So you are interested in starting a new online business? But you already work a regular job and it seems like you never have enough time right? This is a dilemma that is faced by most people. They lack the time to research or make the effort to start working on their new idea. Some people just lack an idea; others have a good idea but lack the time to implement it. So how do you overcome the time obstacle?
Believe it or not creativity is really the essence of entrepreneurship. Some people are naturally creative and some others have to be taught or teach themselves. If you are motivated, you can train yourself as well as get some help. Generally some good direction or coaching goes a long way in overcoming this obstacle. There are a few jobs out there that naturally lend themselves to a lot of time while working. The field of security comes to mind. Some security jobs are very very boring with long periods of monitoring something or watching property. Many of these positions are at night when there is not a lot going on. It would be tempting to watch TV or read a book to ?kill? the time till you're off work. Using this time effectively is the key to being creative in the long run. You can sort of multi-task your job for the motivation for your new career. (Even though multitasking is not the ?in? thing anymore) Another job is one that takes you away on a frequent basis for travel. If you have an overnight, you are setup perfectly to begin doing the research and setting up your new venture. Again instead of watching TV or lying around, you can utilize the time to get things going.
One of my personal favorite techniques for time is to install the website software that I prefer to use on my laptop. I then become a mobile workstation and can take every file that I need and write my website pages while I am enroute to and from the job. If I am traveling overnight, this becomes bonus time in which I set up the website. Of course there is always nights and weekends which can be challenging if you have a family. Another technique I use is by forcing myself to get up an hour earlier in the morning. This extra hour I devote to making some things happen. It may be hard in the beginning but you will find that after a while you will build the habits that you will come to rely on when you eventually call upon your business to support you financially.
Another great way to prepare business model and to speed up the research is to make sure you do a lot of reading in the field that you are interested in going into. You will gain some significant time examples and learn from other peoples mistakes at the same time. You will be amazed at how easily it will be to steal and hour here and there if you are motivated. Having some good tools and concepts to get you started makes it easier.
The single most challenging thing for mom-preneurs is the fact that there really are only 24 hours in a day. If we didn't have to sleep we would all get so much more accomplished, wouldn't we? But the fact is we do need sleep. I know I need MY sleep. How do mothers "do it all"? I have learned over the years, that there is no way to do it all, but there are ways to fit in the things that are more important for you by revising how you approach each day.
There are many things I do on a daily basis that help me to find time for my business, but here are three that I think are very important:
1. Get organized
How often do you spend a good hour looking for something that you know is somewhere, but you have no clue where it got put? Didn't you just see it right next to the phone yesterday!
Every week I spend about 15-30 minutes organizing something in my house. I may just put everything back where it belongs, or I might clear out a closet, straighten a drawer in a desk, or clear out clutter from under my child's bed.
The short time that I spend organizing saves me so much time later looking for something that isn't in the right place. For example, when I need to find a transaction statement for a certain bank account from 2005, it would literally take me a matter of minutes. Or if the children are looking for more pencils or glue sticks, I know I will always have some of those in my secret basket.
2. Work efficiently
Learning to work efficiently can be the most important time-saver out there. Someone working on a project while being distracted, unorganized and unfocused could spend 6 hours on the project while that same person working on the same project with zero interruptions, a clear outline of what is to be accomplished and streamlined focus on each task at hand could take 2 hours.
I find I am much more productive if I write down my goals for the day and for the moment that I just sit down to work. I write down what I expect to work on, in what order I am going to work on the tasks and how long I expect each task to take.
It's best to turn off all distractions. Let the machine answer the phone, make sure the kids are busy (or as busy as they can be for their age), turn your ear away from any other distractions besides the kids and your work, and skip the snacks. (Snacking while working can be a huge distraction, believe it or not).
3. Realize that your house doesn't need to be spotless
I used to think that my house had to be spotless and picked up all the time. I spent WAY too much time cleaning everything.
After I had a couple children, I realized that I had even less time to get everything done. There was so much more to do. I had to let something go. My business was too important to me, so I had to find other things that were not going to get done. With 2 young children, I was spending a lot of time cleaning up. I didn't want to hire a maid, so the alternative was to decide that certain things could be cleaned a little less often.
After each child (I now have 3), I found more and more things in the house that didn't need to be cleaned as often as they did before. I have really learned that my children, my self, and my business come before cleaning the house. And just think I STILL have people who come and visit and mention that my house looks great! How clean is your house? Clean enough?
It ultimately comes down to the fact that people make time for what they feel is important to them. If your business is important, then you make the time for it. You give other tasks, projects and distractions a lower priority.
Both Tony Scorch & Kimberly Reddington are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.