The biggest challenge of running a business from home is getting the right balance between your professional and your personal life. It is very easy to loose track when some of the things competing for your attention are your kids, spouse, pets and household chores. If you are not careful, you will very quickly become consumed by things that have nothing to do with your business.
Dangers of Poor Time Management
Poor time management can result in a sloppy run business. You may see a slowdown in operations, and, in turn, a reduction in sales and profits. In drastic cases, poor management of your business time can equal a complete shutdown of your home based business.
Effective Time Management Tips
Now that you know how poor time management can harm your home based business, here are a few things you can do to improve the management of your business.
Set your home office area
It is important to have a designated office area where you carry out your home based business operations. If you try to work from the bedroom, kitchen and lounge you will be distracted by all the activities taking place in these areas.
Have a set schedule for your home based business
Having a set schedule can make a huge difference in your productivity. Stick to a schedule similar to a normal work i.e wake up at the same time, prepare breakfast, drop kids to school and then get down to work at exactly 8.00 am.
Prioritize all your work
It is important to consider all of your priorities. As a business owner, what are the most important tasks for you each day? Do you start by prospecting for new clients or do you start by collecting pending bills? You will need to set all your priorities and make sure you follow them to the letter.
Delegate non-core work
Task such as prospecting for new clients can be delegated to people or companies that specialize in generating leads. For a set monthly fee, the lead generating company will do all the work of finding clients. Imagine how easy your work will be when you log in into your email and you find 5 clients waiting for you? Other tasks that can be delegated are, social media campaign, bill payment, accounting, typesetting etc.
Write it all down
It is not enough have ideas in your head, you need to write down your schedule and priorities. This can be written on a business diary or a general note book. Include the following details:-
- Everything you do for your home business everyday.
- Write the exact time that you begin a task and the exact time that you end it.
When writing your business journal assume you are writing a daily report for your boss.This type of report will help you review your performance and see where you might be wasting time or doing something that’s ineffective.
You can even ask your spouse, brother or kid to go through the reports and give their opinion, that way it can be more objective.
Proper Time Management equals greater productivity
In the end, you will reap benefits for managing your time. You will have enough time to attend to your business task and your will get more from your work. At the end of the day you will have enough time to spend with your loved ones, attend to domestic task and engage in other hobbies/interest.
Proper time management is an important skill that every home business owner needs to learn and master if he/she wants to succeed. You will not master it over night but if you stick at it, you will get it. Once it becomes a daily routine you will be able to run a successful home based business and enjoy a quality home life.