three tactics and see some very positive results.  Put them in place this week and commit to them for 3 weeks to see exactly how much progress you make…you’ll be amazed at how beneficial they are.  And, as always, reach back out to me and let me know how they worked for you.  I’d love to hear from you!