Moms (& Dads), This is How to Work Smarter (Not Harder) in the Kitchen

Are you running through groceries at an astonishing rate and finding dirty dishes in your sink every time you turn around? Like many people, I’m surprised by how many meals and snacks are pumping through my kitchen with so many of us home due to COVID 19. Here are our best tips for taming the associated workload.

 

Create and Post a Weekly Menu

If I could only do one thing to ease the cooking and kitchen clean up workload each week, it’s this: Create a weekly menu that covers all meals and snacks and hang it on the refrigerator. Direct your children to the menu when hunger strikes. (Make sure that some of the snacks can easily be grabbed and opened by young kids. For really young kids, include pictures of items they can select and make them easy to reach.) Having a posted menu reduces the discussion around what’s available to eat, eliminating a distraction for you as you work. Frankly, this one action will buy you untold peace of mind and help you reclaim time every day.

If creating a menu sounds like one more task to add to your already full to-do list, help is available through online meal planning services. Several options are available, and they all let you select a week (or more) of meals quickly and easily. They cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so it truly eliminates the scramble that accompanies menu planning and food preparation. You can choose meals based on your health goals, family preferences, and budget. Good options include eMeals, SideChef, Plan to Eat, and Recipe Keeper (my favorite). Once you choose your meals, you can automatically create a shopping list for the meals specified. A few additional tips:

  • Cross things off the menu as people eat them–you may find that the dinner you planned for Wednesday night gets moved to Monday, no problem–swaps are easy as long as you keep track.
  • Leave a blank space on the menu where family members can jot down meal and snack requests to incorporate into your planning.

 

Make it a Family Affair

There are many good reasons to share meal planning and clean up across your family and involve the kids. For starters, it gives you a break during a season that includes a lot of cooking. What’s more, your kids can develop valuable life skills in running a home, managing a budget, and healthy living. There are many ways to delegate responsibilities between family members. For example:

  • Put an older child in charge of generating a weekly menu using the menu planning app you prefer. Set a budget and provide goals to consider while planning. (Bonus if the kid is old enough to go to the store and get the groceries.)
  • Assign a day of responsibility for planning, sourcing, and preparing all food for one day each week to older kids. (For example, Connor owns Monday meals, Lindsay owns Tuesday, etc.)
  • Share duties by meal, with one person responsible for breakfast, lunch, or dinner all week. 
  • Ask younger kids to set the table, clear the dishes, or help prepare salads. 

Finally, create a task-specific cleanup calendar, so everyone shares in the clean-up load. Kitchen clean up goes a lot faster if everyone participates. Assign clean up duties to each family member on a rotating basis and agree on the standard of clean that counts as done. There’s nothing worse than having to call back a reluctant cleaning crew who forgot to wipe down the counters.

 

Master Lunch

Let’s talk about lunch. It’s smack in the middle of the day, and people eat on a rotating schedule with different meetings and classes ending at varying times. Let’s face it, stopping to prepare a meal in the middle of the day is disruptive when you are trying to work. A little planning can go a long way toward making lunch easier for you and more convenient for everyone. Try this:

  • Use school lunch services, if possible. Even if school is not in session, lunch is still available through many school districts. If your school district is offering lunch to-go, consider taking advantage of the service. Check with your school for details. 
  • Think leftovers. When you create your menu each week, plan for leftovers that family members can quickly reheat and eat for lunch. You can even have the cleanup crew package leftovers into single-serving lunch options that can efficiently serve each person when his/her lunch hour rolls around.
  • Go big. Prepare large pots of soups or chili and leave them simmering on the stovetop so people can self-serve when they are ready to eat. 

 

Inject Fun!

Last but not least, try to add some fun to mealtimes. When you cook all the time, it’s easy to fall into a rut making the same things over and over. But, thinking of themes can help bring the fun back to mealtime. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • A week of Tex-Mex cuisine.
  • Italian dinners, including an old school pasta night and lighter options inspired by Italy’s different regions.
  • A retro week focused on popular menu items from decades past, such as meatloaf or Salisbury steak to celebrate the 1950s. Check out old recipe books to find some gems that your family will love.
  • Ask each family member to pick a number, turn to that page in a seldom-used cookbook, and ask the number chooser to prepare the item that appears there.

 

Please Share!

I’d love to hear what’s working for you and how you are managing mealtime. Send me a note with your best meal-time tips.

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5 Awesome Ways for the Exhausted Mom to Save Time and Sanity

Being a parent is a full-time job. For moms, it’s often a full-time job done on top of paid work. Autumn is generally an incredibly busy season with the return to school, sports, and many celebrations. Many moms are extra busy this fall– working, managing family life, caring for kids on limited school schedules, managing distance learning, or reacting to school protocol changes. All of those factors make this a perfect time to pull new tricks out of the bag to make life easier to manage. Technology to the rescue!

Here are our top suggestions for apps every working mom needs. 

 

A Menu Planning app 

What’s for dinner is a question asked every day, in virtually every home across America. An online meal planning service can make it easier to answer while saving you hours a week. 

Several options are available, and they all let you select a week (or more) of meals quickly and easily. They cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so it truly eliminates the scramble that accompanies menu planning and food preparation. You can choose meals based on your health goals, family preferences, and budget. Having a menu for each meal of the week ready to go saves you time, hassle, and money.

Good options include eMeals, SideChef, or Plan to Eat. Once you choose your meals, you can automatically create a shopping list for the meals specified. My personal favorite is Recipe Keeper — it’s an app that lets you add recipes from your collection using the camera on your phone, snap pictures of recipes in magazines, and search their database of recipes. I love that all my recipes are safe, available on every device, easily shared with family members, or social media. Best of all — it creates shopping lists by aisle and one for each store. And, it lets me quickly add ingredients from the recipes to the shopping list, which is a big time saver. 

 

Grocery Delivery or Pick Up

You know that feeling when you are exhausted but realize there’s nothing in the house to eat the next day? With grocery delivery or pick up, this feeling can be a thing of the past. 

Several companies, such as Peapod, Shipt, and Instacart, are ready to make it easier for you to fill your pantry by bringing groceries right to your door. And, many national grocery store chains now offer order pick up based on online orders. Your order is brought out to your car while you wait.

It takes some practice to master the ordering process through the app, so give yourself a grace period to get up to speed. (Pay particular attention to sizes. I once ordered almost a gallon of chocolate syrup.) Once you master the online process, you’ll save a lot of time and hassle. I’ve also found that I purchase many of the same things each week (think milk, eggs, bananas), and those items auto-populate after you buy them several times. That process, along with my menu planning app’s input, reduces the chore of grocery shopping to a quick and easy transaction, freeing up several hours a week. 

I’ve also found a bonus benefit: no impulse purchases. The money I save on unplanned purchases covers any increased costs of service fees or tips. Overall, grocery delivery/pick-up means hours and dollars saved.

 

A Photo Storage and Sharing app

The second half of the year is full of picture-taking opportunities. Between summer fun, park dates, the first day of school, a trip to the pumpkin patch, Halloween, and all the fall holidays, it’s easy to take several hundred photos. For many of us, those adorable photos to sit inside our phones, never to be seen or used again. 

But, several free apps make it easier to document the life you love with online photo storage, automatic memory books, and easy-to-order prints. Options include Shutterfly, Snapfish, and apps from local stores, like Walgreens, that allow for quick, local pick up. 

There are also compelling services like Mixbook, which comes with all sorts of stunning templates and designs that will bring your photos to life and make them easy to adapt for any occasion.

These apps let you keep your photos organized, autogenerate memory books, and order personalized cards and gifts. It’s easy to organize photos or make memory books right from your phone with just a few available minutes, like when you are riding as a passenger or waiting for the orthodontist. You’ll love the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies completing a memory book or ordering a photo mug showing off your family’s recent snaps.

 

Online Planner

Keeping track of every family member’s commitments, meetings, and zoom calls take a lot of organization, time, and commitment. When you organize school, work, sports, and social events in one place, it’s easier to get a sense of your total workload and identify competing commitments early. What’s more, knowing everything due with one glance makes it easier to decide where to funnel your energy.

Several apps exist to help solve this problem. Choose the one that best meets your needs and stage in life. Options include the Google calendar, Apple calendar, Timepage by Moleskine Studio, Planner Pro, Evernote, or Family Wall. These apps let you track commitments, manage to-do lists, take notes, and leverage templates for everyday tasks saving hassle and reducing stress. For me, I love using my Apple calendar to schedule and share events, meetings etc with my family but also including the address, things to bring, notes about the event, access codes and more. It’s all in one place for me or my family to access.  And all of these apps offer the basics of time management and scheduling with slightly different layouts and formats. Browse the options and choose the one that works best for you.

 

A Goal Tracker app

Setting goals is an integral part of the success equation. Tracking progress can help you stay on track, whether your goals are personal, professional, or both. You can find an app that helps you manage health and fitness, self-care, reading, budget, or practically anything you’d like to track. The right one for you depends on your stage in life and your specific goals. Strides, Done, and Fabulous as good options to investigate.

If your kids are school age, you can also look at tracking apps to help you help them. Check out Homework Pal, Pocket Schedule Planner, and the Power Planner for help tracking homework, chores, sleep, and more.

There are millions of apps available to make life easier and more productive. Finding the right ones can make all the difference. I’ve shared my favorites here. Drop me a line sharing the apps you can’t live without.

 

 

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This is How You Work from Home With Kids

When you work at home, carving out quiet time to do professional work is always challenging, especially when your kids are off school for a break or too young to attend school. This issue is now more acute than ever as many school-age children learn from home or attend school on partial schedules due to COVID-19.

Here are some ideas for keeping the kids busy so you can get work done each day.

Consider Child Care

I realize this is easier said than done. There’s often an expense associated with child care. What’s more, bringing new people into your bubble can open up health concerns. But, child care doesn’t have to be a full-time daycare or nanny situation. Several creative options are available for child care, which can be right for you and your kids.

 

Non-Traditional Sources of Child Care

Here are some out-of-the-box ways to find help:

  • Form a pod with another family and take turns on kid duty a few hours each day or every other day, giving each set of adults a chance to work kid-free.
  • Look for a local student who is home from college and could provide a few hours of support each week. Perhaps you can even find an education major who can tutor older children for college credit.
  • Ask a neighbor to consider swapping tasks with you–trading a few hours of child care for a service you’d be happy to provide like shopping, cooking, or organizing.

 

Nanny Sharing 

Consider sharing a nanny if you’d like a more traditional route but don’t need full-time care. Nannies can be very expensive, but sharing one with another family makes it more affordable. Partner with another family (or two) to share one nanny with each of you taking different days/hours. Or, have the nanny take all the kids to alternating houses throughout the week. This type of set up makes it easier to find a professional, full-time nanny without having to shoulder the expense on your own.

If you embark upon this path, here are some tips for success:

  • Agree on a general framework for hours and days at the outset. This type of arrangement works better when everyone is on the same page in terms of schedules. 
  • Be prepared to be flexible. Even the best-laid plans are bound to go awry occasionally, so enter into the arrangement knowing that you may need to make sacrifices based on the other family’s schedule and feel comfortable that they will do the same for you when the need arises.
  • Establish protocols for kid behavior and expectations. For example, will kids do school work with the nanny? What about watching television? Do you expect the nanny to supervise while the kids play or actively engage them in activities? Discussing these topics in advance can ensure a smoother partnership.
  • Make plans to address what you’ll all do if one of you is sick or exposed to COVID-19 and needs to quarantine. It’s best to partner with a family and a nanny who shares your perspective on the associated risk and right mitigation actions until the threat passes.

 

Encourage Your Kids to Play Independently

If child care isn’t in the cards for you, encourage your kids to play independently or with siblings. Many children can play quietly with a bit of guidance. Don’t feel bad about asking your kids to play alone. It’s a chance for them to develop essential skills and learn to be independent. But, be realistic about how long you expect them to play on their own. Here are some ideas:

  • Older babies can play happily in a pack-and-play or a stand-up activity center. 
  • If your kids are young, set up an area where they can quickly reach a few essential toys and play independently while you supervise from a distance.
  • If your kids are older, encourage them to use quiet toys, like puzzles or coloring books, while you work. Ask them to select ones that interest them and set a timer to help them manage the time on their own.
  • Books are a great pastime for kids, those who know how to read, and those just learning to read. Encourage 30 minutes of reading while you power through some emails or return calls.
  • Let older kids play outside in your yard — they will have a ball and come in tired.
  • Consider showing a kid-friendly matinee movie each afternoon, so you have a concrete block of time each day.

Need more ideas for independent playtime, check out this blog that contains 105 activities to keep kids entertained while you work. 

 

Consider Online Resources

Several online resources are available to help keep kids engaged and learning. A quick Google search for online learning will reveal a universe of online options to help your kids learn and grow. For example: 

  • Khan Academy is free and aimed at assisting K-12 students in learning specific subject matter. 
  • ABC Mouse is designed for younger kids and helps build fundamentals.
  • Outschool includes specialty classes that capture kids’ interests with a fun focus. Recent offerings include sharks, Godzilla, and Writers Workshops.

Although many moms feel a twinge of guilt by relying on screens, sometimes it’s the best option for finding the balance in work-at-home life. You can always enlist time monitoring apps like Kidslox and Bark to ensure that a little screen time doesn’t turn into a full-day affair. 

 

Know You Aren’t Alone

The combination of working from home and caring for children can feel like a lonely uphill slog. You aren’t alone, though. Millions of other moms are in the same boat and experiencing the same frustrations and challenges you are. Remember, it is challenging to work at home and keep kids occupied. Struggling is a normal part of the process. But, with some creativity and planning, it’s possible to survive and even thrive through this stage. 

It always helps to hear the stories of others. Join our Community of moms working from home and share your struggles, ideas or best tips for keeping kids busy while you take care of business.

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How to Get a Work at Home Job Without Experience

It can be daunting to look for a job as you begin your career, transition to a new one, or return to work after life as a stay-at-home mom. Finding a legit, work-from-home job under those circumstances can be even more daunting. But, coupling your ambition to find remote work and a few tips can make the road easier. Here are our best tips for creating a game plan and finding online jobs, especially if you don’t have much (or any) professional experience.

 

Get Started

Even if you don’t have experience with a certain type of job or working in general, you still have skills. Taking the time to identify your skill set helps you to clarify the types of jobs that make the most sense for you to pursue.

For optimal success, take some time to really think about your skills. Consider hard and soft skills. For example, hard skills include things like writing or budgeting. Soft skills are generally less quantifiable, but very important — for example, people skills. 

When assessing your skills, don’t forget important mom skills like coaching, time management, conflict management, planning, and budgeting. These types of skills are very important in a number of jobs. Write out a list of your skills and use it to guide your thinking about the type of work you want to do.

 

Think About What You Want

Now, think about your own passion and desires with respect to work. Consider:

  • How do I want my work day to look? For example: Do I want to be on the phone for a good portion of the day or do I prefer head’s down, solitary work?
  • What do I like to do? 
  • What am I really good at?
  • What do people compliment me on?
  • If money was not an object, what would I do?
  • What’s missing from my current routine that I hope to find in a job?
  • Do I prefer being part of a virtual team or working solo?

 

Need Help?

If you aren’t sure what type of work you are interested in, check out the Top 10 Work From Homes Jobs for Moms for inspiration. This list can open you up to new possibilities you may not have considered in the past but could be a great fit for your skills, interests, and abilities. For example, Virtual Assistants are very popular now. They may not have existed when you last looked for work. 

 

Consider Additional Training

As you narrow down the type of job that interests you, take a look at the training and credentials needed to get a job in this field. Online training is available for a number of at-home jobs. Several free training classes are available in the resources section on HireMyMom. Here you can find training on how to start a virtual assistant business, work as a bookkeeper, a social media manager, a content creator, and more. 

 

Create a Resume

Now that you’ve identified your top skills and know the types of jobs you are interested in pursuing, the next step is to draft a base resume. While this can feel daunting, help is available. Check out our Cultivate course and other individual consultations offered.  Also, check out the Resume Tips for Moms Rejoining the Workforce on HireMyMom.com as a starting point. Here, you’ll find tips to help you build your resume.

Next, find a format you like to create your resume. (Several free templates are available online.) Use a resume format that diverts attention from your lack of experience or employment gap. For example, using a functional resume format highlights your skills. This an effective way to demonstrate to employers that, even though you haven’t recently held a job, you still have relevant expertise. This will direct the hiring manager towards the aspects of your resume that more effectively market your talents — such as your skills section or resume objective. 

For additional impact, ask a trusted source who is familiar with your work for a testimonial about working with you and include it. These testimonials can help you stand out from the field of applicants.

 

Tailor Your Resume for Each Opportunity

Tailoring your resume to each position you apply for is one great way to edge out the competition and make your resume stand out. Most job seekers use one resume for everything, so making yours more relevant to each position will help you get noticed and demonstrate to employers that you’re a perfect fit.

Having a base resume makes it easier to tailor your resume for each specific job opportunity. (Tip: Create a naming system for each resume you make so that you can quickly find prior versions to cut and paste new versions of your resume as opportunities come up.) 

 

Build Your Team

Most employers ask for and check references. To make sure you are ready for this step, identify people familiar with your skills and abilities and ask them to serve as potential references. Also, when you know a potential employer is going to call your references, be sure to reach out and let your references know what to expect. Fill them in on the job, the skills they are looking for, and help your reference prepare to make the case for why you are the best fit. (Be sure to thank them and let them know when you get the job!)

 

Create a Plan to Find Opportunities

Good news–you’ve reached the point in the journey when it’s time to officially start the job search. Having a plan will make you more successful. Consider our Cultivate course to help you fast track your work from home career and success

Set aside an hour or so each day to find jobs that interest you, tailor your resume and cover letter and apply. To find jobs that interest you:

  • Sign up as a Mom Professional on HireMyMom so you will have exclusive access to legit, work-from-home opportunities.
  • Research the types of employers that may need your skill set or offer the jobs you hope to land. 
  • Talk to friends, neighbors, and family members who may have leads.

 

Stay positive

As you search for a job, stay positive. Remember, you have a lot to offer. With persistence and flexibility, you’ll find a work-from-home job that helps you thrive.

I’d love to hear about  your successes, struggles and tips along the way. Please share your experiences by dropping me a line

 

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Back-to School Tips to Help Parents Survive and Thrive this Fall

As summer sizzles toward the end and the calendar turns to August, many parents start to think about the start of the school year. Starting school always brings new blessings and opportunities along with new routines and new challenges. With the ongoing pandemic, the start of this school year is different than years past–very different.

With many schools opening virtually or partially, home learning will be a key fixture of the fall term. And, with many offices still closed, more parents will work from home than in years past. This means parents and children all sharing the same work areas for the foreseeable future. While this autumn holds the potential for challenges, it also holds prospects for new blessings and discoveries about ourselves and our children. 

A plan to get through the day-to-day challenges can go a long way to making the situation more successful for you and your family.  After years of working at home, here are our best tips for thriving this fall–including a back-to-school to-do list that will help you prepare for the new learning environment.

 

Communicate Early & Often

This will be a fall like no other. So, the usual back-to-school chores need to be updated to reflect our current circumstances. Before we tackle the list, the first step is a series of frank discussions about how to best manage school and work as a family. These discussions are more valuable if they happen early and often, as communication is the key to success.

 

Plan it Out

The first conversation is adults only. Sit down with your spouse and discuss your likely workloads for the next few weeks. This can (and will) change each week, but having a sense of how much work each of you faces in the near-term is important. 

For example, if your spouse knows that you have a capstone project due in October, it’s easier to make day-to-day plans that allow for success. Likewise, if one of you is less busy right now, it may make sense for that person to serve as the primary parent as school starts. If you are single, map out how your workload looks in the near term to give you a better sense of what’s on the horizon. While it’s impossible to predict everything that may come up, talking about likely scenarios will help you prepare for the weeks and months ahead.

Once you have a good handle on your work obligations, share them with your children. Depending on their age, some kids may not realize that mom and dad have work obligations that must be met. Spelling these out in an age appropriate way is important for setting expectations.

 

Consider School Expectations

Once you have a handle on your own work and that of your spouse, turn to school expectations. Knowing how the school schedule will work and the obligations of each student are important first steps. Many schools are sharing specific objectives for home-learning days. For example, some require a minimum number of contact hours each day or a certain amount of online assignments turned in each week. 

 

Set Family Goals

Armed with knowledge about what the school expects, add your own expectations for the fall, and ask your children what they’d like to achieve. As a family, discuss goals for the fall semester, including personal, school and family goals. For example:

  • Meet all school-issued objectives.
  • Start school work by 8 each morning.
  • Complete school work without being reminded.
  • Do chores in a timely manner.
  • Learn three new skills outside of class work.
  • Limit time on phones, video games and other devices to X hours per day/week. (See section below for more on this.)
  • Set aside designated family time each week.

 

Back-To-School To Do List

Your normal back-to-school to-do list likely includes buying school supplies, finding the right backpack and picking up a back-to-school wardrobe. While some of those tasks may be on hold, here are a few things that can help make the back to school transition easier and more productive under these extraordinary circumstances.

  • Set ground rules for school days. When school was unexpectedly moved online last spring, it took families by surprise. This made it difficult to set ground rules. This fall, having rules in place will help make remote work easier and more productive for everyone. You don’t want to spend a good portion of your work day negotiating screen time with your kids. Decide on your ground rules early and make sure that all family members understand them.

 

  • Establish a policy for use of electronic devices. One area where many parents struggle is with the use of electronic devices. This is tricky on a number of levels. A lot of school work is completed online. But, as many parents found in the spring, a child who is sitting at his computer and looks engaged may be playing video games instead of completing online assignments. In addition, text messages and social media notifications can easily divert the attention of the most well-intentioned students.  Before the first day of school, agree upon rules as to when/how electronic devices can be used. One option is to follow the same rules that your local school uses with respect to phone and technology use. Make sure you, your spouse, and your children are all on the same page for device use during the school day.

 

  • Share your expectations with your family. Based on your family’s goals, outline the expectations you have for your children to get their school work done in a timely manner. Be clear about the work you expect your child to do on his/her own and how and when to ask for help during the work day. Share the specifics of your schedule with your children (based on their age) so they understand when a parent is available for help. Consider a sign for your office door (or back of your computer) that lets your children know if you are available or not.

 

  • Outline a typical day. Routines help make days go more smoothly by adding automaticity. To get into a daily routine more quickly, consider how you’d like a typical school day to look this fall. Maybe you like to rise early and start working during the quiet morning hours. If so, perhaps  you’d like your kids to serve themselves breakfast and read until a certain time. If your kids are older, they may have their own schedule preferences. There’s no right or wrong day. The important thing is to have a shared sense of how the days look. Talking about how typical days might unfold can get you there sooner.

 

  • Divide the house work. Acknowledge the extra work created by having more people in the house each day. Discuss a plan for kitchen clean up, laundry and cooking with an eye toward ways to share the work across the family. Sharing chores can be a wonderful learning opportunity for kids. Consider assigning tasks to lighten the load on everyone.

 

  • Establish feedback channels. Regular family meetings about school work progress and expectations are an important tool for success. Share feedback with your kids and ask them to share feedback with you about how things are going. Prepare to be flexible as you learn what works and what doesn’t. We are all learning as we go and some things are bound to work better than others. Keeping the lines of communication open makes it easier to focus on the positive and correct things that aren’t working.

 

  • Take a Deep Breath. This experience is a foundational life experience for you and your children. As we embark upon a school year like no other, let’s remember we are all learning new things this year. It’s an opportunity for you to get more involved with your child’s education and to watch them learn new skills–like time management–in real time. But learning can be difficult, so extending  extra grace to our kids, our co-workers, our spouses, our teachers, our communities, and ourselves can help us thrive during these times.

 

Drop us a line to share your experiences, ideas, successes and struggles. And if you are seeking work from home options, be sure to check out some of our recent job posts

 

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Top Jobs and Tools for Today’s Virtual Assistant

The year is 2020 and times have sure changed compared to where we were last year. A huge part of the COVID-19 prevention has resulted in the closure of many small to medium sized businesses. For the companies that can continue to operate, they have been able to convert to remotely running their businesses to meet the changing protocols within their cities and states.

The demand for a quality virtual assistant is becoming more of a necessity now, which means great news for VA’s around the world.

In fact, as the world revolutionizes to functioning almost 100% remotely, businesses are recognizing the true value and positive impact a virtual assistant can make on their company’s growth, success and retention rate.

Today, we’re going to cover the top highly sought after virtual assistant jobs as well as the most utilized software pertaining to these roles so that you can take advantage of the many workplace opportunities that are arising.

 

Administrative Assistant

The need for administrative assistance has become increasingly popular especially now when a lot of businesses have been pivoting to accommodate the changes from COVID-19.

Common tasks for administrative assistance include; email and calendar management, scheduling meetings, booking appointments, answering and returning phone calls, initial research and more. If you are interesting in attaining training as a VA, look at some of the training options available here.  

Commons Tools and Apps

Email & Communication

You’ll want to become well versed in the most common communication platforms such as

Email Marketing

You could also be expected to send out emails through software like;

Booking Calendars

It’s also important to learn the most popular Calendar applications such as;

 

Content and Website Maintenance

A virtual assistant can become a huge support for an online business’s website.

Whether you are helping with writing or editing of blog posts or maintaining the overall content of the company site, more and more businesses are leaning on their virtual assistant to help with this time consuming and sometimes highly repetitive task.

Suggested Software Experience:

Website Platforms:

Content Management Software

 

Customer Relations Management


With so many businesses now operating online and e-commerce on a steady incline, the key to customer retention is to stay on top of the customer service department..

Building a really great customer service protocol helps ensure that customers are happy, coming back, and referring others.

If your job as a virtual assistant includes handling aspects of the customer relations department, you’ll probably be responsible for handling customer inquiries and any concerns/issues. Providing solutions quickly and effectively helps deflect any unhappy customers and converts them to happy ones. This leads to positive word of mouth advertising and customer loyalty.

Below is a list of the most common CRM platforms:

 

Project Management

The debate is on for companies right now … do they need a virtual assistant or a virtual project manager? The answer in most cases is both!

Virtual assistants have started to take on many hats in their roles. We’ve already highlighted the three most common roles in points 1-3. 

There’s a difference between a VA’s role to take tasks away from companies and alleviate workloads compared to managing other departments and teams to ensure projects get done. 


Companies are recognizing a synergy between the two so we are seeing an increase in the level of responsibility a virtual assistant can take on. 

If you do find yourself taking on the role of project management, you’ll probably be responsible for tasks like; streamlining projects and timelines into project management software, creating a balance between short and long term goals within the company and ensuring they are met, research and analytics, all while helping each department stay on time, task, and budget.

Most common Project Management Software include:

 

Bookkeeping 

As a virtual assistant, bookkeeping tasks could fall on your plate from time to time or all of the time.

It’s an important skill set to have because let’s face it, everyone needs to be vigilante with their books (including you!!!).

If you’re a VA who will be taking on some accounting tasks, you’ll probably find yourself doing; accounts payable, accounts receivable, data entry, and inventory to name a few. If you are interesting in getting some training as a bookkeeper, look at the training options available here.  

Commonly used accounting software:

Social Media Assistance

In order for any business to succeed, there will be some level of social media marketing involved.

Whether the company you work for uses Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or LinkedIn, as a VA you could be fitted with the task of handling some of the social media management.

There is an overlap especially where your role requires managing areas of customer service. Some tasks you might find yourself doing include; posting content, fielding comments on social media posts, tracking engagement, answering questions in social media messenger apps, and more.

Commonly used Social Media Management Software:


Chances are you’ve worked in some of the software programs we have mentioned. The more experience you have in these platforms, the better. If you are lacking training, be sure to check out the Training & Resources section of HireMyMom for some FREE and some paid training options

Some benefits that you can draw attention to during your interview include; less transitioning and training, faster onboarding, and an overall cost efficiency for your future employer. They also make a great asset to your resume.

At HireMyMom, we have experienced a fluctuation in employers seeking out virtual assistants. The opportunities range from part time to full time which is perfect depending on your availability. Are you a VA currently seeking employment? Start here.

(We also have plenty of resources to help you spruce up your resume, cover letter and more. Check out our tips here.)

 

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Success Story: 12 Years in the Making

It’s always great to hear from people who have used your service over the years. After a recent email sent to our users, I was thrilled to hear from Doug, owner of PrinterShoppe, who hired someone on HireMyMom back in 2008.

Doug shares, “It has been about 12 years since I used your service to hire my first designer for my new business back then. And the FIRST Mom I hired as a Graphic Designer is STILL WITH ME!  Janice was an unemployed Graphic Designer after the print shop she worked in for years closed down.  At that time, Janice had a 4-year-old daughter and wanted to stay home to raise her.  Because of HireMyMom, PrinterShoppe provided her that opportunity. Now her daughter is graduating high school this year!  Janice still works with me and has been such a blessing to me, my business and our 15,000+ clients we have served over the years!”

Janice shares, “Back in 2008 when the print company I worked for 18 years closed its doors, it left me with no job and in an economy in a financial disaster. I was left in a panic, but I knew one thing, I wanted to try and work from home to raise my daughter. That is when I found HireMyMom, and back then there was not an abundance of help to find work from home. So when I came across HireMyMom.com, I was hopeful.  Landing this job in 2008 and working for Doug, has provided me with the precious gift of staying home to raise my daughter and be there for all the special, memorable and even goofy moments. I also am able to take care of my aging parents, and even provide help to my neighbors and community.”

“HireMyMom.com gave me with the opportunity to get my name out there, and a chance to find work from home. I am very thankful for the opportunity, connections, and friendships it has brought me,” said Janice.

Thank you Doug and Janice for sharing your story and the impact HireMyMom has had on you and your business.

If you are looking for a remote job, check out some of our most recent job postings here. And if you are looking for that rock star candidate, please consider posting your job here.

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7 Benefits of Working From Home for Moms

Are you contemplating working from home? Many of us Moms do, in fact, for our HireMyMom members – the contemplation has become a reality!

Most Moms make the decision to work from home because of at least one of the following:

1. To be at home more for their children,

2. To have more freedom and flexibility in their schedule,

3. To be their own boss,

4. To earn money for their family.

 

Working from home can be an amazing experience, but it does require some key qualities:

  • Self discipline,
  • Strong organizational skills,
  • Effective time management,
  • Flexibility,
  • Administrative skills

(If you don’t have a lot of administrative experience, we highly recommend our 31 Day Virtual Assistant training program.)

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF WORKING FROM HOME?

 

  1. Flexibility – when you work from home, you have the ability to work at your own pace, set your own hours as well as the amount of hours you want to work.
  2. Control over your work environment – imagine being able to create your own unique work environment … from the paint on the walls to your office furniture, you can design the work space you want. You can also play whatever music you want, add some refreshing scents, and create a personalized atmosphere for your work environment. 
  3. Wear what you want – whether you want to work in jeans and a t-shirt, your favorite yoga pants, or even your PJ’s, your mornings are a little less stressful and more harmonious when you don’t have to worry about putting on business attire.
  4. Less disruptions and more productivity – other than the kids coming home from school, there can be a lot less distraction when you work from home. You can focus on getting your work done without office chatter and impromptu stop ins to your office.
  5. No commuting – say good-bye to the long drives and getting caught in rush hour traffic. A work from home job requires very little travelling, if at all. With no fuel costs or wear and tear on your car, you are saving both time and money.
  6. You can get chores done on your breaks – you can take a quick break from work to throw a load of laundry in the wash, start the dishwasher, or give the floor a sweep. By the end of the day, there will be less chores to do and more time for you.
  7. More time for your family – when you work from home, you’re there for your family when they need you. You can work your schedule around soccer games, dance practice and doctors appointments quite easily. Because you aren’t commuting, you get off work earlier and start family time as soon as you shut down your computer.

 

More and more companies are starting to recognize the benefits to having work from home employees. The surge in self employment has caused a demand for this type of work, especially in cases where a business is starting to grow, but they can’t afford the costs of hiring internally. 

As technology evolves, there will only be an increased demand for work from home employees, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. 

If you think working from home might be a great fit for you, our Top 10 Work From Home Jobs is worth the read. We cover some of the most in demand jobs based on our postings here at HireMyMom.

If you’re ready to step into a work from home role, you can sign up  on HireMyMom and gain instant access to our database of remote job postings. 

We look forward to seeing you as one of our Success Stories!

 

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HireMyMom Success Story: Melanie Villeda

Tell us a little about you and your experience finding work on HireMyMom.

I was laid off in April and was job searching for months. I joined a women’s business group on Facebook. Someone asked advice about work with flexible hours and HireMyMom.com came highly recommended. I was not very successful in my search and needed help. So I joined HireMyMom and was impressed with the types of jobs posted. I applied to 5 positions over time. In a weeks time, I had 3 interviews scheduled and one job offer!! I highly recommend this site.
I also am a proud mom of 4, 3 of which are teens, 2 furry babies and wife to an extraordinary husband.

What did you do previously?

I started my career in Television Production. For the past ten years I was a Marketing and Public Relations Manager.

What is your top tip for landing a gig on HireMyMom.com?

I recommend visiting the site at least three times a week and not using the filters. Check all the listings available. New jobs are posted daily!

What’s your favorite thing about HireMyMom.com?

The jobs listed are well vetted and quality positions that can’t be found other places on the internet.

What’s one fun or interesting fact about you?

I am a singer and actress. I have been in several shows, operas and musicals. My latest role was of Ms. Andrews in Mary Poppins at the Crighton Historical Theater.
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HireMyMom Success Story: Heather Swain

Tell us a little about you and your experience finding work on HireMyMom.

After a hard season of life, I decided to try and find a job where I can bring in some extra money while still being home with my son and not have to pay the insanely high costs of childcare. I saw an ad for HireMyMom, and I felt drawn to the site. Within my first day using the site I had two interviews scheduled and my first day as a VA is tomorrow!

 

What did you do previously?

Patient Advocacy. I have no previous experience as a Virtual Assistant. I have worked remotely on occasion at other jobs I’ve held, but nothing long term. I truly believe customizing my cover letters to mention how my past experience related specifically to each job I applied for helped me. I applied and also reached out via email to the contact listed on the job posting. The first job I reached out to this way is now my current employer! I fully believe that a customized email or cover letter and providing some information about yourself and your goals was the game changer for me!!

 

What is your top tip for landing a gig on HireMyMom.com?

Personalize your cover letter and always follow up. I think it’s so important because so many websites don’t provide that email contact information, and I believe if you have it, it’s worth reaching out to them to show you’re not only interested but that you’re willing to take charge and take a risk!! It can be scary to reach out to someone you don’t know, but it can come with big rewards as well!

 

What’s your favorite thing about HireMyMom.com?

That the employers are looking for help from women who are looking to better themselves and their families and understand the balancing act we take on as working mothers, especially those of us working from home.

 

What’s one fun or interesting fact about you?

I’m studying to become a certified aromatherapist.

 

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Mom Professionals, please complete this form our Mom Professionals Success Stories.

If you are a Small Business / Employers, please use this form for Small Business Success Stories!

 

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