Change Your Life – Become a Work at Home Mom.

Introduction

What is a WAHM?

Have you ever considered what it would be like if you could stay home, take care of your children and family and still find a way to make money? It’d be wonderful right? Sure you’d have to balance work and family. However the payoff would be worth it.

WAHM stands for Work at Home Mom and it’s a growing trend. More and more parents, men too, are realizing that there has to be a better way. They’re changing their lives and their careers. They’re working from home.

If you’ve ever contemplated quitting your day job so you can stay home and care for your family then this report is for you. And if you’re already a stay at home parent and you are looking for a way to earn more money or start your own career then this report is for you too.

In this report you’ll discover:

The benefits of working at home
The challenges of working at home
How to manage your time
What type of WAHM opportunity is right for you
How to get started
The basics of balance
How to set goals, and achieve them
How to finance your WAHM career/lifestyle
How to plan for success
And much more!

Over the next twenty pages you’re going to be asked a lot of questions. This is an active report packed with brainstorming sessions, steps to help you assess your dreams and goals and of course a few action steps to take to move toward your future as a WAHM.

Let’s get started!Benefits & Challenges of Being a WAHM

As you might expect, there are a tremendous number of benefits to being a work at home mom. The benefits depend largely on the opportunity you choose to pursue, (and we’ll discuss the various opportunities next). However, in general you can look forward to:

Being Your Own Boss

When you’re a work at home parent you get to make the rules. You decide if today is a work day. You decide if you get to take an extra long lunch. You also decide what your financial and career goals are. You choose the projects you work on – and the projects you outsource to others.

You choose the who, what, where, when and why. It’s very empowering. It can also be quite stressful! Don’t worry. The time management, organization and balance tips provided later in this report will help you manage the challenge with grace and ease.

Flexibility

You likely already know that as a mom you need to be flexible. Your day rarely goes as you expect it too. On the day of a big presentation or when you’ve made exciting plans a child is sure to throw up or run a fever. Children demand flexibility but a traditional 9-5 rarely provides it.

When you work from home you have the flexibility to care for your children on those surprise days. You can also choose when to work and when to focus on your family. You can work during nap time, early mornings, nights, when the kids are at school or you can even hire a part-time babysitter or swap childcare with a friend. The point is you have the flexibility to work based on your own needs and goals.

Great Income Potential

When you are a work at home mom you have the ability to choose your income goals. You also choose the path you take to achieve them. This means you’re not bound by salary caps, a glass ceiling or any other limitations. You can choose how much money you want to make and set your goals and plans to achieve it.

Sense of Community

It might surprise you to learn that there’s a very large and quite energetic community of work at home moms. They’re excited to share, learn and connect with other work at home moms.

So if you’re concerned about feeling isolated or letting go of your work associates don’t be. There are many fantastic resources to connect with other work at home parents. Together you can support each other to grow, prosper, and succeed!

Pride and Accomplishment

Working at home gives you the “I really can have my cake and eat it too” sense of pride and accomplishment. You realize that you can create the life you want. It’s quite empowering. You also get to choose your path and follow it. When you achieve success, and you will, you’ll feel a great sense of achievement.

You’ll Save Money

This is another surprising benefit. When you work from home you no longer have to:

Pay for gas for your daily commute
Buy and maintain a work wardrobe
Pay for lunch out (or breakfast out if you usually grab it on your way to the office.)
New tax deductions too for your home office and business expenses.

You’ll be surprised how much money you save over the course of a year.

Quality of Life

Working from home means you’ll be there for your children when they need you. It also means you can maintain your home and your family the way you want to. You can cook meals rather than take out – if you choose. You can make time to exercise. You can tend to your children yourself rather than paying for childcare. And you can be there for them when they’re sick without feeling guilty or worried about your job security.

And if you’re already a stay at home parent then your quality of life will improve with the extra cash you have to take vacations and purchase items your family wants and needs.

Challenges

All is not perfect in the land of WAHM. To say it’s easy to work from home would be a lie. It can be very challenging at times. Your primary challenges will likely be:

Time Management

It takes skill, a plan and an ability to focus if you want to work at home successfully. As you already know, children are full of surprises. And the day you have a big meeting with a client or have plans to work on a new project for your business.

That’ll be the day your child stays home sick. Additionally, you’ll need to create a work schedule that supports you to be productive.

This can mean getting up early in the morning or staying up later at night. Sometimes trying to squeeze a few hours of work time into an already busy day can be a challenge. That being said, there are tips and strategies to help you make it – to help you manage your time successfully. We devote an entire section in this report to time management.

Cash Flow

This is a surprising challenge, right? Particularly if you’re already a stay at home parent. However, it can be a real challenge and if you don’t prepare for it, you can wind up short at the end of the month. Worse, you can end up in debt and no one wants that to happen.

If you’re leaving a traditional 9-5 make sure to create a budget that reflects your temporary loss of income. If you have savings to live on for a few months then that’s great. If not, make plans to cut back.

Starting a new business or transitioning into a work at home career like a home based call center or direct sales requires an investment so you’ll have that expense too. And it may take a few months to start seeing a profit. Be prepared for this. Look at your budget and crunch the numbers.

If you’re already a stay at home parent you can have cash flow challenges too. As mentioned, most work at home opportunities require some level of investment. We’ll talk about the various opportunities and what you need to get started next.

For now, know that there is an investment and you may not see a return on that investment right away. Plan for it and keep yourself out of debt.

Balance

Working at home is a bit of a juggling act. You want your career/business to succeed. You also want to take great care of your home and family. There are really only so many hours in a day and it’s impossible to devote all of your time and energy to both. You also need time for yourself.

Balance is probably the biggest challenge you’ll face. With good organization and time management, balance is possible. It’s a constant struggle that you’ll need to pay attention to however, with proper attention you’ll be able to work, tend to your family and take good care of yourself too. Again, we’ve devoted an entire section to this challenge.

Staying Motivated

In the beginning it’ll be easy to stay motivated. However, after a few months or a year of working from home you’re going to be tempted to procrastinate. It happens to everyone! The laundry chore will look better to you than working on your business. And distractions like the television or lunch with a friend will be next to impossible to ignore.

Staying motivated is a matter of assessing why you’re losing motivation and then fixing the problem. You may be unmotivated because you have tasks that you simply dislike. You may be suffering from burn out because your life is a little out of balance.

You may feel uninspired because you don’t have any exciting goals for yourself. It’s important to recognize when you’re feeling unmotivated. To determine why you’re feeling unmotivated and then to fix the problem.

Growing Your Business/Career

Even work at home careers can hit a plateau. That’s okay and it is to be expected. Your goals and your definition of success will largely determine how you handle this challenge. If you are working from home simply to earn some extra cash then it may not be a problem for you.

If you’re working at home because it inspires you and you have a desire to build a business or a career then you will face this challenge. The end of this report addresses a few ways to grow your business and work at home career. And you can turn to your network of WAHMs for guidance and advice.

Staying Confident

A work at home career is filled with new judgments and biases. You may hear questions like:

“When are you going to get a real job?”

“What do you do all day?”

If you’re home, friends and family may not respect the fact that you need time to focus on your career or business. They may pop in to say hello or interrupt your working time. You’ll need to set boundaries and remain confident in your decision to work from home.

Be proud of who you are and the business or career you’ve built.

Conclusion

Okay, you know what the benefits are and you are now aware of the challenges. The remainder of this report will cover not only your options for working at home but also how to manage these challenges and create the life you want to live.

WAHM Opportunities – Where is Your Life Going to Take You?

There are more and more opportunities for work at home parents than ever before. You can become part of an existing business, i.e. telecommuting, or you can start your own business. Your options are virtually unlimited.

You choose the path you want to take and how you want to live your life!

The majority of your possibilities fall into five main categories. They include:

1. Service
2. Ecommerce
3. Website/blog/information
4. Direct sales
5. Telecommuting

Let’s take a look at each of them independently.

Do You Want to Provide a Service?

A service provider is a nice WAHM opportunity to transition into. If you have a skill or interest in learning a skill then you can offer that to others in the form of a service. For example, if you are an exceptional organizer then you could provide a home organization service. If you are good at motivating people you can become a coach.

You can also offer business-building services like:

Copywriting
Content or ghostwriting
Virtual assistant
Programming/coding
Website design
Search engine optimization
Bookkeeping/Accounting
Massage Therapist
Social networking
Childcare
Pet care

There’s a very high demand for service professionals and it may be the ideal business for you. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if a service based business is the right choice for you:

Do you enjoy working with people?
Do you have specialized knowledge or experience in a particular area?
Are there people who would pay for your specialized knowledge or skills?

Pros and Cons of Owning a Service Business

Pros:

You can choose who you work with, how much you work and when
You can have a valuable impact on someone’s life
You can make a good hourly wage

Cons:

You’re working with people for your primary source of income – meaning if you’re not working, you’re not making any money. (Other business opportunities make it possible to earn money around the clock whether you’re “working” or not.)
You have deadlines to meet and other people’s schedules to work with.
Your profits and client base can fluctuate
You have to find time in your schedule to meet/work with clients

Is Ecommerce Right For You?

Ecommerce is simply the selling of products online. It embraces a number of sub-models including membership sites and information marketing. For simplification purposes let’s focus specifically on selling products and discuss membership sites and information marketing in a separate topic.

Within the product based ecommerce business model there are three sub categories including:

Wholesaler
Reseller
Drop shipper

Let’s take a look at each of them briefly:

Wholesaler – A wholesaler is someone who buys goods in large quantities and then sells them to the consumer. One example would be an eBay store where someone has purchased a large volume of cell phones or handbags and then sells them to the consumer.

Reseller - A reseller is someone who sells buys the rights to resell a product under their brand. You become an authorized dealer of the manufacturer. Resellers are generally required to obtain a reseller’s license from the manufacturer. You can become an information or digital products reseller quite easily.

Drop-Shipper – A drop shipper is someone who sells a product directly from the manufacturer. The items are shipped directly from the manufacturer.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if an ecommerce business is the right choice for you:

Do you enjoy selling?
Do you often have specialized knowledge in a particular type of product or industry?
Do you have a product that you love and would enjoy selling with this business model?

Pros and Cons of Owning an eCommerce Business

Pros:

You can make money around the clock.
With many ecommerce models you don’t have to maintain an inventory or ship the items yourself.
You can make a good annual profit.

Cons:

You’ll need to create a comprehensive ecommerce website including a shopping cart, return policy and customer service center.
You may have to ship products and manage returns.
You’re dependent on the quality/service of the products you represent. For example, if a product is recalled or found to be faulty, your business will suffer.

What About Becoming an Internet Marketer?

Internet marketing covers a variety of areas. You can be an information marketer, an affiliate marketer, a membership marketer and so on. Let’s take a look at each of them briefly.

Membership Marketing – Membership sites profit from selling memberships or subscriptions to people interested in accessing specialized information, products, or services.

Information Marketing – An information marketer sells information, generally in the form of downloadable digital products. As an information marketer, you can sell:

Ebooks
Online Courses
Audio Books
Downloadable Software
Videos
Reports
Seminars
Tutorials
Workshops
Software
Planning and Organization Products

Anything that can be downloaded online can be sold. Deciding what to sell depends on your interests.

Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketers essentially pre-sell or promotes the products or services of others. You earn a commission based on any sales your website generates. For example, if you have a website about ceiling fans. You might write reviews and provide information on various ceiling fans. In your articles and on your website you would link to ceiling fan retailers with affiliate programs. When one of your readers clicks on a link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. You can also publish advertisements on your blog or website to motivate clicks and purchases.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if an internet marketing business is the right choice for you:

Do you enjoy writing, creating video or audio content?
Do you often have a passion or specialized knowledge in a particular topic or industry?

The Pros and Cons of being an Internet Marketer

Pros:

Easy to set up and get started
Lots of potential products to represent/create.
Low overhead, particularly if you create your content and/or information products yourself.
You don’t have to devote tons of time to managing your business. Much of it can be automated.

Cons:

Potentially slow rise to a desired profit level – though many information marketers make a tremendous income.
Content is the foundation of any internet marketing business. If you don’t like to write or create content then you’ll need to outsource this task which can be costly.

Direct Sales

Direct sales, aka party plan or party sales, is a popular WAHM business model. As direct sales consultant you earn a commission from selling products at home parties. As the industry continues to grow so too does this business model. Many direct sales companies also provide websites for their consultants so you can sell online and in home. And because the direct sales business model is so successful, there are a large variety of companies to choose from. You can sell anything from jewelry to health supplements.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if a direct sales career is the right choice for you:

Do you enjoy working with people?
Do you enjoy selling?
Are you organized and do you enjoy planning parties?

Pros and Cons of Being a Direct Sales Consultant

Pros:

You determine your income goals.
It can be a very fun business. You get to routinely plan and attend parties.
You can represent products you love and are passionate about.

Cons:

You have to sell products in order to make an income
It can be difficult to get started, especially if you don’t want to ask your friends and family to help.
You have to find time in your schedule to attend parties.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting is essentially working for an employer out of your home instead of their office. The most common types of telecommuting jobs are home based call centers and administrative opportunities like medical transcription.

There’s a very high demand for service professionals and it may be the ideal business for you. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if a telecommuting opportunity is the right choice for you:

Would you rather work for an employer than be self-employed?
Are you comfortable talking on the telephone as a customer service representative?
Do you have a specialized administrative skill you can offer an employer?

Pros and Cons of Telecommuting

Pros:

You can enjoy the health benefit package and security of having an employer rather than being self-employed.
No commute!
You can work off hours, like midnights, and still be present for your children during the daytime.

Cons:

You may not be passionate about your career.
There’s not much room for financial growth.
You may have to work odd hours in order to get a position that pays well.
You still have to work hours determined by someone other than yourself. (You’re not the boss.)

How to Get Started with Your WAHM Life!

Just about any opportunity you pursue will have a few initial requirements. Before you begin, buy, or sign up for anything sit down with a pen and paper (or open a computer document, whichever works best for you) and make a list. Consider the following:

What Equipment Do I Need to Get Started?

The equipment you need depends largely on the opportunity you pursue. For example, if you choose to pursue a direct sales career then you’ll need to purchase some of their products to help you sell. If you choose to start a website then you’ll need a computer.

Make a list of what you need. Start with the basics and then add a few items you’d like to have but can probably do without. For example:

You need:

A computer
An internet connection
A website

You want:

A desk for your home office. (The kitchen table works just fine in the beginning.)
A business phone (You can get a free Google voice number and forward it to your home or cell phone.)
A new mobile device. (To check your business email while you’re away? Wait until you can get a free phone or until it makes financial sense.)

How Much Money Do I Need?

How much money do you need to get started? Take a look at your list of equipment first. You may very well already have most of what you need. If you are starting a new business you may need a website – you can start one for very little money, less than $100. If you’re pursuing a career in direct sales then you’ll need to purchase their start up kit. And don’t forget about marketing your business too.

Before you panic because you’re not sure how much you need and where it’s going to come from, take a look at how much you have. Do you have money set aside? Can you cut back on something for a few months and save? Can you start with the basics like a used computer, and upgrade later when your business is profiting?

What About Education, Certification and Credibility?

For most work at home opportunities you can find fantastic online learning resources for free. For example, if you’re interested in a direct sales career you can visit educational sites, blogs and forums on direct sales. If you want to start your own affiliate marketing website then you can visit amazing educational blogs like Rosalind Gardner’s blog to learn the ins and outs of affiliate marketing.

Certification generally isn’t necessary unless you’re starting a business as a therapist or caregiver. For example, if you open a child care business in your home you’ll need certification. If you’re starting a massage therapy business or becoming a fitness instructor then you’ll need certification.

And credibility is earned. It’s achieved through conversations, connections and publication both online and off. It’s built through happy clients and customers spreading the word about your business.

Don’t Neglect Your Business Plan!

Regardless of the business model or opportunity you choose, you’ll want to create a business plan. Your plan will be your go to guide for keeping you on track. It’ll detail:

Your goals
Your vision for your work at home career
Your schedule
Your tasks/responsibilities
Your budget
Your marketing plan

Your business plan doesn’t need to be formal. It can and should be accessible. It’s created by you for you which means you’ll want to be able to use it quickly and easily. For example, you might schedule a monthly planning session to assess your goals and the steps you’ve taken to achieve those goals.

You’ll pull out your business plan and take a look at where you are and where you want to be. If your business plan isn’t well organized and easy for you to use, this planning time will be unproductive. Consider using a three ring binder to contain your business plan. This keeps it handy and makes it portable. You can also save it on your computer and revise/update it as needed.

Okay, you know what you need and how to get started, let’s look at how to choose the right WAHM opportunity for you.

Choosing the Right Opportunity for You

It’s important to take some time before you jump into an opportunity and to make sure it’s the right decision for you. There are five areas of your life you want to evaluate. They include:

Time

How much time do you have each day, week and month to devote to your work at home career or business? Be honest and evaluate your day. Consider simply tracking your day for about a week. What consumes your time? How much free time do you have?

Also consider how much time it might take to make a work at home opportunity a success. For example, if you have two free hours each day a telecommuting opportunity might not be your best option. Most telecommuting opportunities are full time. Unless you plan to work evening or midnight hours another opportunity is probably better suited for your time constraints.

Simply evaluate how much time you have and how much time you need to be successful. Write down your thoughts and compare opportunities based on this factor.

Money

How much money do you have to invest in an opportunity? And also how much money do you want/need to make? If you’re transitioning from a full time career you may want to maintain the same income level. In this case a telecommuting opportunity or a new internet based business may be ideal.

If you’re simply looking for a little bit of supplemental income you may want to consider starting a blog or a website or direct sales. You can achieve great profits from a website or direct sales too of course, it all depends on how much time and energy you want to devote to your career.

Write down what your income goals are and how much you have to put into your work at home plan. Evaluate your options based on this factor.

Goals

What is your vision for your work at home life? Do you envision working four hours a day? Do you want to make six figures? Everyone has their own definition of success. What is yours? What are your goals and how will you know when you’re successful?

Write a few paragraphs that describe your ideal day as a successful work at home mom. What does it look like? How do you spend your day? How has your life changed? Write it as if you’re already successful. Now, evaluate your opportunities based on this definition of success.

Personality

What is your personality? Are you a social person who likes to meet with people, talk and be communicating regularly? If so, you may want to consider opportunities that are very social and active.

For example, direct sales or a professional coach. If on the other hand you’re fairly introverted then a web based information marketing or affiliate business may work better for you.

Compare your options based on how they best fit into your personality. Don’t try to be someone or something that you’re not. The road to work at home success can fit you and your unique strengths and characteristics.

Skills and Interests

Finally, compare your possibilities based on your skills, strengths and interests. Do you love pets? Consider building a business around that passion. Do you enjoy jewelry? Consider a direct sales business or an ecommerce site that sells jewelry.

Are you an experienced and reputable sales person? Consider becoming a coach and coaching other sales people to reach their goals.

Write down your strengths, skills and interests and compare your opportunities based upon these criteria. Brainstorm options. What type of opportunity or business would you LOVE to pursue? How can your strengths, skills and interest help others?

Conclusion

Spend a few minutes writing down and brainstorming your dream work at home career/business. What best suits your needs, interests and goals? Make a list or write a few paragraphs about what your ideal business or career would look like.

At this point you probably have a very strong idea of the direction you want your work at home life to take. You may have chosen an opportunity you wish to pursue or you’ve started taking steps to learn more about a specific opportunity. Maybe you’ve even begun to create your website and plan your business.

Now let’s move on to goal setting and how it fits into work at home success.

Setting Goals – Why Do You Want To Work At Home?

Success doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of dreaming big, planning effectively and then taking action to make it a reality.

It’s a process of effort, mistakes, successes, failures and hard work. Before you begin to build your business or get too deep into your work at home career it’s important to define what success looks like to you. It’s important to set goals.

Now, everyone has their own reasons for working at home. You may have a combination of reasons but one likely stands out above the rest. Is it money? Building a career? Are you looking to add more interest or joy to your life? Why do you want to work from home?
Once you’ve honestly answered that question, create goals that reflect it.

Successful Goal Setting Strategies.

The goal often begins as a dream that you’ve written down. From that goal, you can then create smaller goals and outline the steps to achieve them. Good goal setting and achievement requires:

Goals That Can Be Measured.

You can’t say, “Oh, I’ll know when I’m successful.” It doesn’t work. The goal slips away. Instead, choose a goal you can measure. For example, “I want to achieve six figures annually.”

You know when you’ve achieved success because your income statement tells you when you’ve earned six figures.

Goals that Can be Broken Down into Smaller Goals

A large goal like wanting to earn six figures can seem too large to wrap your brain around – too large to plan for and achieve. However, if you break it down into smaller goals then it’s easier to achieve.

For example, achieving six figures may mean finding 34 coaching clients who pay $250/month for your services. You can then focus on taking steps to find 34 clients who need your coaching expertise.

Goals that Inspire.

Let’s face it, if you’re not motivated or inspired by your goal you’re likely not going to follow through on the steps required to achieve it. Make sure your goal fits your personality and that it motivates you.

Not everyone is motivated by money. If you’re not, what does motivate you? Fame? Helping others? Freedom? Make sure your goals inspire you to achieve them. You want to feel energized and excited about your work at home life.

Document your goals and the steps you plan to achieve them. Make plans and take action to measure your success too. For example, if your goal is to gain attention and traffic to your website then you will want to set up an analytics program on your website like Google analytics, it’s free, so you can easily know how many visitors your website receives each day.

Now that you have goals, you’ve chosen an opportunity and your business plan is under way it’s time to consider how you’re going to manage it all!

Time Management Tips Strategies and Secrets

One of the best ways to make sure you reach your WAHM goals and live the life you’ve envisioned is to make sure you manage your time effectively. Before offering time management tips and strategies, let’s first define what effective time management means.

What is Effective Time Management?

Time management means you are able to:

Focus on the task at hand without distractions.
Focus on high priority tasks first – so you get more accomplished.
Use technology and tools to work effectively and efficiently

Sound challenging? Impossible?

It’s not. You can get a tremendous amount accomplished – even while caring for family, home and loved ones. Here’s how:

#1 Schedule Your Time

Schedule your work time. Schedule your play time. Schedule your errand and chore time too. It may sound very “type A” however, when you schedule your time it helps you focus on the various areas of your life.

For example, if you have young children to care for during the day you may schedule your work time in the morning before they wake. You may schedule chore time while they’re napping and then errand time when they’re awake and can go with you.

Scheduling or segmenting your day also helps you get into work mode. You know that later in the day you can worry about other responsibilities. During your “work time” all you have to focus on is work.

#2 Group Like Tasks

First, multi tasking is a myth. It is impossible to focus on two things and once. And if you try, both are going to be short changed. However, you can maximize your efforts by grouping like tasks.

For example, if you own an information or affiliate marketing business then you may need lots of content; articles and blog posts. Instead of focusing on several different tasks during your work time you may be more productive if you devote one or two work days to writing. The other days can be devoted to product creation, partnerships and other business tasks. Similarly, you can group household tasks like running all your errands for the week at once.

#3 Get Help

There is absolutely no reason why you should do everything all by yourself. Get help! Partner with other WAHMs to help each other out. For example, if you’re a graphic designer you might swap services with a writer. You design their website and they write your web content for you.

You might swap childcare with other WAHMs or friends too.

Also consider outsourcing some tasks. For example, many business owners find that they just don’t have time to keep their home as clean as they’d like. So they hire someone to come in once a week or month to clean.

Or you can outsource business tasks too. For example, you could hire a ghostwriter, bookkeeper, or website designer.

Identify areas where you need help and look for solutions. Ask friends and family. Look for partnership solutions and of course don’t hesitate to consider hiring people to help you with some tasks.

#4 Automate

There are a wide number of tools and technologies to help you manage your time better. For example, autoresponder software or services can help you manage your email marketing campaigns. Online bookkeeping software can automate your financial statements and generate income and expense reports.

You can even automate your social networking by scheduling posts in advance with tools like HootSuite.

#5 Get Organized!

Getting organized is essential for good time management. There are several keys to functional organization.

Use scheduling tools – Use Outlook, a day planner or other scheduling tool to keep your plans and schedule in order.
Learn to prioritize – assign a value to tasks and to your time. For example, answering email isn’t generally as important as writing content or meeting with a prospective client.
Create task lists the night/week before. Planning ahead means waking up the next day and knowing exactly what you are going to do. You won’t waste any of your valuable “productive time” on trying to figure out your day.
Create systems – systems help you stay effective and efficient. For example, instead of answering each email independently you can create templates. Then you simply have to cut and paste your responses. It’ll take seconds to answer your email instead of minutes.

#6 Use Time Nuggets

What do you normally do when you’re waiting at the dentist, doctor’s office or to pick your children up from events? These “time nuggets” are ideal for getting things done. You can use them to plan your business. To write content. Or to make phone calls or answer emails. You can accomplish a lot within these small sections of time.

Is Balance Really Possible?

As you transition into your WAHM lifestyle you may feel overwhelmed. It can be difficult to find time for everything. It can be difficult to get all of your work done, tend to your family and still find time for yourself.

However, with a few tricks of the trade and a bit of awareness you can achieve balance. Before getting into these tricks it’s important to know that balance is different for everyone. It’s important that you not only know what balance means to you but that you learn to recognize when your life feels out of balance. When you feel like your life is getting out of balance or you want to prevent that from happening consider the following:

Schedule

Scheduling your time, and sticking to your schedule, will help you achieve balance. Schedule time for your work, your play, your family, your home responsibilities, your health and well being too. Schedule time for veering including time off. Yes, schedule time off!

Outsource

Outsourcing has already been discussed so we won’t harp on the subject. However, outsourcing is a vital tool to help you manage tasks. You don’t have to do everything yourself and trying to do it all will end up causing burnout and an imbalance.

Take Time OFF!

We just mentioned scheduling time off but how much should you take off? The answer is to take off as much as you need. Take time off daily by taking breaks from your work and responsibilities. Take a hot bath, read a book, watch your favorite television program, meditate – it doesn’t matter what you do, just do something that relaxes you and makes you feel good.

Schedule a day off, at least, each week. There’s no reason to work every single day. Take a day off each week.

Take time off each month, quarter, or year too. Take vacations. Even if you can’t swing a full vacation, take a “staycation” and focus on having fun for a week or two.

Set Boundaries

It’s okay to say no. In fact, you are going to have to say no to some things. That means saying no to friends and family members who need you during “work time.” (Unless it’s an emergency of course.)

It also means saying no to some volunteer opportunities and even to some clients or partnership opportunities or projects. Choose the projects and opportunities that support your definition of success and vision for your life. Say no to the rest.

Focus On Your Family

Remember to take special time out of your day, week and life to spend time with your family. That means one on one time with your children. It also means spending some quality time with your spouse or partner. Go on dates. Enjoy together.

Conclusion

Balance is a never ending process. Sometimes it’ll come easily and other times you’ll have to work hard for it. With proper attention and care you can maintain a balanced work at home lifestyle.

Looking Ahead – Where Do You Want Your Work At Home Career To Take You?

As you transition into a work at home mom lifestyle keep in mind that there is always room to grow and change. Once you’ve achieved a goal ask yourself if you want to set a new more challenging goal. Also keep in mind where you want to take your work at home career. For example, once the children are grown and gone will you still want to be a work at home professional? You don’t have to know the answer right now, today. However it is something to keep in mind as your life changes and grows.

You essentially have three options:

Grow your business
Sell your business
Maintain the status quo

There is no right or wrong answer, only the right choice for you.

Congratulations!

Moving into the life of a WAHM is a challenging and rewarding lifestyle. Thousands of women have made this transition and you can too. Spend time considering what you want to do and what your goals are. Then choose the work at home opportunity that best fits your needs and goals. Plan for those goals, take action and achieve the life you desire. You can have both a satisfying life as a stay at home mother or parent and the life of a career motivated person who brings income and interest into their life.

To your success!

Incoming search terms for the article:

Be Sociable, Share!

Change Your Life – Become a Work at Home Mom.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Orange County Posts