For most of us who are already operating our businesses from a home office, this past year of physical distancing and family bubbles, has given us some challenges but not nearly as many as those that had to transition from going to work at their company’s place of business, to finding space to set up a satellite work station at home AWAY from family distractions. Welcome to the world of a SOHO entrepreneur.

Two of the most difficult challenges for anyone working from home are Time Management and the separation of Home & Business Life. A SOHO Entrepreneur is typically not governed by the 9 to 5 / ‘punch the clock’ environment and rightly so – it was a choice to become a business owner. For an employee working from home, there are most likely time constraints on their flexibility however, for both, with any amount of flexibility comes the temptation to say, “I’ll just squeeze that dentist appointment in just before the proposal meeting.”  You’ll do what?

It’s so easy to get ‘disconnected’ from a balanced lifestyle when one or the other is vying for our attention. Getting control of both business and personal areas of our lives requires organization and self-discipline.

Here are a few ‘tasks’ to get started.

Determine where the time is spent.

By using a weekly Task Timer sheet allocated in 15 minute increments, you will be able to determine how much time and where you spend the time on each task whether it’s personal or business related. Record the amount of time spent on each task.

Colour code the tasks

Take a green highlighter and colour code all the business activities and then use a pink highlighter for the personal activities. Is it entirely green with a couple of pink spots? Or is it all pink with the odd green splotch? (sounds like a rare disease!)

Group the Tasks.

Tasks can now be grouped into blocks of time devoted to strictly business or strictly personal. A home office should be treated just like an outside office where personal matters (like laundry and hair appointments) should not interfere with business time.

Now you have the building blocks to create a balanced Task Scheduler that will accommodate your business and personal life.

Simple guidelines to schedule your tasks include:

• Decide how many hours to devote to business.
• On your Task Scheduler, block off business hours to schedule work flow.
• Add personal tasks to the Task Scheduler,  to keep them from interrupting business time.
• Get a separate business line. (Yes, you heard correctly!) An all-purpose cell phone number is NOT professional. You may save a bit on your monthly phone expenses but you’ll ADD to your stress level.
• Do not answer your personal line during business hours. If you have small children or aging parents that require you to be accessible by phone, have call display so that you can screen calls and answer only the emergencies.
• Keep partners and others out of your business space and business time. (they wouldn’t ‘pop in’ for a cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon if you worked in an office would they?)
• Children don’t belong in your office time/space. It’s not fair to them or your business. Set time aside to devote your attention to them – uninterrupted. When you’ve scheduled business time – hire a sitter.
• Leave one day per week entirely free of appointments and paperwork.

The more organized you are, the more effective and profitable your business will be!

Ah, the life of working from home.

Now Go Get  Connected!

An award-winning Leader, Entrepreneur and Business Development Consultant, Cathy teaches entrepreneurs how to let increase their influence; build their business and stay sane while doing it. She helps you to let go of limiting beliefs to “Stand Up, Stand Out & Step Forward” for business success. Named one of the Top Ten Mentors in Canada, Cathy is recognized across Canada for her expertise on “All Things Small Biz”. She is the Founder of The Connected Woman Association, author of numerous books and articles specifically the internationally known “Daily Espressos- Your Read it and Delete it Kickstart to Your Day”, and is a networking maven. (whew!)  

For information on upcoming workshops, business coaching or to engage Cathy as a Keynote speaker at your next event, visit www.cathykuzel.com 

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