Top 10 Tips For Work At Home Mothers

1. Establish a routine.
It is imperative to establish a routine for not only yourself, but for your children also. Establishing a routine will allow you to achieve balance between work and home life. If it helps, write out a 'realistic' list of things to do in priority and gradually work your way through it. I do this every day and it helps me get the important things done and I don't forget anything.

2. Take every opportunity.
Take every opportunity to get some work done while the kids are asleep, playing quietly, or at childcare. When the kids are awake and want to play with you, enjoy the time together rather than constantly thinking about what you may have missed or what you think you should be doing.

3. Set out some activities.
When kids get bored they seem to turn to you for entertainment. I constantly found that my son had a lot of trouble just playing quietly on his own. I discovered that if I have some activities set out for him for the day, he seemed happy to have some quiet time to himself. This allowed me to either do some productive work with my business or simply have some quiet time to myself. I suggest that you invest in some great books on activities for children or toddlers such as the ones below.

4. Organize childcare.

I guess the idea of being a 'work-at-home' mother is that you can earn money while looking after your children. Realistically, this would be extremely hard to do if you did not have at least two child free days per week. Imagine if you did look after your children every single day of the week while you worked in your home office. Personally, I don't think that I would be fair on the child. You may as well be working away from home if you are not spending quality time with your children. When the children are at school or childcare they can interact with other children in a positive environment without being cooped up at home all the time with a working parent.

When choosing a quality childcare, you need to be mindful of who the teachers and staff are and whether they are properly certified to look after your children. You also need to check out if they provide nutritious meals, and what their rules for discipline are. You want to feel confident that your children are being cared for in a way that will benefit them and yourself.

5. Multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking will free up some time for you to accomplish business related goals or to play with your children. For instance, you could;

- Fold laundry and talk on the phone.

- Prepare dinner while the kids are watching cartoons or playing.

- Have the dishwasher and washing machine going while you work on the computer.

- Hang out the washing while you are watching the kids play outside.

6. Include your children in your home based business.

If you have young children and they want to be around you when you are working in your home office, you could set up at small desk of their own with a play telephone, some pencils, crayons, and some paper to keep them entertained. They will think that they are helping you with your work and they will be having fun in the process!

7. Make time for your children.

Your children will want to play with you whether you are busy or not. It is important for the both of you to spend quality time together even if it means putting down the phone and turning the computer off for a while. Making time for your children shows them that they are important to you and that you love them. Read them a book, play outside, take them to a park, do some art and craft together! It will do you some good too!

8. Make time for yourself.

If you don't take time out for yourself you will run yourself into exhaustion! If you feel that you need a break, take the opportunity and do something nice for yourself and rest that grey matter of yours.

9. Ask for help.

Don't ever be afraid to ask someone for help. Working from home can be quite a balancing act that can take some time to perfect. Don't feel that you have to do everything at the same time. You could ask for some help with house chores or even helping you out with the business, such as filing, answering business calls, or checking emails. While you are working on the computer or on a business call, ask your partner, a family member or a friend to look after the kids for a bit. I am sure they will not mind at all.  

10. Automate your business as much as possible.



Today's technology allows you to smooth your way to owning a highly successful business. Using automation software is a necessity for every business. This frees up time so that you can work on other business building aspects or spend it with family and friends.



One of the most time consuming tasks is replying to individual emails. By automating your email software to respond to every inquiry immediately, create mailing lists for your newsletters and sending out your Ezine, you will save hours that you can use for other business growing projects. You can learn more about automation software at AWeber.



To improve customer satisfaction and make your life a lot less stressful - Offer a good shopping cart so you can keep track of items your visitors choose to purchase from your site until they are ready to "check out" will assure that your customers are getting exactly what they want.

I personally use Paypal which allows me to accept payments online instantly and they do all of the record keeping for me! Your customers can feel assured that their information will be protected as all payment information is completely processed through Paypal using 128 bits of encryption which is the highest level commercially available.