By Nicole Dean

“I started my business so that I’d have freedom, but I’ve never felt more trapped….”

I come across a statement like that at least once a day on a forum post or in email. You start your internet business because of the freedom of being your own boss and working on your own schedule and then promptly sit on your hind-end for 12 hours/day EVERY DAY. No wonder you feel burnt out.  And no wonder family and friends are feeling neglected when all you can think and talk about is your business.

Freedom sounds pretty miserable to me if it means freedom from fun and the ones that I love.

So, how do you break free?

Start by taking a good look at your business and getting your goals and priorities straight. Don’t worry, it’s not nearly as complicated as it sounds. I’ll walk you through it right now. Ready?

Grab a pen and a piece of paper or open your favorite word processor. Divide your page into four columns.

Now you’re ready to brainstorm. Write everything down as it comes to mind. Don’t overthink this. Just start writing.

First, figure out what is working. Whatever it is. It may be one of your websites, your ecourses, a joint venture, a certain marketing method. Where is the bulk of your money coming from, currently? (If none yet, where do you believe will be the place where the largest profits will come from?) Write those items in column #1 under: “Do More”.

Second, figure out what is not bringing in money. Is it hanging out on forums or posting classified ads to freebie sites? Is it endlessly checking your stats, or email?  What are your daily time-suckers? Write those under column #2: “Do less”.

Third, figure out what could work better. Do you have upsells in place? Are your websites designed to bring you cash from every visitor? Make a list of ideas in column #3: “Improvements”. (If you don’t know yet, don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to improve your business as you learn and grow.)

Fourth, figure out what can be automated. Which tasks are repetitive and boring, albeit necessary? Many of those types of tasks can be automated with simple tools. For instance, if you’re submitting articles to directories by hand, there are tools and services to do that for you. Add these to column #4: “Automation”.

Now that you’re armed with your list, it’s time to get to work.

Look at your list in Column #1: “Do More”. Those are the tasks that you should focus your energies on. It’s a good idea to tackle one or two of the tasks on that list first thing in the morning – every morning. Believe me, it’s much more productive than checking out your favorite blogs or logging into twitter. And you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done quickly when your mind is fresh.

Look at your list in Column #2: “Do Less”. These activities should be forbidden until after you get your #1 list done, if you do them at all. For instance, hanging out on Twitter is fun, but do not do it until everything in column #1 is finished for the day.

Now, go back to Column #1, 3, and 4. Your “Do More”, “Improvements”, and “Automation” lists.

Look at all of the items that are on those three lists. Now, circle each task that you …

• Can’t Do
• Don’t Have Time to Do
• Don’t Want To Do

Those are the tasks that you’ll outsource.

Freedom means a lot of things. It means freedom to do the things that you want to do. However, it also means freedom to NOT do things that you really dislike doing.

For me, it’s graphics. I have outsourced all of my graphics since 2001. I don’t have the time, patience or inclination to learn how to make my own graphics. I have more important things to do, like write this article and then go on a bike ride with my son. Perhaps when I get back from my bike ride, my graphics will be waiting for me in my inbox.

Now, that’s freedom to me.

Want to outsource but don’t know where to start? Nicole Dean and Jimmy D. Brown invite you to OutsourceWeekly where you’ll learn how you can get free time (and earn more money) while others run your business for you.

Arika’s note: I’ve already joined Outsource Weekly and have begun reading my first lesson. Btw..it’s 6:30 am and I was still half asleep when I did it, but let me just say I’m not even half way through it and I’m wide awake and ready to go! I highly recommend anyone who is “stuck” in their business (especially service providers like me) to jump on board with me because you deserve a life beyond your desk chair!

See Ya On the Inside!

Last week I mentioned the Viral Brandable Report Giveaway and how you could create your own report and get into the hands of thousands by becoming a contributor. Well the site is now live and you can pick up tons of free reports for yourself.

The cool things about these reports:

1. They are free.
2. You can learn tons for yourself and apply it to your business or even find out how to create one. (Nicole & I submitted a report from YummyPLR.com that shows you step-by-step how to create a new cookbook every 30 days to make money.)
3. They are brandable (meaning you can input your own affiliate links in and earn commissions on sales referrals).
4. You can then send them to your lists, post them on your sites, do whatever you want to help pass them on to others.

Grab your free reports here.

Don’t forget to grab the report from Yummy PLR while your there too! It’s called: Create a Recipe Empire: How to Compile a New Cookbook Each & Every Month

This week’s tip comes from Mila Sidman, owner of Internet Based Moms. Mila has some great advice for moms everywhere, not just work at home moms.

Get enough sleep, no one can survive on caffeine and cookies!

Oh how true is that one! Especially if you have little ones who don’t sleep through the night, or have decided that they like being awake at night more than during the day as my little princess Sierra has recently decided.

Even if you have to take naps during the day (yes every now and again I get lucky and both Hunter and Sierra nap at the same time) - GET YOUR REST!

This week I want to shake things up a bit with our work at home tip of the week. I want to go to just a few of the people I consider experts in the work at home mom field and ask them a question.

I guess you could call this a meme or tag of sorts. So, for those of you listed below I’d love to know your answer to the following questions.

What one thing, that you know now, do you wish you had known when you first started working from home that would have made things easier for you?

Nicole Dean
Nell Taliercio
Kelly McCausey
Alice Seba
Lynette Chandler
Carrie Lauth
Annette Yen
Treece

So, here goes ladies: If you would be so kind as to post your answer on your blog and then let everyone here know where to find that post in the comments section, pretty please!

For anyone else who has some advice for work at home moms - I’d love to hear your thoughts too so feel free to join in and post your answers on your blog or in the comments section as well.

Thanks a million in advance.

After a few week’s hiatus Work at Home Tip Monday is back! This week we’re going to discuss how finding someone to mentor under is a great way to get your feet wet in the work from home world.

Whether you want to be a Virtual Assistant, Internet Marketer, a Direct Sales Rep or something else, it’s always a good idea to find someone who is already in the field and watch them and what they are doing to get a better feel for that particular career or path.

For me personally, I’ve had various mentors in my time as a work at home mom. They’ve ranged from other established virtual assistants and internet marketers to affiliate managers and more. No matter whether it’s just one or many, mentors can help to make your transition to working from home easier.

As a VA, I also have the opportunity to work with clients who have allowed me to learn as I go so to speak. From those experiences I not only grow my business by being able to offer more services to future clients, but also have the ability to see exactly how the tasks I perform for them affect their business.

Even if you’re already established with a work at home job or business, it’s always a smart move to continue with the learning process.

That’s my two cents on the subject and here’s another work at home mom’s thoughts on the subject of mentoring.

Find someone who is successful in the work-at-home field you’ve chosen, a mentor, if you will. Watch what they do and ask their advice.

I think it also makes it a lot easier if you can intern or apprentice under them. If they don’t have the time, ask them to suggest someone who is willing to take you under their wing for a while.

Kit Singleton
The Virtual Peach

Today’s tip is one that many people see as a no-brainer, but honestly it’s harder than many work at home moms realize once they actually start their business. With a new year almost a month underway, now is a great time to talk about goals and how to set them for an at home business or job.

Patrysha from Easy Results with Radio brings us our WAH Tip this week.

My best tips are to set and write down realistic achievable goals and then put yourself on a schedule to reach them.

I know for me personally, setting goals is not an easy task. I have them in mind, but actually seeing them through is something I tend to put on the back burner. It’s easy to do this in any business, but especially a service based business like the one I run. Clients needs and the money to be made from those tasks seem to take a front seat with me. This usually ends up meaning I put my own goals on hold thinking “I’ll get to them as soon as I finish this for so and so.”

This is where setting goals that are reachable makes a difference. For instance, it’s easy to set a goal of doubling our income this year. However, if you don’t break it down and actually make a detailed plan to actually reach that goal, the likelihood of actually getting to the doubled income is very low.

So, one of the things you can do is set that goal, but break it up into smaller more achievable goals. Here’s an example.

Main Goal - Reach Income of X amount of dollars.

To-Do List of Tasks (How I’ll Get There)

1. Seek New Clients
2. Raise Hourly/Project Rates
3. Advertising Options (this can be broken down into various forms of advertising as well)
4. Etc.

The point of making a list such as the one above is to give yourself something to look at and see that you are actually making progress. This is another biggie when it comes to reaching your goals. If you don’t actually SEE the progress towards your ultimate goal, it’s easy to get discouraged and give up.

How have you set yourself up to see your goals through for your business or work at home job? We’d love to hear your ideas and be able to pass them along to others as well.

Welcome back everyone! Although my original intention was not to take so much time off, I am well rested and ready to roll with the new year and I hope you are too!

First let me welcome a new contributor to the blog! You may have seen her first post yesterday, but in case you haven’t had the chance yet, head on over and meet Alyssa Avant a.k.a The Spiritual Wahmmy by clicking here. I know you’ll love Alyssa and welcome her with open arms!

Now, onto today’s Work at Home Tip Monday! Our good friend Nicole Dean of Show Mom the Money, is back with a great tip this week!

Buy a timer!
If your children are old enough to understand the concept of time, invest in a timer. It’s a life saver. The next time you need uninterrupted working time, tell the kids that you’re setting the timer for 20 minutes. If they give you 20 minutes of uninterrupted work time, then reward them with quality time with you. Play a board game together or go to the park.***************

This is one tip that I will soon be starting to reinforce in my home, for silent work time, but also to help with the potty training efforts of Hunter. I think at 2, he can learn to grasp the concept of “If the timer goes off it’s time to potty.” Don’t you?

Then if we get that down pat, we’ll work on the uninterrupted work time.

Have you used timers with your kids for work or personal areas of your life? If so, any words of wisdom to make it go smoother for him and I both? I’d love to hear your thoughts.