Work Life Balance

March 2, 2015 0 Comments

3 Best Tips for Office Stress Relief

If you work in an office, you likely experience stress on a fairly normal basis! Working from home also brings another level of stress, since you have home items and a family to care for as well.
Finding ways to eliminate your worries and find office stress relief is very important to the health of you and your family. When you aren’t feeling well or you’re overwhelmed, it’s tough for you to be positive and helpful to others.

By acknowledging and taking action with the stress in your life, you’ll be better equipped to handle tough situations down the line. Take care of yourself with these tips for stress management in the office:

Natural Relief

There are a number of new, natural remedies for stress without the side effects or jitters. Bach’s Rescue Remedy comes in a dropper or in lozenge form, and it’s a homeopathic stress and anxiety remedy. This all-natural solution is become very popular, and many people report excellent benefits from using these remedies when stress hits. Another useful tool is to diffuse essential oils or something that smells pleasant, such as lavender, known for its calming properties . Chamomile tea is also very calming for the body and mind, and it’s a great way to boost energy midday.

Get Moving

Exercise has natural stress-reducing benefits that go well beyond the calorie burn. When you work from home, some good ideas would be to sit or do crunches on an exercise ball, use a mini trampoline for breaks, or take a brief walk around the neighborhood. Another great idea is to do some stretches, as this relaxes the body on a deep level. If you’re feeling extra stressed and serious, dance it out! Dancing is a fun way to release tension, and when you’re in the privacy of your own home, you can truly dance like no one is watching.

Schedule It

Schedule a massage for yourself! If you don’t like massages, schedule another treatment or treat that will allow you to relax. Although it can be tough to get out of the office during the week, be sure that you’re giving yourself enough care and attention. When stress hits, we often cater to ourselves last to get it all done, but if you’re not happy or well, this isn’t ultimately helpful to others. Be kind and gentle to yourself – schedule something fun or relaxing every so often to keep yourself balanced and on the right track.

Check out these other great articles about stress relief as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

(Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

Written by Guest Blogger

December 22, 2014 0 Comments

5 Ways to Stay Healthy in a Home-Based Job

When you accept a home-based job position, you might envision days of work mixed with lots of movement and exercise. Imagine your surprise when the clock hits 5:00PM each day and you’ve barely moved! This is a common plague among home-based workers, and it’s something that can truly affect your health in the long term.

There are numerous recent studies proving how sitting is bad for our health, and when you work from home, you’re likely logging long hours on your computer. This isn’t really avoidable, but utilizing healthy tips and habits is a great way to ensure that you stay healthy when working from home.

When you’re making your 2015 resolutions, be sure to include these work at home exercises and tips to stay happy and healthy!

1) Stay active throughout the day: It doesn’t have to be anything excessive! Get up and walk around your house or neighborhood, stretch, lift light weights, or run in place for a few minutes. Do this approximately once per hour, and you’ll find that these little bursts are not only good for your body, but good for your mind.

2) Drink water: Working from home has its benefits here! Staying hydrated is key to health – you will avoid overeating and keep your energy high. Set an alarm on your phone or computer to remind you to drink water every hour.

3) Schedule your workouts: Whether you want to work out in the morning or the evening, working from home makes scheduling your workouts much easier. But you still have to do them! Schedule your workouts just as you would schedule a meeting or appointment. Write it down and stick to your plan.

4) Choose the right foods: If you’re used to having junk food around the house, do your best to stop buying it once you start working from home. If it’s in the house, it’s tough to avoid! At the very least, keep tempting foods out of view. Put healthy snacks such as fruit, trail mix, or protein bars out in a bowl, so you’re more likely to reach for them when you need a snack.

5) Take breaks: Mental health is just as important as physical health. It’s great to be productive, but not at the expense of your health. This will only lead you to feeling frazzled and burnt out – not a good combination. Take small breaks throughout the day to step away from the computer, get some fresh air, and relax your mind.
Incorporate these work at home exercises and tips into your daily schedule and start the new year out right.

Check out these other great articles about staying healthy as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

(Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Written by Guest Blogger

December 3, 2014 0 Comments

A Trio of Skills Teens Can Teach Themselves

As a work-at-home mom, you figuratively have your feet in two different worlds. Although you certainly stay busy with work and projects in your home office, you also understand the life of a homemaker. While you probably have enjoyed having a flexible schedule that has allowed you to do things like volunteer in your kids’ schools and work around them at least part of the time, you also recognize that your kids are now teenagers, and it’s time to cut the proverbial apron strings a bit. But where do you find these life skills for teens?

Fear not, thanks to the power of the Internet, it is more than possible to encourage your teens to take the reins and teach themselves some needed skills. In addition to showing them the value of self-reliance and independence, encouraging your teens to learn things on their own will also teach them that they don’t always need mom to lead them through every new experience. Consider the following skills that teens can handle on their own — at least part of the time:

Basic Cleaning

Although it might be hard to fathom, your teens will someday be on their own. To help prepare them for life in their future apartments — and frankly, to take some of the housecleaning burdens off of you now — it’s a great idea to teach teens to handle some basic cleaning duties. Teenagers are notorious for thinking magical elves come in and clean the bathrooms and floors. They are definitely old enough to learn how to handle a dustpan, broom and container of Clorox wipes. While you are busy working on a project for an important client, ask your teen to spend some time on the Everyday Cleaning Tips website. The site offers easy-to-follow instructions and advice on how to clean just about everything in the home. Ask your teen to use the site to learn how to transform the soap-scum-covered tub into one that sparkles, or to properly scrub a toilet.

Driving Test Prep

If you have a teen who is chomping at the bit to get his or her driver’s permit, you probably have picked up the booklet from your local Motor Vehicles Division. But while it can be fun for you to quiz your kiddo on the sample questions in the book, your teen can also do a lot of the studying on his or her own. Driving-Tests.org is a terrific and useful website that is great for teens who need to study for their driving exam; the site includes sample tests from all 50 states, as well as encouraging success stories.

Cooking Skills for Beginners

If your teen is constantly interrupting your work by calling out “Mom! I’m starving!” it’s time you show your teen how to teach him or herself some basic cooking skills. Fortunately, there are plenty of websites that offer cooking classes for beginners — and some of them even offer free courses that are ideal for teens. Smart Kitchen features a variety of terrific online cooking classes that will help your teen get more comfortable in the kitchen. Once he or she has mastered some basic skills, you can encourage your hungry teen to use cookbooks and websites to find easy-to-fix meals and snacks.

These are only a few of the life skills for teens you’ll find when you peruse the Internet. How-to videos and tutorials are there for the taking.

Check out these other great articles about tips for mom as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

Written by Guest Blogger

October 27, 2014 0 Comments

Maintain Your Home-Based Business & Your Sanity During the Holidays

As a mom and home-based business owner, you probably feel like one of those circus performers who can keep a dozen plates spinning on sticks all at once. It can be challenging from day to day, but most of the time you are pretty good at keeping your plates in the air. However, add the upcoming holiday season to the mix—which, of course, includes shopping, decorating, incoming guests and kids bouncing off the walls with anticipation—and it might seem like those carefully balanced plates will all come crashing down.

Fortunately, we have some work life balance tips to help. With some planning and preparation, you can make it to 2015 without losing your business or your sanity.

Adjust Your Schedule and Your Expectations

Accept the fact that your usual schedule will be disrupted for awhile. Once you’ve accepted this, look for pockets of time during the day and night to fit in shorter spurts of work. For example, if your kids are watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” for the thousandth time and dinner’s in the oven, head to your computer and knock out some emails or invoices. If you are an early bird, set your alarm an hour or so earlier and try to crank out some work before the kids and company get up. If you are more of a night owl, work a little after the kids go to sleep to catch up on some of your projects.

Prioritize and Push Back

Schedule some specific times and activities with your family and guests during the holiday season, and post the calendar in a place where everyone can see it. Whenever possible, schedule things to do during the times when you wouldn’t normally be working anyway—that way, you won’t feel as stressed out about missing work time, and you can really focus on your kids. You could swing by your local coffee shop for hot cocoas to go, and then drive around your neighborhood looking at lights.

Also, try to push back at least some of your work and deadlines into January. Chances are good that many of your clients are also trying to juggle their lives and the holiday season, so depending on what type of at-home work you do, it may be possible to reschedule at least some of it until early 2015.

Shop Online

If your to-do list is already three pages long, you might wonder how you’ll find time to get to the mall to shop. You don’t have to fight the crowds and parking lots to get toys and gifts for everyone on your “Nice” list. Pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, put on your comfy flannel jammies, and when the kids are asleep, take care of your holiday shopping online. Walmart always has some great Black Friday deals and it seems like every online retailer offers shipping deals this time of year. If you are planning on sending out holiday cards, you can also upload photos to sites like Snapfish or Shutterfly and order them from there.

With these work life balance tips, you will be able to skate through the holidays having a fun and relaxing time with your family.

Check out these other great articles about productivity / time management as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

Written by Guest Blogger

February 13, 2014 0 Comments

Is a Home Business Good for Your Marriage?

Candid Couples Give Relationship Advice on the Effects of a Home Business on their Marriage: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

There are many things to consider when starting a home business. What type of home business will you start? What equipment, inventory or supplies will you need? Who will your potential customers and clients be? Who will be your primary competition?

However, one question few women tend to think about is, “Will my home business be good for my marriage?”

The answer depends on you and your approach to home business. You can count on your home business changing your life to some extent. It will add additional duties to your day, leave you with less time and may change your priorities. But does that mean it will be negative for your marriage? Or can it actually be good for your marriage? We asked some seasoned home-based working moms to give us their relationship advice and got some surprising answers.

“My home business has had a very positive effect on my marriage. When my husband arrives home from work I can’t wait to share some of the successes of the day. Also, I can contribute so much more to the family income. That takes an enormous pressure off of us,” Diana Ennen, Owner of VirtualWordPublishing.com shares.

Laurie Hurley of HomeTutoringBusiness.com adds, “We are more in tune with each other now that I work from home. It has been very good for our marriage.”

Another home business owner shared that it has actually brought them closer together as a family. “We bounce business ideas off of each other and everyone, including our three children, feels like it’s their business as well,” Julie Held, Owner of Stuff A Friend, added.

However, along with the positive, there are some negative ways a home business can impact your marriage. A very common mistake many people make is putting their marriage on autopilot when they start a home business. Some may wrongly believe their marriages are strong, secure and don’t need regular attention. The truth is no matter the stage, marriages need nurturing, affection and attention.

“I allowed my business to take over my life, and I neglected my family and my home. My husband was very patient through it all, and that made me really wake up. Now I make sure that I am connecting in a meaningful way to my husband and kids every day,” Darlene Hull, Owner of Mom-Defrazzler.com shares.

Another member shares how her home business saved her marriage. “We were on divorce road when I started my home business. Now we are conscious of where we need to improve because of things we’ve learned through my business self-development programs. I think we are happier now than when we first married,” Jhanna Dawson, owner of HighDesertBandB.com, adds.

So how can you ensure a happy marriage and a successful home business? We asked some members of HomeBasedWorkingMoms.com for their suggestions. Here are their tips:

Nurture your relationship and plan quality time and regular date nights with your spouse.
Have the same goals for your family, your marriage and your future together. And never let your spouse feel he is second behind the business. Jan Van Blarcum, CreativeTutors.com
Set specific hours to work and be diligent about keeping those boundaries in tact. Darlene Hull, Mom-Defrazzler.com
Prioritize family time and coordinate activities with your spouse on a family calendar. Jhanna Dawson, HighDesertBandB.com
Outsource when needed. Hire a house cleaner, nanny or an assistant. We put our family first and remember to keep our priorities: God, spouse, family and work in proper order. Jodi Stott, Isagenix
Talk about everything and discuss your options. Julie Held, Stuff A Friend
Look to the Lord when you don’t see eye to eye. Holly R. Boyd, A1Organizing.com
In business, learn to say no and mean it. In your personal life, learn to say yes and mean it. Candy Beauchamp, OffAssist.com
When you are with your spouse or kids, be 100% with them. When you are working, focus 100% on your work. Lisa Druxman, StrollerStrides.com

Regardless of what stage your home business is in, sit down with your spouse to discuss these bits of relationship advice and other pertinent topics. It could help you avoid significant conflicts in the future. And who knows, maybe your home business will help make your marriage even stronger too.

Lesley Pyle is the founder and president of HBWM.com Inc. which includes the national association of Home-Based Working Moms helping moms network, learn and grow in their role as a Home-Based Working Mom and HireMyMom.com connecting at-home Mom Professionals with home-based jobs and projects in virtually every career field. Pyle has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Home Office Computing, and many others. Twitter @lesleypyle and @hiremymom

Check out these other great articles about tips for moms as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

Written by Guest Blogger

February 5, 2014 0 Comments

To Stress or Not to Stress?

Today it seems that no matter who we are or what we do, we have more stress in our lives than our parents or grandparents did. How to relieve stress often alludes us. In order to relieve this stress, it is good to understand what leads to stress.

There are many factors and demands that cause stress in our lives: things such as demanding careers, relationship conflicts, financial worries, health concerns, parenting challenges, legal issues, fear of the unknown and so many others. If that were not enough, the stress and worries these situations cause further diminish our ability to function well and to be healthy. In fact, stress can cause depression, fatigue, irritability, withdrawal, insomnia, appetite changes, headaches, lower sex drive and many other ailments and diseases. Some studies suggest that as much as 80% of all major illnesses are attributed to stress. Take note of that again — as much as 80% of all major illnesses are attributed to stress! It is quite obvious — stress is NOT good for us, and we are wise to get rid of as much of it as possible.

So how DO you relieve stress? First, do you know what things in your life are causing you stress? Think about it and write down those things. Next, go through your list and write possible solutions and ways to ease stress for each of those stress causers. Then, make a plan to do those things. That plan may look like a daily reminder that you read, post-it notes on your computer or a daily quiet time of prayer.

For those stress items that we cannot remove from our lives and for the unexpected stress that creeps into our lives, try these tips:

When you feel tense or stress, stop what you are doing, close your eyes and take several deep breaths. Inhale slowly counting to 10 and exhale slowly counting to 10. Try to do this at least three times. You may need to do this several times a day.
Start an exercise program. You may be amazed how much stress is relieved when you exercise. The endorphins that are released can reduce your stress, improve your mood and give you an energy boost.
Play relaxing music or soothing sounds that calm and relax you.
Plan a day off or at least plan some time just for yourself and do whatever is relaxing to you: sleep in, lay in a hammock, have coffee with a friend, take a bubble bath, have a glass of champagne, go for a hike, get a manicure or read a book
Count your blessings. Record things you are happy and thankful about. Read them daily and add to your list as you recognize new blessings and things to be thankful for. The goal is to have a longer “thankful” list than “stress” list. Focus on the positive and remind yourself of the positive things in your life often.
Simplify your life. Are there unnecessary things in your life that you could remove? Are you over-extended or over-committed? Are there things in your life that you can outsource to simplify your life? Are your children in more than one extra-curricular activity? Is that adding more stress than is worth it?
Find more joy. Are there things that can truly add joy to your life? What are they? Are you focusing too much on work or negative things in your life? Are you taking time to stop and enjoy your life, your family, and your children?

Use any or all of these tips to relieve your stress. Make today the day for new beginnings and for removing as much stress from your life as possible. Find joy. Make joy.

Check out these other great articles about stress relief as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

Written by Guest Blogger

November 25, 2013 0 Comments

Take Your Work-at-Home Productivity to New Levels

Have you ever asked yourself? “How productive am I? Am I using my time wisely to get the most accomplished in the time I am working? Where is my time going?” All these questions deal with work-at-home productivity.

Working at home is often seen as a luxury to many moms. It is the best of both worlds. You still get to work and earn an income but you do not have to sacrifice your family time to do it. Many moms have made the transition, and many more are in the process of making the transition. The downfall is that many inexperienced business moms lose of a lot of time, money and energy in the process due to inefficiency and inexperience.

Causes for Loss of Productivity

Unprepared for the journey ahead of them, the following daily occurrences often cause a loss in productivity while working from home:

Personal phone calls,
Emails coming in,
Children and infant responsibilities interrupting schedules,
Neighbors knocking on the door,
Fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mentality,
Lack of organization and planning,
Unfinished household chores creating an eyesore to your peripheral vision, and much, much, more.

I believe my success, like other thriving home-based working moms, lies in mastering my own System. If you don’t have a structured system laying the foundation of your at home business; your productivity and profitability are at stake.

Ask yourself:

What systems do I have in place to organize my business and personal life?
What daily routines do I need to ensure are done?
Do I have reliable child care arrangements?
Do I have any weekly assignments, tasks or chores that I need to plan for?
What are my monthly to-dos and when should I schedule them?

How to Be Productive at Home

Setting your system can be as easy as:

Checking emails only twice a day, or during particular hours of each day.
Allowing voicemail to pick up your personal calls and kindly asking your neighbors to come back when you are finished with your work day,
Setting a work schedule and working solely on your business while your children are tended to and not on household chores.
Picking one day a week for laundry and ironing, or running business errands out of the house.
Taking advantage of weekday shopping while traffic and crowds are at a minimum.
Sending monthly invoices and accounts payables on one particular date each month.
Establishing an annual calendar based on your anniversary date, to review and report your progress, and find ways to improve your weak areas.

While working at home does give you lots of flexibility, you do still have to know your limitations and when to simply say “no”. Let go of the guilt and know that you cannot possibly do everything. Whether you need to hire a housekeeper, order take out or say no to a volunteer request, know that you are doing what’s best for you and your family but not overextending yourself and putting unnecessary burdens and expectations on yourself.

Create Necessary Boundaries and Stick to Them

Remember: profitability is only one sign of your business success.

Success lies more in your work-at-home productivity, because it ensures all your roles as a home-based working mom are met.

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Check out these other great articles about productivity / time management as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

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