An Affiliate Marketer from the Ground Up

What is it about time? One minute, you have plenty of it to look forward to and the next, you’re chasing after it. Procrastination is one of those time stealers which can easily hinder business productivity.

Have you heard the phrase, “The devil is in the details?” This is a twist on that. It is the little things that trip us up. For many moms, it is their kids.

When the work piles up, who wouldn’t want to be shopping or at least playing with the kids? Procrastination takes advantage of the fact that you are having a hard time balancing work and family. You tell yourself that a little extra time with the kids won’t hurt anything, but that lack of structure can cripple your productivity.

Taking time away from your business to spend with family can seem like playing hooky from school. That way of thinking will keep you in the procrastination mode. Here are some ways to recognize this particular devil and find the solutions to get rid of him.

1. You sigh heavily looking at the work left to be done. Don’t misunderstand. You want to be productive but built-in downtime is essential. Between a project finish and a new project start, take the time to bask in the knowledge of a job well done. You might not be able to take the afternoon off, but you can spend an hour or two doing something you like such as taking the kids to the park or watching a movie with them. Knowing that you don’ t have to rush into the next thing, takes the pressure off and is an incentive for getting work done in an efficient and timely manner.

1. Your desk is a mess. They say that a messy desk is a sign of genius, but simply being a genius doesn’t get the work done. Actually the clutter can put you off from working because you don’t want to wade through the mail and paperwork. From the beginning, utilize a filing system to organize your business. If you are midstream, pencil in a couple of hours and get it cleaned up. Once your desk is cleared, you’ll be psyched to sit down and get to work.

1. Hearing the kids playing with dad makes the mind wonder. Any hint of fun that distracts you will force you out of that chair and away from work. Know your procrastination triggers. If working on the weekend is a trigger, schedule more time through the week for business and leave the weekends open for family fun. Giggles can be distracting so choose an office space with a door to block out other sounds when your home office is open for business. Don’t set yourself up to fail.

You are not the only one who is vulnerable to procrastination. Striking a balance in your home and knowing your triggers are two ways to sweep the procrastination devil right out of your life.

It’s not uncommon to see large companies moving many jobs overseas in an effort to save money. They call it outsourcing. As a mom who works from home, you have that same opportunity though you run a small business.

Typically, outsourcing involves finding jobs that can be done outside the office in another location for less money. One day, you very well could visit a McDonald’s (not that we are advocating fast food over home cooking) and the person on the other end of that talking board could be in India. In this world, anything is possible.

As your business grows, you might very well find that you need help. Even when you are highly organized, there seems to be more and more work to get done. Instead of encroaching on family time, find a way to get all of your tasks handled without boarding the train to Looneyville.

Outsourcing works for the small business owner, too. Just like a large corporation find the tasks that can be done in another location and send them out. Here are some suggestions:

1. Hire a virtual assistant. Administrative work can be such a chore and take up more and more time as your business grows. Hiring a virtual assistant can alleviate much of this burden. They are also entrepreneurs who use their industry skills to help your business grow. It is easy to find a list to begin by typing “virtual assistant” into any search engine.

1. Hire a part-time cleaning service. The housework is always staring you in the face when you work at home. Instead of worrying about it or compromising business hours, hire a professional to take care of the upkeep. Once you clean your home thoroughly, having a service to come in weekly will keep everything managed.

1. Hire freelance help. Freelance employees pay their own taxes and overhead. Sometimes you need the help of other professionals. For example, Internet marketing can take a large chunk of your time. Finding someone well versed in the matter to run that side of the business lets you concentrate on actually meeting deadlines or finding new places to market your business.

1. Put your family on the payroll. Who says you can’t use a little nepotism? You run a business, but it is all in the family. Enlist the aid of your kids, husband and other family members so you can get more done. Ask your husband to take over dinner duty a few days a week. Set up a reward system (such as shiny stars) for your kids when they help mommy by picking up their toys and keeping their rooms clean.

Growth is great but it can decrease your productivity if you continue to try and do everything yourself. It’s time to get help. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to handle everything. Find ways to outsource tasks…to everyone.

Working from home has many advantages and also a sort of familiarity that can become a downright pitfall in some instances. It is easy and sometimes quickly discovered that away from an office your productivity is not as high as you thought it would be. Working from a home office can easily become a productivity killer when a business owner doesn’t stay on top of thing. However, don’t fret! This can be changed with a few simple steps to get your business organized making productivity easier.

First of all, realize what you do is run a business. Your business needs a permanent place to live. It could be your dining room, a corner of your den or the entire den. Some people set up shop in their garage or kitchen. Wherever you decide is where your home office will reside, recognize that it is your work space and nothing else can share that spot. Yes, that includes the laundry you forgot to fold last night too.

Moving on, now that you have an office space, set some guidelines for how you will run your business. These guidelines don’t run to the particulars of your chosen industry but more to organization for better operation of the enterprise. In plain terms, if everything is in its place, you won’t waste time looking for it.

A filing system will be your best friend. This includes a filing cabinet for important papers. Every correspondence doesn’t have to exist in paper form. Contractual agreements with clients and copies of past invoices can be filed, but emails don’t need to be. Save yourself some time, money and fresh air by not printing every client email that comes to your inbox.

An electronic filing system keeps emails, project specs and proposals organized by client without adding to the paperwork you already have to handle. Electronic files are easy to organize and can be zipped to clients in an instant if need be. You won’t even have to use snail mail.

Also, keep an in and out box on your desk (we almost forgot about the desk). Incoming mail is organized as soon as it hits the desk. Junk mail is shredded, orders are filed in a box to be filled and other mail is sorted according to purpose. Dealing with mail first thing prevents anything from getting overlooked.

Along the same lines, create a priority box. This is the box that will be checked first thing in the morning and last thing before you leave your home office. In the morning, the box contains all of the items that need attention that day. In the evening, organize the contents to be ready for the next morning. This makes it much easier to have your daily work tasks set when you get to the “office” each morning. No more wasted time planning your day while an hour or two of it is vanishing.

Low productivity in a home office arises mainly from disorganization. We aren’t sure what we want to work on or what is most important sometimes, so it takes a little while to get that together. If you are organized from the beginning and keep your priorities current, you won’t spend your time deciding what to do next – you’ll already know. Good bye time wasters, hello productivity!