As I’d mentioned in my last post, with the summer season full on here in India, we’ve already started thinking about the summer holidays when school will be out for our daughter. In other words, when you have a home-based business, having the kids home from school means cutting down on work time and upping the family time.
Does that also mean cutting down on earnings and upping the expenses? Actually, no.
If you plan ahead and organize your home and your business, you can have the most stress-free ye productive and profitable summer ever.
Here are 5 simple ways to organize your work from home schedule for your home and business while you go and enjoy the season with the kids:
1. Organize Your Home
As work-at-home moms, our home and our families are top priority. Setting up systems in place for managing your home will help you find the time you need to work on your business when the kids are home from school, all day.
Schedule days for laundry, dusting, decluttering, menu planning and batch cooking as well as other routine household chores so that you know how your week is planned well in advance. Set up systems or hire help if need be, for chores that someone else can handle, such as cleaning the house or tending to the garden.
2. Organize Kids’ Activities
I cannot stress enough the importance of having kids constructively engaged and occupied. Planning goes a long way in helping you and the kids have an enjoyable summer. However, don’t over-schedule. That never works well for either party. Instead, pick one or two outside-of-home activities that you can take the kids to and create a list of indoor activities that children can do at home , on their own with minimal supervision.
Since our daughter is an only child, we need to identify activities that she can easily do on her own without the need for another child. So, we have picture and simple read-it-yourself books, sticker activity books, splash fests, and other such activities outlined for every day.
Want to be super-organized? Take a large calendar, your Google calendar, the Cozi family calendar or even, an Excel sheet and write down the dates and the various indoor activities that your littles can do while you work on your business. Pencil in snack and nap times as well. Yes, I am a little weird like that.
3. Plan Your Business Schedule
Since you’re taking the pains to plan your kids’ schedules, why not spend a little time and plan your business schedule? What activities need to be done each week? Note them in your calendar. What meetings or conferences have you lined up for the summer? Arrange for childcare. Organizing your business schedule will help you see at-a-glance how, what and when you can fit in a short break with the family or hosting extended family or even, a play date.
4. Automate Marketing and Business Promotion
Yes, there is no reason you shouldn’t be building your business during the summer. Take the time now to plan your blog calendar, write and schedule those posts, newsletters and email marketing campaigns. Then, when you’re away on vacation or enjoying those ice-cream parties with the kids, your blog and your marketing will be going on, quietly and effectively.
5. Organize Your Social Media
Social media and networking is key to business development, as a freelancer and work-at-home mom. I get 80% of my business via social networking.
Does that mean I spend every single waking moment on Twitter or Facebook?
Umm, no!
Having a well-planned social media editorial calendar and scheduling important and relevant tweets, posts and updates helps me get the word out without getting sucked into it all the time. During the summer, I just spend 10 to 20 minutes every day, responding, asking and engaging with my fans and followers.
Want to make this summer the best ever for your work-at-home life? Learn more about creating a sane and productive work from home schedule for the summer season? Order your copy of my brand-new eBook Summer Sanity Savers for the Work-at-Home Mom! Filled with tips and tools to help you savor the summer season while building your business, Summer Sanity Savers for the Work-at-Home Mom will help you build your business AND have summer fun, easily and effortlessly.
Photo Credit: Edwart Vissert
Ya know, I agree 100% with this entire article, which really stresses the need for organization. I love to have my kids (and my niece and nephew) help with organizing our summer activities. After all, summer is for them in my book.
Thanks Kathleen.. I agree, summer is for the kids, and we can use this time to review our business instead of trying to work on it full throttle and getting exhausted in the process..