Over the last 4 years, I have been a full time working mom trying to run a business on the side.  Then after I had the twins, I became a stay at home mom trying to run a business. Now, I am working part time out of the home and part time from home, while still trying to balance taking care of my family.  None of these were easy!

Balancing home and running a small business is HARD.  

For a lot of years, one always seemed to win out over the other.  Either I was doing a great job at being a wife and mom and the house was somewhat put together, but my business suffered OR my business was doing well and I was struggling to stay on top of my family and home.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way and want to save you from the frustration and failure that I felt.

For the first time, I feel like I’m finally in a groove with balancing my daily tasks for home and my business.  I won’t tell you I’m perfect at it, but I’ve come a long way.  While I’m always aiming at being and doing better, I’m happy with where we are now.

Here are the three things that have made a huge difference in finding that balance.

1. Work from a list.  I have a list of the activities that I need to complete daily to move my business forward.  I call this my Power Hour.  Each day I sit down with this list and plow through it, being sure to stay on task until it is time to go on to the next task.  No longer am I killing time trying to figure out where to start or trying to decide what needs to be done first and then not getting to other important tasks.

1. Have a schedule.  I have a daily schedule that clearly defines family time vs. work time vs. me time.  Having this schedule in place helps me to focus 100% on what I’m doing in that moment.  It has helped me to be very intentional about spending uninterrupted time with the kids, as well as getting really focused on working without feeling like I need to go change the laundry over or start dinner.

1. Take 5 minutes each morning to devise a plan.  Making lists and a plan for the day has made a huge difference in my productivity.  I start the day with much more clarity on what I need to accomplish and tend to get a lot more done when I have this list created.  

If you are interested in signing up to receive the list that I work from daily, CLICK HERE to receive my FREE Guide: “Boost Your Power Hour”.