One of the most common struggles we hear from consultants and team leaders is time management.
How do you successfully run a business, spend time with family, and take care of your other responsibilities? Is it even possible? YES!
The key is BALANCE
You do need to make each item on your list of responsibilities a priority, but not at the same time!
One of the most important thing I have heard since starting my own business with UBAM is this:
"Do UBAM FOR your family, not TO your family."
That has really stuck with me. Am I helping my family pay bills, build a library, have a great role model, or love books? Or am I forcing my husband to take care of the kids, dinner, and go to work at his job everyday while I'm missing putting my children to bed so I can be gone 5 nights a week? (These are personal questions, yours might include something different.)
The point is, there are so many blessings with this business, but we can't neglect everything else to be successful with UBam.
How do we bring the balance?
For many people it's as simple as WRITING IT DOWN.
Make a list of things you need to get done. Schedule family time and play dates. Have designated "work" hours. Find a system that works for YOU.
When can you work?
I have 3 little ones who all take naps every day and go to bed between 7:30-8:30. My husband goes to Scouts every Tuesday night. He has most Saturdays and all Sundays off. Our family goes to church and spends time together on Sundays. We also have family night every Monday. My son has preschool every Tuesday and Thursday- I teach his class every 4 weeks. My husband and I try to have weekly date nights. Parties, camping trips, and other events come up often.
So, when do I work?
I work for 15-20 minutes while my kids eat breakfast. I set them up with a game or activity and work for about an hour while they play. During their nap I will sometimes participate in or run a training/team discussion, but that is often when I shower and get ready for the day.
After nap time I will usually keep my phone on me to be able to answer questions from my team or current hosts. I spend the evening with my family until my kids go to bed. If it's Tuesday when my husband is gone, I will usually have a FB party. Wednesdays and Thursdays I will leave open for home parties when my husband can be home with my kids. I will do 1-2 booths each month on a Saturday when my husband can be with the kids- if he's working or not home, I'll leave them with my parents or sister-in-law. I never work on Sundays. I don't do parties on Monday- I try to keep them mid-week instead. I schedule my parties ahead of time, so that if my husband spontaneously wants to go to dinner or out somewhere, I can check in on my phone and still keep my party. I try to put my family first, and to do that, I let my husband know what I have going on each week. He is so supportive especially when he knows ahead of time how and when he can help. I try to be courteous to him as well. If I know he is going to be gone at a scout camp, I will try to schedule something on FB during that time, so he won't feel rushed to come home.
I love lists. I like to be able to check something off. I use a notebook and write down everything I need to accomplish for my business, for my household, and even for fun.
I use my planner to right down parties, dates with my husband, and when our local movie theater has dollar days for kids movies. If I know the things that are important to me, I find myself DOING more and wasting time less.
I know some people have things they do for their business on specific days of the week.
Example:
Monday: schedule all the posts for the week and check in with team members/leader
Tuesday: Party night, customer care/follow-up with customer orders, potential hosts, and potential recruits
Wednesday: Story time with neighborhood, participate in team trainings/discussions, close open party
Thursday: Party night, go to post office to mail prizes for the week
Friday: Participate in team page product knowledge activity, wrap up any loose ends and parties to prep for weekend with family.
1-2 Saturdays a month: Booth/Vendor event
This will be different for everyone. Whatever the things on your list are, incorporate them into your schedule.
Power Hour:
Some consultants work their business for 1 power hour each day. (Power hour does not include party/event time)
It can be all at once, or broken down into 15 minute increments.
Basically you focus on one thing for 15 minutes and you work on that one thing (example: phone calls or post scheduling) without distractions for 15 minutes. You can easily accomplish 4 different tasks in 1 hour by working efficiently and being focused. This system is great for anyone- moms who have young kids and need to work during nap time, anyone who also has another job or goes to school, consultants whose spouse is retired and would love to spend time together, or anyone who needs to work with a purpose.
Some people wake up early and get as much done as possible before kids are awake or before they have to go to work/school.
Some work during nap time.
Some get 15 minutes in at a time whenever they can fit it in.
Take a Break:
Don't burn yourself out. Schedule breaks- they can be small (I won't schedule any parties this Thursday so I can have a girls' night.), medium (I'm going on vacation for a week.), or big (I'm going to take a 2 months off when I have my baby.) It's okay to allow yourself a break, but the important thing is that you have something scheduled for when you return. If you come back to an empty calendar, your break will extend itself and it will be much harder to get going again. If you will schedule your break, you will be able to make it purposeful. You will also know that when it's over, you'll get back to working toward your goals.
How are YOU going to manage your time?
>>> Additions from the Q&A <<<
Organize your tasks! Where do they fall?
Here is an example list of priorities within your business. Great for when you don't know where to start, or you have limited time.
Here is a great reference when you need to reevaluate.
And when all else fails, remember this:
