By Debbie LaChusa, 6FigureWorkAtHomeMom.com

One of the biggest challenges for work-at-home moms is staying focused.

After all, when your office is in your home, you face a multitude of distractions that you don't face when you work in an office.

And the distractions seem to multiply during the summer months when kids are out of school and the warm weather beckons you outside.

Some of the common distractions include:

(1) Kids

Especially during the summer months when they're out of school. Mine are always asking if I can take them places, or just dropping in my office to say "hi" or chat.

(2) Housework

You encounter it every time you step outside of your home office or work area. And, it seems to multiply when the kids are home from school for the summer!

(3) Laundry

The never ending hampers of dirty laundry and kids complaining "I have nothing to wear" make it easy to say "I'll just throw in a load of wash while I am working...."

(4) Wanting to just be "Mom"

When the kids are home for the summer, it can be tough to work when you'd rather be spending time with them.

And, here are some common questions I receive from work-at-home moms who are struggling with staying focused and finding that balance between work and family.

(1) How do I stay focused on my goal and still meet all of my families needs? Flexibility is great, but can also be my worst enemy!

(2) My biggest challenge is motivating myself to get on the phone to book classes for the week. I always find a job that has to be done that is not business related.

(3) Making time to fit everything in and still giving myself time to re-energize and renew so I can be everything for everyone. How do you make sure work-at-home doesn't overrun your home!

(4) How do you create boundaries with family so you get things done?

(5) How do I get organized between work and personal things?

I, too have faced all of these challenges, and continue to face them. As a WAHM, I'm not sure the distractions ever go away. But we can learn to manage them so they don't get the best of us.

In 18 years as a work-at-home mom, I have gotten pretty good at managing distractions. I'll admit I still battle them on occasion, but I have found a system that works at minimizing them.

Here are a 4 tips for staying focused amidst all the WAHM distractions.

(1) Schedule your time

As a work-at-home mom with many responsibilities pulling you in different directions, creating a schedule can actually be quite freeing.  Whether you use a day-timer, a standard calendar, or Microsoft Outlook (my personal choice), schedule your days, making sure to allocate time for everything you need to get done.

I schedule work responsibilities such as client coaching calls, writing my ezines, and developing new products right along with my kid's doctor's appointments, free time activities with my kids and exercise time for myself.

By putting it all on the same calendar and assigning a time slot for everything, it helps me NOT take on more than I can actually get done in a day. And there is a tremendous sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when you see all that you have gotten done.

(2) Stick to your schedule

It won't do you any good to create a schedule and then not follow it. I know that sounds like an obvious statement, but it is something you need to be mindful of as a work-at-home mom.

There will always be other duties calling you while you are working, but the key is to stay focused on what you are "supposed" to be doing at any given time, and not allow those other duties to distract you.

If you know you need to do laundry during the week, or you know you're going to want to take your kids to the park or attend one of their sports events, schedule time for it so you know you'll be able to do it.

When you know you have time scheduled to do the things you WANT to do as well as the things you NEED to do, it makes it easier to stay focused.

If your kids try to pull you away from your work during a scheduled work hours, you can very easily let them know that you need to focus on your work right now, but that you have set aside the entire afternoon (or whatever is appropriate) to spend with them, or to take them where they want to go.

(3) Draw boundaries

Being a successful work-at-home mom requires you to draw some boundaries and to stick to them.  It's not always easy, but in my opinion it's much better than the alternative - never being home with your kids.

Having flexibility is one of the greatest benefits of being a WAHM. And, creating and sticking to a schedule is one of the best ways I know how to make the most of that flexibility vs. letting it get the best of you.

(4) Plan Ahead

If you know you want a little more free time over the summer while your kids are out of school, and you don't want your income to suffer, you can easily plan some revenue-generating ideas to cover you.

Plan a summer sale on your products to generate some extra revenue.  This is a great way to stimulate sales and your loyal clients will appreciate it, too.

Create a new program and pre-sell it to generate revenue now. Offer incentives to your clients to pay for the program in advance, or to sign up early. I've done this successfully with "early bird" registration rates for teleclasses, or by offering a discount to clients who pay for their coaching packages in full, in advance.

When you plan these types of activities, you can generate future revenue TODAY that will allow you to take some extra time off and not suffer a dip in your revenue as a result.

In fact, I used this technique this summer and the result was my biggest sales month ever - and I still had time to take several weeks of vacation and enjoy some extra time with my kids.

A little planning can go a long way!

© Copyright 2007 Debbie LaChusa
 

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You can. Just include the following paragraph, including live website links, and email me to let me know where you're using it. Thanks!

Debbie LaChusa feels blessed to be a work at home mom who gets to spend time with her family, do work she loves and earn a great living. She founded 10stepmarketing and 6FigureWorkAtHomeMom to help other working moms do the same. To see a free "Tribute to Work At Home Moms" video and register for free WAHM tips, visit http://www.6FigureWorkAtHomeMom.com.

 

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