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November 29, 2021

Seven Tips to Make Your Holidays Merry and Bright When You Work From Home

The holidays are right around the corner. Regardless of which holidays you celebrate, the end of the year is full of merriment and fun. As a mom or a small business owner, creating that magic often falls to you. That can mean hectic schedules, straining to-do lists, and little time to rest. And, unlike other holidays that come and go in a day or so, the holiday season lasts weeks–stretching from Thanksgiving to New Years Day. So, having a plan to thrive through it is essential–especially when you work from home.

When you work at home, the holidays can feel extra tricky because you’ve now added “making holiday magic” to the list of things to do in the same place where you live and work.

The HireMyMom team knows this feeling well and has developed strategies over the years to make the season easier. Here are our best holiday tips to help you feel festive, get everything done, and keep all the balls in the air as you work and make holiday magic all from home.

 

Just like Santa, make a list

Early in the holiday season, map out all the things you want to do before you hear your last sleigh bell for the year. Include activities that you must do and things that you’d like to do in two different columns. As you make your list, talk with your family about what matters to them this season–the places they’d like to go, the traditions that are most important to them, and the activities that feel essential.

Having this roadmap will make it easier to allocate your time along the way and help ensure that you don’t leave anything undone. Knowing what you want to do vs. need to do can help reduce the frantic feeling that often comes as the holiday inches closer. And, having a clear view of these things makes it easier to manage your calendar.

 

Shop early

Many Christmas carols romanticize the idea of stepping out on Christmas Eve morning to complete all Christmas shopping amid the hustle and bustle of festive shoppers. Clearly, these composers have never actually done this because Christmas shopping at the last minute is crazy town.

If you are shopping for holiday gifts this year, start early. The news is full of reports of shortages and shipping delays. Experts generally advise buying things as you see them. That advice matches our collective holiday experience as well. Waiting until the last minute adds to stress even in a typical year. As Christmas gets closer, the stores get more crowded, and you’ll feel more desperate. Shop early to avoid feeling the pinch that comes with having the shop at the end. 

Also, for many businesses, Christmas Eve is a workday. With all your holiday prep complete, Christmas Eve morning can be an amazing day to get work done and let you sail into the holiday with a sense of serenity that you’ve expertly prepared for the holiday and knocked through a good portion of your work punch list.

 

Consider holiday break child care

Most schools and daycares will close for at least a portion of the holiday season, with public schools closing for about two weeks between Christmas and New Years Day. Plan for this time now. Look at your work obligations and see if you can take time off. If the answer is no, line up backup child care. 

One of the many great things about the winter holiday season is that college students and older high school students are generally home and available to babysit. Take advantage of this season of plenty when it comes to childcare options. 

Also, don’t feel bad if you need to arrange childcare to work on holiday chores or take some time for yourself during the season. It’s a hectic time of year, and having extra hands to carry the load will make the season more manageable and fun.

 

Re-think your schedule

As an experienced work-from-home professional, you likely have a routine that you follow each day. When the holidays arrive, you may need to be flexible with your days. Get ahead of this by doing some pre-planning.

For example, consider how you can tweak your workflow during the day to accommodate a noontime run to the store for some quick gift shopping. If you are hosting and need to work while you have guests, think about how you can flex your workday so that you can still visit. Look to early mornings and evenings, depending on your biorhythms and schedule.

 

Plan to cut a few corners

Holiday celebrations can come with a lot of pressure. It’s easy to find yourself doing things you don’t value or enjoy because it seems like you should do those things. But, your time is precious, and there’s no prize in January for enduring holiday tasks.

We find it easier to let some things go if we plan to cut a few corners in advance. Planning to take these shortcuts makes it more deliberate and not a decision made in desperation at the last minute, which can be stressful. 

For example, if:

  • You don’t have the time or desire to make a full Christmas dinner, order it from a restaurant or grocery store. 
  • You hate baking, plan to buy cookies at a bakery. If you want to decorate them with your kids, purchase undecorated sugar cookie cutouts and skip right to the fun part.
  • You’d rather get a root canal than wrap presents, drop your gifts off at a wrapping fundraiser near you or pay the fee to have gifts wrapped at the store or by the shipper.
  • You grow weary of addressing holiday card envelopes, order them pre-printed or make address labels.

Also, remember there are no rules for how you celebrate. If you or your family want frozen pizza and a movie night on New Year’s Eve, go for it. You are free to make the holiday plans that work for you.

 

Make time for you

With all the planning and working going on, it can be challenging to carve out time for you. Don’t skimp on this step. If you do, you run the risk of sliding into the big days exhausted and stressed out. Plan to see friends, get some exercise, treat yourself to a pedicure. Do things that let you unplug and savor the season. 

If you are inclined to treat yourself to a holiday gift, may we suggest giving yourself the gift of a coach?

HireMyMom’s Mastermind & Coaching programs can help bring out the best in your business and your life. It’s specifically tailored for moms who want to work and home and find professional success without sacrificing family time. We think it’s the perfect holiday gift.

 

Bring some merry into your space and work-life

If you’re new to working at home, you may find that you miss the holiday fun and rituals common in offices. Check out these ideas for capturing some of that fun from your home office.

Drop us a line and tell us how you celebrate the holidays from home. Share the tricks you use to make the season more manageable and more joyful.

 

 

 

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November 22, 2021

Feeling stuck? Practice Gratitude to Love More and Feel Better

As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, you are likely counting your blessings. Maybe you’ve even participated in a social media gratefulness challenge and spent the entire month listing all the ways you are grateful.

But, as a mom or business owner, you may also be counting your tasks. You could be feeling a little overwhelmed by the prospect of preparing a feast or traveling and then turning around to start the work that goes into making holiday magic.

The HireMyMom team understands these conflicting feelings well. Sometimes, it’s easier to count irritations than blessings. Raising a family while nourishing a career is a lot of hard work. And, let’s face it, the last two years have been A LOT. COVID-19 has upended virtually every aspect of life, and that takes a toll.

But, research shows that practicing gratitude and showing it to others has profound and lasting benefits for you and those around you. In the spirit of the season, today’s blog focuses on how to turn your list of “have to’s” into a list of “get to’s” and (we think) convincing data about why it makes sense to pursue a path that includes the practice of gratitude. 

 

Understanding gratitude

Gratitude is the act of noticing the good things in your life–even in the face of adversity–and putting your focus there for at least a few minutes each day. 

Many of us are familiar with feeling grateful in fleeting moments. Gratefulness comes from a lot of places–a neighbor stops by with vegetables from her garden, a friend sends you a birthday card, a stranger offers a compliment. All of these things can lead to a short-term feeling of gratefulness.

Likewise, many of us are in the habit of offering a thank you throughout the day. We do it at the grocery store, while running errands, and at the end of calls. But, that can feel more transactional–something we say reflexively rather than a true feeling of gratitude.

As moms, we know that feeling and sharing gratefulness is a critical skill. We train our kids to say thank you to the people around them. We insist they write thank you notes after birthday parties and to grandparents. 

Gratitude is different than these experiences.

Practicing gratitude means you proactively look for the good things in your life each day. Shifting to a mindset of gratitude doesn’t mean you are ignoring issues. It just means that you are reframing your focus away from what vexes you and onto the positive.

Why gratitude matters

According to Harvard Health Beat, people who regularly express gratitude are happier, healthier,  enjoy stronger relationships, and better deal with adversity. In one study, a group of people wrote about things they were grateful for each week, and another group wrote about the things that irritated them each week.

After ten weeks, those who practiced gratitude were more optimistic, reported feeling better about life, had exercised more, and made fewer visits to the doctor. 

We bet this is a feeling you recognize from your own life. When we take a few minutes to step back and consider the larger context of our lives in a positive light, it’s easier to have a sunnier outlook. 

Several different studies show that practicing gratitude can lead to a wide range of benefits, including:

  • Greater feelings of calm.
  • Better sleep and better health–both physical and mental.
  • Reduced stress and better emotional regulation.
  • Improved relationships at home and work.
  • Increased empathy and less aggression.
  • More relationships across all areas of life.
  • Greater career success and more opportunities.

Clearly, practicing gratitude is good for us.

How to practice gratitude

It’s one thing to know that regularly practicing gratitude can lead to a slew of benefits. It’s another thing to start doing it. The idea of shifting our thinking and practicing gratitude can feel foreign in a society that tends to focus on problems and issues instead of blessings and opportunities.

We talked among the staff and scoured the internet for ideas to get started. Here are some easy-to-try ideas.

Things to think about

  • Think of three things you are grateful to have in your life before you get out of bed each morning. If you aren’t sure where to start, tick off a warm bed, followed by slippers and coffee to start your practice.
  • Spend a minute thinking about the blessing of the modern, American bathroom as you move forward with your morning. Hot water and indoor plumbing are certainly reasons to feel gratitude.
  • Marvel at the conveniences available in your kitchen. Chances are you have an appliance that keeps food at the right temperature, another one to cook food, and a machine to wash your dishes. These tools are the unsung heroes of everyday life, especially the holidays. 
  • Consider the gift of good health and the way it makes your life more pleasant and more manageable.

Things to do

  • Say thank you more. Thank your family members and children throughout the day. Aim for three thank yous to each family member every day.
  • Set aside five minutes a week to send a note to a co-worker thanking that person for their work. Be specific and express your heartfelt appreciation for the ways your coworker enriches your life.
  • Offer compliments to those around you. Tell your neighbor that you noticed her holiday decorations and appreciate the way they brighten up the street.
  • Keep a journal on your nightstand and spend the last few minutes of each day recalling the good things that happened during the day. Recall the sweet moments with your spouse or kids, the funny things said over the dinner table, and even the excitement your pet displayed when you came back from a short walk or running an errand.
  • Take a walk and pause to admire the beauty around you. Breathe in the fresh air, look up at the sky, listen to birds singing, and take in the majesty of nature.
  • Give up complaining for 21 days to see how you feel. 

We are grateful for you

While we are discussing gratitude, we’d be remiss if we didn’t take this opportunity to share how grateful we are to you! Whether you are a small business owner or a mom professional, HireMyMom wouldn’t exist without you. 

We are grateful for the chance to provide this forum for people to connect as they pursue passions, grow businesses, and raise families.

We wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.

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November 8, 2021

How to Be Brave, Get Support and Level Up for Unbelievable Success

Congratulations–you are living the work-from-home life and thriving.

You know how to hack your day for maximum productivity, what pitfalls to avoid, how to get back on track when your motivation wanes. You outsource tasks, set boundaries, stay connected, use the right apps, work smart in the kitchen to save time, and manage through periods without childcare.

But, something’s not quite right. Maybe you aren’t finding the same level of fulfillment in your work compared to when you first started. Perhaps your children are getting older, and you are ready for meatier professional assignments. Or, maybe you aren’t sure what you need or want, but you know that the current situation is not quite working for you.

It may be time to call in a coach to help you level up for the next chapter of your life. Leveling up is different than a job change. It’s an opportunity to assess where you are, consider the future, set goals, create a plan, and tackle the opportunities you identify.

Here’s our best advice for knowing when it’s time to level up and how a coach can help you make your dreams a reality.

You Are Not Alone

The media regularly shares stories about the “great resignation” that’s underway this year. Many people are rethinking their professional lives as the pandemic starts to abate. Clearly, you are not alone if you feel the desire for something new. It’s normal and healthy to want more–even if you aren’t sure what exactly that “more” is right now.

Bottom line, if you feel a longing for something new, we suggest embracing the feeling and exploring where it leads you. You don’t have to walk this path alone because millions of people–many of them moms–are walking right along with you.

A coach can help you find the path that works for you and connect you with like-minded, work-at-home moms who can help make reaching your destination an actual labor of love and shared experience.

Be Brave

Maybe you know it’s time for a change but feel trepidation at the prospect of shaking things up. We get it. It can be scary to think about moving on to a different job, launching a business, or changing career paths. We find this is especially true for moms who work at home and want to keep it that way. So much emphasis is placed on finding a work-from-home job and making it work that it can be easy to get fixated on the job you have and lose sight of what you really want.

Feeding the professional side of your life is essential. As life changes and you change, your professional ambitions may change as well. That’s a normal and expected development, and there’s no need to feel bad about the desire.

If You Aren’t Sure

Sometimes you know it’s time to make a change. But, often, the desire to change is more subtle, and it takes a while to recognize. So, even if you aren’t actively thinking about a new job or making a professional change, watch for these clues that it may be time to move on:

  • You find yourself coasting at work. If you feel like you can do your job with your eyes closed or your workday feels mindless, a new challenge may help restore your interest.
  • Co-workers often come to you for advice on how to do the job. This is a sign that you are broadly perceived as an expert at the job and maybe a hint that you are ready for new challenges.
  • You are easily frustrated or find yourself complaining about your work. Often, frustration or venting are signs that it’s time to look deeper and determine if these are temporary frustrations or symptoms of a more significant problem.

If you recognize yourself here, that’s likely a sign that it’s time to do some work to explore essential questions related to work and life.

Now What

Moving on just for the sake of moving on is often counterproductive. If you jump to the next job or opportunity that comes along, you could end up feeling dissatisfied again in short order.

We find that a better approach is to take the time to answer some big questions to make sure you land in the right place and feel confident in your path going forward. Consider:

  • What does success mean to you in the next season of life?
  • How does that definition translate to goals?
  • How will you get there?
  • How will you develop a plan?
  • Who will hold you accountable for achieving your goals?
  • How will you find the support you need to make the changes to help you achieve your goals?

Answering these questions can help you move from where you are today to where you want to be in the future. Putting work in now pays dividends later.

But, these are BIG questions, and it’s often difficult to know how to answer them. That’s where a coach or group program can really make the difference.

Consider Coaching

Finding meaningful success without sacrificing family time is a team sport, and a coach can help you move to the next level of play. As a work-at-home mom who deeply values family time, finding the right coach is essential.

We all need support in business and life. It’s easy to feel stuck or overwhelmed–especially as you raise a family and navigate career space. An experienced, independent, outside voice can help provide feedback on what’s not working and give you the clarity you need on the best way to use your time and energy.

A coach can help you define what success means for you, guide you as you start or grow a remote career or business, and help you smash through roadblocks or fears that hold you back. If you know you want to make a change but aren’t sure what you want to do, the proper support can help.

HireMy Mom’s Mastermind & Coaching programs can help bring out the best in your business and in your life. It’s specifically tailored for moms who want to work and home and find professional success without sacrificing family time.

We currently offer two options:

  • Elevate YOU: Mastermind & Coaching for Women can help you gain the clarity and focus you need to pursue your dreams while connecting you with a community of like-minded moms. Through the program, you’ll find the path for meaningful growth and success based on what matters to you. You’ll create deep and authentic relationships with women on the same path and benefit from coaching from our founder and HireMyMom CEO, Lesley Pyle.
  • One-on-One Coaching with Lesley Pyle can help you move ahead in life and business. Research shows that working with a coach is the most effective and efficient way to experience the breakthrough you need to grow personally and professionally. You can benefit from Lesley’s 25 years as an entrepreneur and her insights into balancing work and family from a wife and mother who’s been down the road you are traveling.
  • Coming soon! Small Business Owners Mastermind, which is designed to support entrepreneurs as they grow their business. The group will start in 2022, but you can sign up for the waitlist now.

Join us!
This is the time to invest in yourself, your future, and your family. You won’t regret it. Your goals await.

 

 

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November 1, 2021

How a Social Media Manager Can Help Reduce Your Stress and Make Your Online Presence Soar

As a business owner, you have a full plate. Chances are some of the things on that plate include managing your social media accounts and conducting promotions. Social media promotions are the lifeblood of many businesses. They also require time and expertise and may not be your strongest suit or even an area of interest.

You can’t quit social media. But, you can hire a social media manager to make your life easier and increase the quality and effectiveness of your social media presence. If you think that sounds expensive or like a lot of work, hear us out about how bringing a social media manager onto your team can reduce your stress and workload while changing your online presence for the better and creating meaningful results for your business.

The Basics

There are four main steps to running a social media promotion. At a high level that includes:

  • Setting goals for the promotion.
  • Creating an offer and making a plan.
  • Communicating the offer.
  • Assessing your results.

Let’s look at how a social media manager can enhance each of these areas for better results.

Setting goals

Ideally, your social media promotions will drive more business, reach new customers, and cement loyalty with your base. Because it’s essential to identify what you want to achieve at the outset of any communication activity, goal setting is the first step for online promotions.

As you embark on a promotion, your goals may vary. For example, your goal could be expansive–like attracting 500 new followers. Or, it may be specific, like selling a certain number of products within a particular time frame. Either way, setting clear goals for the promotion is the first step.

When you work with a social media manager, the goal-setting process grows and is more expansive. You’ll work together to take a broader look at your social media presence and think about where you want to go in the short- and long term.

The social media manager can create an overall social media strategy that broadly supports you based on your business and growth goals. Often, the strategy will include promotions with specific goals aimed at particular audiences and in distinct timeframes. 

For example, a social media strategy may span six months and have four promotions across three different platforms. One of the promotions may be aimed at attracting new followers and one may seek to reward your best customers with a special offer. Each requires a different approach, which the social media manager can identify.  

As part of goal setting, the social media manager will set specific desired metrics for each promotion. The metrics serve two purposes. 

  • Helping the social media manager develop the right tactics to share the message and refine her approach over time. 
  • Providing a view into how different promotions perform. This knowledge can drive decisions on future promotions and provide important insight into what matters to your customers.

Creating an Offer and Making a Plan

The next step in social media promotion is to create an offer. Many business owners have a feel for the types of promotions that move their business forward and often return to the same well when creating new promotions. While this approach can be practical for a while, in the fast-moving environment of social media, these promotions can fall flat and stop delivering.

When you work with a social media manager, she will include your preferences and historical offerings into the planning process. But, she also has the skill set to create new and different types of promotions that can help keep your content fresh.

With insight into the types of social media campaigns that other companies are doing and knowing more about how those efforts are working, a social media manager can identify the promotions that make the most sense based on your objectives. She can also explain the ins and outs of the process based on her experience.

In addition, she will bring you new promotional ideas–some of which may push the envelope beyond your comfort level. But, it’s still helpful to have a sense of the universe of promotional opportunities and see where the market is going.

Once the two of you agree on a strategy and goals, your social media manager will create a calendar of promotions and posts aimed at realizing your goals. 

Part of this process includes selecting the right platform for your message. Social media managers understand the nuances of different social media sites. So, they can conduct detailed audience analysis to determine which social platforms are most attractive to your customers while creating plans to develop new audiences. 

The calendar will include plans for optimizing your posts with keywords and the right hashtags so people can find your company and see your promotions. 

The calendar may also include opportunities for paid posts to boost your exposure at crucial inflection points and with specific audiences. In some cases, your social media manager may recommend a partnership with a key influencer.

Your social media manager will look across the plan to ensure brand consistency across platforms to ensure your promotion consistently reflects the right tone. And, she will make sure that the timing of each promotion makes sense and fits into the broader plan.

Communicating the Offer

When communicating the offer, a good social media manager does the heavy lifting. She will move into creative mode to produce the media used to share your message and the specifics of your offer. This can include:

  • Developing social media content, such as writing posts, taking photos, making graphs, creating memes, and developing infographics.
  • Creating video scripts, sourcing talent, and producing video work.
  • Finding related content that can be cross-promoted through your sites.
  • Updating your company’s profile pages to reflect the latest information about your promotions.
  • Responding to comments and posts on your behalf. This includes answering questions and sharing regular updates with you in a summary.
  • Integrating customer data from other platforms and other social media sites and using email and website traffic to ensure that your promotion and message find the right audience.

 

Assessing Your Results

At the end of each promotion, your social media manager can analyze engagement across platforms. She will determine how each post performed and tie that work back to the goals established at the beginning of the project. 

If posts or promotions are falling short of goals–or if something is taking off–she can adjust the plan and the calendar to keep you moving in the right direction.

At specific time increments, your social media manager will sit down with you to discuss progress and help set new goals.

Finding a Social Media Manager

Working with a social media manager doesn’t have to be expensive. Many excellent social media managers work as contractors and find clients through niche sites such as HireMyMom. 

If you can offer flexibility and a remote job opportunity, you are well-positioned to find an experienced resource who can help your business grow and make your social media content sing.

When you use HireMyMom, you have access to a dedicated pool of professionals looking for remote work. Because HireMyMom charges job seekers a fee to access job listings, all our job seekers are serious about finding work. And, the volume of resumes that flow in is more manageable than the numbers that arrive when jobs are advertised on free job sites.

Tell us About Your Experience

We’d love to hear about your experience working with a social media manager. Please drop us a line and let us know how the partnership changed your social media presence and helped you realize your goals. 

 

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October 18, 2021

Turn Your Idea Into a Supercharged Business With These Four Easy Steps

While making dinner or driving carpool, many thoughts likely go through your head. If one (or more) of them includes a new business idea, congratulations-you have the heart and mind of an entrepreneur (and a momtrepreneur)!

The business you are considering can be anything–it doesn’t have to be a wholly unique new product. Perhaps, you’d like to put your top-notch project management or administrative skills to use by launching a virtual assistant business.

Or, maybe you know you’d like to work for yourself and are thinking of launching a business that fills a need in your community–like a dog walker or child care provider. 

Whatever your interest, the next step is taking the idea and making it happen. So, how do you take the kernel of an idea or a desire to hang out your own shingle and turn it into a full-fledged business? 

While the prospect may seem overwhelming, a few initial steps can quickly put you on the road to success. The HireMyMom team talks with successful entrepreneurs looking for help every day. Here, we distill what we hear from them into four easy-to-follow initial steps to get you started with whatever business you are considering.

 

Talk About It

It’s exciting to consider launching a new business, and it’s fun to talk about your vision. So, the first step is easy–talk with trusted friends, family members and other advisors about your idea. Share the big picture you have in your head and get their reaction to it. Encourage them to ask questions and poke holes so you can refine your plan and create a clear vision of what you want to do.

We encourage you to seek out the enthusiastic and skeptical for this step. In this phase, it’s crucial to have a wide variety of input, and each perspective will help you get a better sense of how you can massage your idea for the best chance at success.

That said, establish a timeline for this phase–probably two to three weeks. That gives you time to have many conversations and chew over different ideas but still lets you move forward with the plan in a timely manner.

 

Conduct Research

Next, embark on a research project. The goal is threefold:

  • Find out what other businesses are operating in your space–this is called market research.
  • Determine where your business fits in–this is called competitive analysis.
  • Learn about any permit or licensing requirements to open and operate your business. Knowing about any required permits or licenses can help you avoid potentially costly situations down the road.

The information taken together can help you refine your business plan and position you for success.

Start with market research. Aim to learn more about other, similar businesses. Ask potential customers what they are looking for and what they value in the service. Find how much they charge and what their customers think of the service. Ask potential customers what service is missing from the current mix. Find out more about the demand for your product or service.

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a helpful guide for conducting market research before launching a business. 

Next, perform a competitive analysis to determine how your business will fill a niche. For example, you may decide to offer a twist on a product or service to make your business stand out and solve a problem you saw in the marketplace. For example, if you were thinking about a child care business, you might learn that parents are looking for evening care during your research. As a result, you may decide to offer child care after traditional business hours to cater to families who need help in the evenings or on weekends. 

Or, you might learn that the only infant night nurse within 50 miles is cutting back her workload and the need for that service exceeds what the market offers. You might then steer your business toward short-term overnight care so new moms can get some sleep. You could offer to do laundry while on duty as a way to make your business stand out.

In some cases, you may find that the area you are considering is currently underserved, and standard product offerings plus availability are enough to get your business off the ground quickly. 

For example, in your research, you may find that a shortage of qualified administrative assistants has local accounting firms struggling to return calls and schedule meetings. In that case, you might tailor your virtual assistant business, so you cater to industries with high demand.

Or, maybe you are considering a pet-based service, and you learn that there aren’t enough dog walkers in your neighborhood now that people are heading back to work. You’ve found a gap that you can easily step into to meet the need. 

Market research and competitive analysis are both necessary because they position you for success by uncovering your competitive advantage in the marketplace. 

 

Write a Plan

Next, craft a business plan and put it in writing. Your business plan doesn’t need to be MBA thesis-worthy. You can use an online template from sites like hubspot or the balance small business. 

If that’s not your style, you can write the plan out on a piece of notebook paper or pull up a document on your laptop. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers helpful tips for writing a business plan.

Generally, your business plan can be as comprehensive as you desire. But, at a minimum, it should reflect the basics elements of your idea. 

Start by documenting your vision, hashing out your overall mission and the details of the product or service you plan to provide. Peer into the future and include an aspirational statement to help you guide you along the way.

Suppose you are launching a virtual assistant business. In that case, your vision may look like this: Start a virtual assistant business that focuses on calendar management, customer callbacks and spreadsheet support for small business owners in the real estate industry. Over five years, grow business sufficiently to add three part-time employees providing similar services.

From there, your business plan should answer these questions:

  • What is the name of the business?
  • Who does this business serve? 
  • How will I find customers?
  • How will they know about my service?
  • What’s the competition?
  • What’s my competitive advantage?
  • What obstacles might I face?
  • How much does this product/service cost the customer?
  • How will I staff this business to meet the demand?
  • Do I need money to launch this? How much? How will I get it?
  • What are my promotional plans?

 

Then, set a few short and long-term objectives to help you move along. Many people find that creating specific action plans with deadlines helps them set and achieve goals. Make sure your goals are SMART, that is, specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely.

 

Make It Official!

Armed with your great idea, backed by research and fueled by the concepts documented in your business plan, it’s time to get moving. 

Complete any legal and tax forms required to launch your business. You can find guidelines for selecting a business structure and instructions for getting federal and state tax ID numbers from the Small Business Association. The NOLO website offers low-cost legal forms.

Line up support to help ensure your success. While the specific support you need will vary by business type, some likely sources of support include:

  • A banker who can help you set up a small business account and offer basic bookkeeping guidance.
  • A mentor who has small business experience and can guide you as you launch, run and grow your business. Check out the Small Business Development Center for information about programs sponsored by the federal Small Business Association. They offer specific counseling for women-owned businesses.
  • A community of like-minded business people to share in the joys and struggles.

 

Call Us

The HireMyMom team can’t wait to hear about your success! When you are ready to find a work-from-home mom to supplement your staff, or you have an opportunity to give a budding, at-home professional some work, visit HireMyMom.com to find the resource you need.

 

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October 11, 2021

How to Make Money from Home and Save on Childcare

At HireMyMom, we work with mom professionals at every stage of their motherhood journey. We have moms with newborns considering their professional options and mothers with kids entering college who love working at home and can’t imagine any other way of working. 

One of the most common questions we hear from mom professionals with young children considering working from home is: can I work at home without childcare? And, we get it! Childcare is expensive, it can be tough to arrange, and using it can be a source of stress. 

The answer is that it depends on lots of factors. Let’s dig into what’s possible, based on our experience working with thousands of mom professionals as well as employers who seek them.

A General Rule of Thumb

If you have young children who aren’t old enough to go to school, you can probably work about ten hours a week without childcare. Any more than that is difficult because your kids need your attention just like your work. 

Without childcare, squeezing in those ten hours will take creativity and discipline. Many moms who work from home with little kids rise early to knock out work before their family wakes up. Others burn the midnight oil, and some are committed to working every second of nap time. Some moms establish routines that include specific hands-off kid activities that allow them to work while the kids keep themselves busy. 

The great news is that HireMyMom offers many part-time opportunities that can work with this schedule. But, if you find that you want more hours, you can likely find a part-time childcare situation that meets your needs and your budget.

Finding Part-Time Childcare

The prospect of finding high-quality, full-time child care can be daunting. But, there are several ways to find part-time child care, perfect for work-from-home moms. Here are some ideas:

  • Ask nearby family members if they are willing to commit to helping a few hours one or two days a week. 
  • Share childcare duties with another work-from-home mom who has similar needs. 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 and the kids a chance to play with friends.
  • See if local churches offer a mother’s day out program where you can enroll your children and establish a regular work time while the kids attend the program.
  • Consider a preschool program that your kids attend a few mornings a week. Many pre-schools offer a session that meets from 9 to noon. Usually, you can pick the number of days your child attends, choosing between two and five-day programs.
  • Enroll your kids in a sports camp that meets a few times each week and work while they attend. 
  • Look for a local high school or community college student who could provide a few hours of support each week. Community college students often have a few free hours midday between classes, which can be ideal if you are looking for mid-day care.
  • 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.

Need More Childcare?

If you need more hours of child care than these ideas provide, consider partnering with another family (or two) to hire a shared nanny. This is an excellent solution if you both need a fair amount of childcare but don’t want to use a child care center or commit to a full-time child care provider. 

There are many ways to split the nanny’s time. One option is arranging different days/hours but ensuring the nanny will have a set number of work hours each week. Or, you could arrange to have the nanny take all the kids to alternating houses throughout the week. This type of setup makes it easier to find a professional, full-time nanny without having to shoulder the expense on your own.

If you go this route, do the work upfront to make the arrangement successful. Start by agreeing 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. But, be prepared to be flexible, as schedules and needs can change. 

Also, talk with the other family about general expectations for kid behavior and activities while the nanny is in charge. For example, will kids watch television with the nanny? Do you expect the nanny to supervise while the kids play or actively engage them in activities? Many nannies provide light housekeeping services like dishes and laundry. So, map out expectations in those realms, too. Discussing these topics in advance can ensure a smoother partnership.

Another idea: Invest in Yourself

Many moms with young children use the time when their kids are tiny to take training classes and launch a virtual assistant (VA) business. As a VA, you take care of many tasks, including email response, appointment setting, travel planning, and calendar management. These businesses are flexible and can be scaled as your family life changes and your children grow. 

VA work is catching on quickly. You can work as a general VA who does a wide variety of tasks or become one with a specialty in a particular industry or need. It’s a great business model because it solves a problem so many people have — squeezing more tasks into a day. It’s also an excellent lifestyle for moms who want to control their own time while keeping professional ambitions alive. 

At HireMyMom, we’ve partnered with four different training programs to help our members learn more about this business opportunity and acquire the skills needed to launch a VA business.

Find support

No matter how much you love your kids or how much you love your job, it can be tough to be a working mom. Join our Community of moms working from home and share your struggles, ideas, or best tips for managing child care and connecting with other moms like you.

 

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October 4, 2021

Great Leaders Share These Five Traits–Here’s a Peek and Their Secrets to Success

When you lead a team, you set the tone and establish the tenor. Strong leaders know that what they say and do can change the trajectory of a team’s future. As the owner of a small business, you are the leader for that business–and chances are you have a lifetime of leadership experience to call upon and guide your interactions.

But, when you lead a virtual team, the equation changes. Your leadership must be tweaked to ensure your efforts travel over the miles to guide, inspire and lift up your employees.

At HireMyMom, people leading businesses with workers spread far and wide across the country, spanning multiple time zones, inspire us each day. 

Sages have shared millions of words about the traits of effective leaders and how those traits translate to leading virtual teams. Along the way, we’ve noticed a handful of consistent traits and habits among those who do it well. Here’s a roundup of our observations.

 

A Long and Wide View

Vision is an essential trait of a remote leader. An effective leader looks further and broader than her team or business to see the bigger picture. This perch gives her a peek at upcoming trends–and issues–before others see them and provides the advantage of acting sooner rather than later. 

In many cases, this translates to being prepared to leverage new business opportunities. Sometimes this comprehensive view helps a leader spy a weak spot on the team and act before an issue develops.

John Maxwell, author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership, says that having the ability to see more than others before others allows great leaders tremendous advantages. One of the benefits of this skill is that great leaders can move into a cycle of test, fail, and improve. This cycle is a crucial component to keep businesses growing and reaching new heights of success. 

When you lead a virtual team, acquiring the vision that drives the success cycle takes special care and commitment. In our experience, openness to feedback, industry engagement, and frequent team communication help open this field of vision for business owners. Attend webinars, go to conferences and keep the lines of communication wide open. Overall, aim to be approachable and broadcast that you want to hear from people and welcome all ideas.

 

Authenticity

Authenticity is one of the characteristics that we often see among highly effective leaders. Those who inspire others embody the qualities and habits they promote. And, more importantly, they model those qualities and practices in public and private ways.

Team members see this match in words and deeds and find inspiration.  It’s easier to follow along when team members know their leader really believes in something and isn’t just paying lip service. This creates cohesive teams. 

It can be challenging to show team members these qualities when leading a virtual team because of limited in-person interactions. However, in our experience, leader authenticity still shines through the phone, email, and instant messaging- it just shows in subtler ways. For example, meeting with people individually by phone or video chat, sharing your enthusiasm and honest assessment as you discuss projects, providing constructive criticism, and jumping in to help when team members struggle are ways to show authenticity. 

Another way you can exhibit authenticity as a remote leader is to share positive stories and anecdotes about company culture when you talk with your team. It can be tempting to gripe, especially with a long-term team member. But, the best leaders of remote teams make a point to share their beliefs and positive messages with gusto. 

 

Building People to Build Business

Maxwell says that great leaders intentionally add value to people through skill development, and that’s been our experience, too. Great leaders see potential in people and invest in them so they grow. At HireMyMom, we see this in action when employers call us to replace a person who has grown into a new role at the business.

Investing in skill development for your team is good for people and business. Employees who know they are valued stick around and tend to be fiercely loyal to the leaders who helped them grow.

Looking at a team member and knowing how and where to invest in development can be trickier when managing a remote team. Mark Murphy, author of “Leadership IQ,” suggests that leaders of remote teams look for ways to extend their energy to be more open to coaching and meeting with employees across time zones. He says that leaders who successfully manage remote teams are “indefatigable” when it comes to coaching team members. If you find your energy waning, he suggests building breaks and flexibility into your day, so you have more time and energy for working with team members.

Also, this is an area where vision matters. Having a wide and long view helps you find the right people and invest in cultivating the right skills. 

 

Big Love

Great leaders love their people and value them deeply. This doesn’t mean they are never unhappy with their team’s work or never have a challenging employment situation. 

Instead, it means that great leaders know their people and share common ground as a way to connect. In some cases, leaders and team members connect over personal matters first, sharing experiences about parenthood, hobbies, or pets. That connection quickly spills over to a shared purpose around the business. 

When you lead virtual teams, take the time to connect with your people and show that you care about them and value them as people and team members. Your remote team members need as much–if not more–encouragement than those who you see regularly. There are several ways to do this. For example, discuss big projects as opportunities and help to paint the long-term vision. 

Remember that remote workers aren’t surrounded by a team, and it can be difficult for them to put mistakes into perspective without the benefit of seeing in-person reactions. When things don’t go as planned, show support by acknowledging the problem and providing assurance that you have faith in the employee or the team. For example, consider saying something like, “that project did not go as planned” when a mistake happens. Then, you can provide perspective by saying: “while we are all disappointed, I know you gave it your all. I’m certain that we will learn from this and get back on track. We will work together to make it happen.” 

These types of reassurances can help team members feel valued and appreciated.

 

Courage

All teams and businesses–no matter how well run–eventually experience challenges. And, when those challenges pop up, whether they are big or small, great leaders exhibit courage. 

When thinking of leader courage, we are reminded of the old saying that no one ever drifted to their desired location. Indeed, success is a road–sometimes a long one. Travelers need the grit to traverse the trail, and those travelers need a strong leader to drive and encourage. When leaders exhibit courage in the face of adversity, team members notice.

When leading a remote team, courage comes in a lot of forms. Sometimes, it means sharing constructive feedback that might be sensitive. In other cases, it means changing business directions or revamping teams. But, when leaders display courage, teams can solve problems, come together and thrive in the future.

Challenge yourself to be brave by practicing in everyday situations, like sharing constructive feedback or trying new ideas. This experience can prove valuable when things go sideways, and you need to dig deep to find all the courage. 

 

Please Share

The small business owners and entrepreneurs we see leading teams each day inspire us. And, we never get tired of hearing your stories. Tell us what leadership qualities make you an effective leader. Your observations and tips for growing leadership skills help us learn more and share what we see with others.

 

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September 27, 2021

Want to Work From Home? Answer These Six Questions First

As a busy mom, one thing you may be considering is if a work-at-home job is right for you. We suspect this is on your mind whether you work now or have been away from the workforce. As more and more companies offer work-from-home opportunities and your family life and personal goals change, it’s natural to wonder if this is an approach that could help you find the sweet spot between income, professional ambitions, and family responsibilities.

Like so many areas of motherhood, there are many important considerations as you ponder whether or not an at-home job fits your life. In our experience, concerns generally fall into three main categories–personal, family, and professional. 

At HireMyMom, our team totally understands these questions. We want to help you by creating a framework that makes it easier to answer the question of whether or not you’d like to work from home.

So, we’ve pulled together this list of questions every mom can ask herself before deciding whether an at-home job is a good fit. Think of this blog as your personal “Ask Alexa” as you wrestle with this important question. Here, we break down the questions to ask yourself as you search your heart on this important decision.

 

Personal Considerations

Let’s start with the personal part because, ultimately, this is a decision that will affect you more than anyone else. Working from home can be a radically different way of life–many people love it right off the bat, others warm up to it, and some find that it’s not the right approach for them.

There’s no right or wrong answer, and there are many layers to consider. But, here are three good questions for you to consider as you think about whether working from home is right for you.

How do you feel about being at home more/most of the time? If you are familiar with the routine of going to an office each day, suddenly working from home can be a significant change, and some people find it jarring. 

  • COVID-19 provided many of us with a preview of working from home. While you may have a good sense of how you’ll feel, knowing    that being at home is a more permanent situation may change the equation for you. So, it’s worth considering how you will feel if you    have no office or work location to go to when you need a break from the house.                                                                                                         
  • Here are some specific things to consider. Will you miss getting dressed up? Would missing out on your commute make you sad? Do you have sufficient friends and social support systems outside the office to stave off the loneliness that can come from working at home?

Do you have a sound time management system? When you work at home, it can be challenging to manage your time because many traditional time markers disappear. There’s no ritual of getting ready, no commute, no coffee run, no customary chats with a co-worker to ground you at the start of each day. And, with no office to get to, no boss standing by, and family obligations easily visible from your workspace, it can be challenging to organize your tasks and time in a way that lets you be successful. 

  • For others, working from a home office makes it easy to let work slide into the nooks and crannies of life. When that happens, some at-home workers find that work takes a larger swath of time and leads to an unsustainable lifestyle.                                                                        
  • Ask yourself: How will you find the discipline and motivation to work each day? How will you organize your day into intentional blocks of time where you can work? Can you turn off your work brain when it’s time to move on to a family-related task? Will the temptation be too strong to focus on other things? One way to think of this is to consider if you’d rather fold laundry or work on a project. If you say fold laundry or you aren’t sure, working at home could be more of a struggle for you, and you may want to do more exploration before you jump in.

Do you have a place to work? Or, can you find one? Working from home is still work and having a place to focus makes it much easier to be successful. We find that the most successful at-home workers have a dedicated space to do work. It can be a complete home office, a desk tucked into the corner of your living room, or a bag that holds your work materials and gets popped up when and where you need it. The point of identifying a space is that it helps put you in the right mindset to get to work. 

  • So, look around your house and see if you can carve out some space to call your own. What’s needed to turn that area into a workspace?

Family Considerations

As a mom, your family situation will weigh on your ability to transition to working from home. Talking your plans over with your spouse is an excellent way to assess whether or not your family is ready for you to work at home. These questions can also help you plan a transition to working from home.

  • How does your budget look? Working at home can save you money. But, it can also cost a little in the short term as you make the transition. To assess how you may fare in this equation, consider how much money you might save by not commuting, buying work clothes, and paying for other expenses related to work.
  • Then, consider the costs involved in setting up a home office. Do you need to purchase a computer? A desk? A printer? Upgrade your internet service? Finally, take a look at the pay you are likely to earn from a work-at-home job and run the numbers with your spouse.
  • What’s your childcare situation, and how does it affect your ability to work? The question of childcare often is framed as one that affects younger kids more than older kids. But, as your kids get older, the times and ways they need you change substantially.
  • For example, if your kids are in middle school, your afternoons may include lots of driving around. That could limit the types of jobs you are available to do, or the hours you can work.
  • Conversely, if you have very young children, you may find that you have a good chunk of work time in the afternoon during nap time and again in the evening. Consider whether your kids are at school all day. If they are too young for school or if you homeschool, think about what that means for your ability to work.
  • You can involve older children in this conversation and discuss times when they may manage on their own while you work. If your kids are younger and you think you may need childcare, explore your options for finding it as part of your consideration process.

 

Professional Considerations

As you think about transitioning to a work-from-home lifestyle, the type of work you are interested in is an important consideration and likely to drive many of your decisions. In terms of professional concerns, there’s one main question to consider: what are your professional goals? 

Work can be a significant source of identity for many moms. For others, career considerations are not that important. But, thinking about professional goals makes it easier to determine what you want out of a job. There are several ways to answer this question, and the answer could vary at different points in your life. 

For example, if you have an established profession, do you want to continue to work in the same field but move to an at-home job? Or, would you prefer to make a change to something new? 

Maybe, you don’t have professional ambitions but would like to find a job that provides additional income or lets you engage a new or different part of your brain each day.

Or, perhaps you’ve always wanted to start a business and want to use this time to launch something. 

All of these answers are valid and offer great opportunities for working at home. Knowing how you answer this question can help you find the right work-at-home opportunity that aligns with your professional goals.

If you aren’t sure what you want to do or how your skills may translate to different types of jobs,  HireMyMom offers resources to help.

Ready to move forward?

If all this soul searching has you sure you are ready to work from home, it’s time to find the right partner in your job search journey.

Join HireMyMom to have exclusive access to a curated list of legitimate work-from-home jobs. Moms love us because they know all applications are going to real businesses looking for help. Employers love us because they know they can find high-quality, highly motivated candidates who want to work from home. 

 

 

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June 18, 2020 0 Comments

7 Tips to Rock Your Remote Job Interview

Whether you already work from home or you’re seeking your first remote job, an online interview is likely part of that process. Believe it or not, many of the interview tips for a traditional office job still apply to work from home jobs.  Here is our advice for your interview success!

Dress Appropriately

Treat this interview as if you were meeting face to face in an office. Wear appropriate casual work attire. Not only will you look professional but dressing the part will help you feel more prepared and put you in the right mind set. Take those few extra minutes to prepare to look your best, as it will help your confidence and help you come across as a true professional!

 

Check Your Background

Make sure there is no clutter, distractions, people walking around behind you, dogs barking or children making loud noises. Plan your interview for a time when you have child care if needed so that you can focus and the interviewer does not have to wonder if that’s the environment you’d be working in if he or she hired you. An employer is going to want someone completely focused on the job. If kids are there, it will lead them to believe you will not be completely focused on their job. Also check the lighting and make sure it’s bright for a clear picture for a video interview.

 

Be Prepared and On Time

It should go without saying, but be on time. Being punctual is still important in the remote world. If your interview is at 2pm, then sign on at 1:55pm. Don’t wait until the interview start time to download the app or go to the chosen platform to see how it works. Get to know the platform you will be interviewing on. If it’s Zoom, take some time practice and get familiar with it.  Same with Skype, GoTo Meeting or whichever platform they are using.

Be prepared — you will impress the employer if you know something about the company you’re interviewing to work for.  Take some time before the interview to visit their website, social media and blogs. Look for things you can talk about in the interview to let them know that you’ve done your research. In addition to learning about the company itself, know something about the industry.  You don’t need to do an in depth dive, but having some knowledge is key, and allows you to answer questions with more clarity and understanding.

And just like a face-to-face interview, eye contact is important. Be sure to look at the person as if you were speaking directly in person.

Lastly, make sure you read the job description again before the interview. Have a good understanding of what the job entails, as well as the skills, experience and personality needed to succeed.

Ask Questions

In any interview, it’s likely that the employer or hiring person will ask if you have any questions.  This is a prime time for you to show interest and gain more insight into the employer. Spend some time coming up with a few questions ahead of time, but here are a few to get you started:

  • What traits do you most value in someone in this role?
  • How will we communicate as a team?
  • How do you measure success for this position?
  • What are the day-to-day responsibilities for this job position (if not specified in the job posting)?
  • What are some of the qualities of successful people in this position or company?
  • What is the timeline for hiring for this position?

Have it Memorized

Make sure you know your resume inside and out! Interviewers will often have your resume in front of them during your interview, and they might pick out older job positions or positions that aren’t super fresh in your mind.

Take some time to review your resume ahead of time, and be ready to discuss every piece on it.  For bonus points, do this with an eye for what’s the most “stand out” and applicable about each resume item for the position you’re interviewing for.

Sell Yourself Confidently

This is your time to shine and tell them why you are a great fit for this role. Share the traits, skills and experience that you feel make you a great fit for the job.  Along with that, it’s important for a company to know that you really want this job!  Express that when you’re talking.

Say Thank You

Common courtesy goes a long way! Before the interview, begin drafting a standard thank you email.  After the interview has been completed, fill it in with details about your conversation. There’s no need to make this more than 3-4 sentences, but personalizing it can make a great impression.

Thank the interviewer for their time, mention a point of conversation from the interview, and continue to express your interest.  From there, be sure to follow up within a few days to a week – being proactive is key! Unless the interviewer gave you a specific time frame for a decision, there’s no harm in checking in.

For additional help with your resume, cover letter or interview skills, check out our Job Seeker 101 Course and our One-on-One Consulting Services.

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April 24, 2017 0 Comments

5 Tips for Better Work-Life Balance

We all hear about the elusive “work-life balance” concept.  It’s the place where our careers and personal lives become balanced.  We don’t feel overworked, we have enough time for friends and family, and so on.  While this is a great concept in theory, and one we should strive for, it can be quite difficult to make it happen.

Since reducing stress and making more time for those things that are important to you is truly crucial, read along for some of our best tips in increasing your work-life balance, and hopefully, your quality of life.

Declare your priorities

When you figure out what’s most important in your life, it becomes easier to figure out where to place your time.  If you’re working very hard to advance your career, perhaps that’s your priority for the next six months.  On the other hand, if you’ve been pulling 60 hour weeks and your priority is family time, you may have to re-evaluate a bit.  Everyone will have different priorities, and they will often change depending on the season of your life.

To start to create that feeling of satisfaction and balance in your life, start by examining priorities and place more of your time there.

Take time for yourself

It’s important to unplug when you aren’t in “work” mode! And it should be noted that work mode should not be 24/7.  This can be difficult as work from home moms, but it’s a necessity in gaining balance.

Take time for yourself: schedule something exciting, keep weekends for friends, family, errands, and fun, and generally create space for the good things in life.  Yes, work is important and a huge part of our lives, but if that’s all you do, you’ll quickly feel out of balance.  Don’t feel guilty about making yourself a priority; you’ll be a better mom, friend, and employee for it!

Manage your time

Are you spending more time than you thought on work tasks?  Keep track of your time for a while – both business and personal.  Once you see some patterns forming, create a solid schedule.  This will allow you to keep things in order and allow you to see where your free time is.  WHen you know where you’re spending too much (or not enough) time, you can readjust.

A lot of the work of establishing a solid work-life balance is in seeing where your time is going.  If you don’t keep track for a while, how will you know?  Put in some of the effort in the beginning and you can truly see where your time is being spent.

Make time for fun

For most people, a large part of work-life balance will include relaxation, family and friends.  You still have to have fun, even if your current priority is work or career advancement. It’s crucial to stay social, especially if you work from home.  Keep those social appointments and work them into your busy schedule whenever possible!

Take breaks

It’s important to stick to your guns regarding vacations, time off, and breaks.   Vacations and breaks don’t need to be elaborate, but there needs to be a definitive break from work on a consistent basis.

In our current culture, it’s easy to put these things off because so much needs to be done.  Fortunately, these things will still be there when you return! This isn’t to say that a great work ethic isn’t a wonderful thing, but too much of anything isn’t useful.

Work towards a balanced sense of work and life by following the tips above.  When you see where your time is going, focus on your priorities, and stay committed to what’s best for you, you’ll find these things are much more balanced in your life.

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