When you work for yourself, you are your own boss. This is nice. You can take time off when you want. You don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder. You don’t have to ask anyone when you can go to lunch. On the other hand, when you are your own boss, it is on you to stay on task and get your work done. This can be difficult if you are not used to it. Working from home comes with a lot of different distractions. From kids to piles of laundry that need to be done. It is way to use to not make the most of your working hours.
How can you make your work time more productive?
1) Make Lists- This is so important when it comes to working for yourself. You have to have a list of what you plan to get done each and everyday. If you don’t, you will quickly feel overwhelmed with everything. Spend 5 minutes every night making your list for the next day. This is even more important if you have any type of deadline. I have posts I need to write on certain days so I always make sure to put them on my calendar as soon as I get them.
2) See Where Your Money Goes- When it comes to Internet business it is way too easy to sign up for every little course or app. Be careful. It is way too easy to spend too much money each month. If you signed up for a service and want to give it a trial period, put an end date on your calendar. On that date decide if that service is worth keeping or if you should let it go. I have done this with a few different services that I ended up cancelling after a few months. I just wasn’t getting my money’s worth.
3) See Where Your Time Goes- It is so easy to waste time online. You plan to go online to write a blog post and find yourself on Facebook. Just be careful about where you are spending your work hours. Since you work for yourself, you are not going to have to hide what you are doing online from anyone. If you spend too much time messing around, your work will suffer. Too much fun time online will mean a lower paycheck for you when you make money online.
4) Find What Works for YOU!- When you get started in this business you might want to follow what another person has done. This is all well and good but make sure you are finding what works for you. If you have three little kids at home with you during your work time you are not going to be able to do the same thing someone without kids at home might be able to do. Figure out your strengths and weaknesses and find a work method that makes sense for you and your goals and environment.
5) Let It Go- I figured this out pretty quickly. If something I am working on is taking too long, if I can’t get it to work right, if I can’t find what I am looking for…I put it away. I can always go back to it later. I have spent too much time trying to figure out how to change a theme or look up something when I should have just let it go for a while. Move on to something else and go back to what you were doing later. Don’t waste too much time on something you might not be able to figure out. Don’t be afraid to ask for help either. One time my blog went down and I asked on Twitter what was wrong. I got an answer right away and it was easy to fix once I knew what the issue was.
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