MCB’s Weekly Ezine
September 9, 2009
In this issue:
- MCB Show: Moved to a new day!
- Personal Development: Taking the Madness out of your Morning
- The Business Buzz: Quick Tips for Home Office Organization
- From the Domestic Goddess: Get a Handle on Your Clutter
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MCB Show
Just a reminder that Mom’s Coffee Break has moved from Wednesday night to Thursday night at 8pm cst/9pm est! We are also now broadcasting the show from the Mom’s Coffee Break Blog Talk Radio page!
Please tune in to the show on Blog Talk Radio ~ http://blogtalkradio.com/momscoffeebreak, Thursday Nights @ 8pm cst / 9pm est and listen LIVE!
Don’t forget to join the chat room and let us know what you think!!
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Personal Development with Coach Tonya: Taking the Madness out of your Morning
Mornings can be crazy, especially for working parents and their busy families. With everyone rushing around, trying to find what they need trying to get out the door. That kind of morning madness can start anyone’s day off on the wrong foot.
Stop chaotic mornings and send everyone off to school and work with a smile!
Here are some tips to help you start the day off right:
- Set a bedtime for your kids and you that allows for enough sleep. One of the biggest challenge is trying to go through your day when you didn’t get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can affect your focus, mood, and your attitude.
- Create a bedtime routine that includes prepping for the morning. Designate an area in your home where everyone can set their backpacks and briefcases, sweaters, gym clothes, school books, etc. and before each person goes to sleep make sure that everyone gathers up what they need for the next day and puts in the designated spots. This will cut down on the time spent searching for items in the morning. You can also set the table and prep for breakfast - it’s important for everyone to start their day off with a good breakfast - make scrambled eggs the night before and the microwave them in the working with a piece of toast. Have everyone pick out what they are going to where the next day, this will cut down on the “what to wear” dilemma. If you incorporate these few extra steps into the night routine, you will be amazed at how much smoother your morning can be.
- Set a reasonable wake up time. One of the biggest factors in morning stress is not having enough time, so it is important that you choose a wake up time that gives you enough time to get ready for the day, eat breakfast and still have plenty of time to avoid rushing around. AVOID HITTING SNOOZE! Make the commitment to stick to your bedtime and wake up time! Don’t forget to factor in 15-30 minutes for some quiet reflection/prayer/meditation time to get geared up for your day on a positive note.
- Review the schedule for the day with everyone. Take time to review the schedule for the day with your family. This will help everyone know what to expect for the day and to be in the right place at the right time.
I hope these tips help you and your family start the day off on a positive and productive note!!
Tonya Ramsey
http://LifeByDesignEnterprises.com
Helping you build the foundation to your success!
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Business Buzz with Jody: Quick Tips for Home Office Organization
With summer just about over many ‘home entrepeneurs’ are now focusing on business for the fall, so here are some of my best tips to get your summer out of your head and how to Juice up your Fall!
Now is the time to take ACTION!
Here are a few ideas that YOU can incorporate right now to help organize your home office!
Tip#1 Organize or decide where your workspace is going to be!
I find many WAHM’s don’t have access to ‘their own space’, so if at all possible set aside the computer desk, a spare room, or even make space in a well lit area! (I personally do not like working in a cramped part of the basement and find that a well lit, natural sun spot gets my own creative ideas rolling much more better!)
Tip#2 Once you have established where your “Space” is going to be spend 15 min’s per day Getting it into a “Creative Zone”
This can be ‘de-cluttering’ or ‘beautifying’ your area! A nice plant, a few pictures, or best yet…this is where you will put your “Dream/Vision Board”
Tip#3 Make your Dream/Vision Board
If you haven’t already done one, I highly recommend this for any Home Business! You need to have handy a board that you can look at for at least 2-5 min’s before you start doing any work to “Remind” yourself of your “Why”.
I also love to have mine right beside my computer so that when I’m doing my writing I know exactly WHO my audience is that I’m attracting to me every day!
Tip#4 Have a Great Calendar on your desk!
This is one of my fav tips! I like to have a big monthly calendar right at my space.
I jot down phone numbers, my conference call schedule, set my ‘work hours’.
For those of you in a Home Party Plan Business you might want to put the days that you are doing your shows so that your family will know your schedule, and don’t forget to schedule in your ‘training time’.
Tip#5 Run your business like a Business to get paid like a Business!
If you could put your business on speed-dial to 2-3 yrs down the road and “Saw Yourself” making huge amounts of money…what would your office hours look like? Where would your children be?
I think one of the biggest obstacles holding alot of WAHM’s back is the fact that they just don’t know what to do with their children while they are ‘working’….so no set ‘working schedule’ gets put into practice.
The best tip that I can give you (especially having at least one child at home for the last 17 yrs while running a significant 6 digit business) is make sure the children know that now is “mommy’s work time”.
Arrange with them that they can quietly watch a movie, or play in their room for about a 30 minute time period. Don’t budge on this….& don’t constantly tell them that ‘mommy is working, or mommy is on the phone’ is just setting yourself up for interruptions!
I found that if I had a consistent daily time of 30 min’s to make calls, write, read etc…that the kids got used to this being my Work Time. Then immediately after my 30 min’s I make sure to do a ‘planned activity’ with the kids! (BTW I do not consider Facebook and Twitter activities into this 30 min’s…sorry girls!)
Consistency is the key here, and I found that I accomplished more in a concentrated half hour than most people do in three days!
Even if I had no calls to make, I use this time to write, answer emails, or read something that I can learn to move my business forward!
This is your “Daily Action Time” and is Essential to move forward and make your business Pay you like a Business!
So these are my top Five Quick Tips for Home Office Organization that I know will help move Your business forward to a more productive Fall!
In closing, I’d also like to say that when you & your family know that you are taking your business seriously you can move that 30 min’s into longer periods as well.
For example, I now host several ‘one hour’ radio programs, have ‘one hour’ business development TeleSeminar’s and ‘one hour MasterMind groups’ that my family (spouse and children both) know is BIZ time!
To your Fabulous Fall!
Jody Maley
www.DesignedforDivineDestinations.com
“It’s not just about the Destination, it’s the Journey to Get There!”
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The Domestic Goddess Corner: Get a Handle on Your Clutter
Everyone has issues with organizing. We all wish some part of our lives were more in order, whether it be our households, calendars, vehicles, etc. Noone can escape this problem, disorganization is not prejudiced.
So here are some hints and tips to everyone get started and, hopefully, achieve greater organization skills.
The first step is to CLEAN. If you haven’t used something, worn something or even looked at something for 6 months to a year (pick an amount of time that works best for you), then get rid of it. Donate items to a charity, have a garage sale, or throw useless items away. Clean and declutter one room at a time. Put all items that need to go to another room in a pile or seperate baskets. When I did this I used laundry baskets, one for each room. Then when that room is clean, move on to the next room. Do not empty out baskets (or whatever system you used) until each room is clean. This will take some time but worth it in the end.
After the cleaning step is finished, make a list of the areas that are disorganized. Your desk, bathroom, whatever areas you want more organized. If you don’t have a place for a specific item or task, make one. The kitchen table does not count. For example, your kitchen counter has a mountainous pile of mail. My first suggestion is to go through your mail when you first bring it in the house. Keep what needs to be kept and recycle the rest. Designate a drawer, file, etc. for mail. I have a designated folder in my filing cabinet for my bills.
I love the discount stores Family Dollar and Dollar General. You can buy all kinds of neat stuff very inexpensively. These stores have tons of stuff to help keep you organized. I highly advise investing in some kind of storage system. Rubber totes, rubbermaid drawers, file hangers you hang on the wall (by your desk, for example) are all great tools for organization. Use the space you have for storage. Under your bed, in the closet, shelves in your pantry; wherever you have space. If you have a limited amount of space, obviously you need to prioritize what you need to keep and what you need to throw away. Less space = less stuff. When you finish a room, cross that room off. If you are a “list person” like I am, you can write on your list all the specific tasks that you want to get done under each room heading. Cross off each task as you finish, this will also help to keep you on track.
I hope this helps all of you get a handle on your clutter.
Mandy Sly, The Domestic Goddess
http://embraceyourdomesticgoddess.com
“The quality of our life should not depend on the quantity of our possessions”
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~ Mom’s Coffee Break ~
Helping working mothers not just survive, but thrive!
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