Really great tips on how to design a professional looking, eye catching business card.
Wordless Wednesday: Minimal Workspace Holiday Decor
Blogging Productivity Tip: Make Lists
A few days ago, I wrote about how to be more productive when having kids around the house. Those tips are applicable to anyone working from home. Today, I have some advice for those of you who are specifically bloggers. While working from home in general can be distracting, blogging comes with the added unproductive bonus of writers block. It’s hard to generate new content every day! Well, by setting goals and staying on top of them, you can increase your blog productivity in just a few hours. Just check out this post by Alice at Mums Make Lists for advice:
-Create a Routine of Must Dos
-Write down daily must dos e.g. pinning, link parties
-Identify time sinks that only need doing weekly, monthly or less e.g. check stats
-Don’t forget dull stuff like backing up your blog
-Write up on one page as daily, weekly & monthly must dos
-Allocate a day to each weekly activity and a week to each monthly activity
-Justify Your Time!
-Work out your maximum justifiable blogging time.
-Decide minimum time you can spend on must dos & still get them done
-The time you’ve got left is the time you’ve got for blog posts & enhancements
Working from Home While Raising Children
Working from home can sometimes be bittersweet. On one hand, you get to stay at home in your pajamas all day and not go out and deal with people. On the other, sitting comfortably at home can sometimes be a huge drain on productivity. When you have kids, cleaning, unlimited snacks, and Netflix right in front of you– all demanding your attention– it can be really easy to let work fall to the bottom of the priority list. Therefore, it’s extremely important to stay motivated at all times! Dawn at Designed By Dawn Nicole has some great tips. The first one? Ditch the pajamas.
Get Dressed. It’s really tempting to stay in your PJs or yoga pants all day when you work from home, but getting dressed can help you feel more ready to work and you’re a lot more productive when you’re in the right mindset.
Set up an office or space devoted to work time. You don’t have to devote an entire room of your house to it, but a desk in a corner somewhere with all your work items will help you stay focused and organized.
Find a schedule that works for you. Be straightforward about the fact that you work from home. It’s ok to tell clients that your hours are non-traditional. Set a routine and stick to it.
Use the kids’ nap/rest time wisely. What kinds of things can you only do while the kids aren’t around? This is the time to focus on those things.
Get a little help with the kids. If you don’t live near family that can help out, consider a Mother’s Day Out program for your child(ren).
Wordless Wednesday: Rustic Workspace
Winter Workspace
Fall is rapidly coming to a close- the tree right outside my window is almost completely bare and temperatures are dropping lower and lower. For those of you working from home, winter weather can mean a total drop in productivity (Seasonal Affective Disorder, anyone?) if you don’t prepare ahead of time. Making your workspace more cozy and bright will fight back the winter blues. Here are some tips from Work from Home Wisdom:
-Bring in the blankets: the fleecier and warmer, the better
-Have chapstick ready to go
-Invest in some cozy slippers or house shoes
-Bring in some indoor plants for some color and cheer
Blog Marketing Help
Marketing yourself can always be daunting. If you’re just starting out in the job market, describing yourself in job interviews and resumes is difficult if you aren’t sure how to “sell” yourself. Online, it can be just as hard if you are either squeamish or just don’t know where to start. Well, the key to get your name out there is repeated self promotion. Melissa at momcomm has some awesome blog marketing tips:
People need to see or hear your message seven times to take action.
people need to repeatedly hear your message.For that reason alone, throw a farewell party for your self-promotion squeamishness.
Promote a new post (more than once)- Put it on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest at different times throughout the day.
Promote an older post at appropriate times.
Remind your readers about giveaways or other offers
Make self promotion a habit!
Wordless Wednesday: Colorful Corner Workspace
Friday Fun Video: How to Dress When Working from Home
Personally, I’m a fan of the no-makeup messy-hair barefooted pajama look. But, when you have a Skype call, you need to look like you HAVEN’T just rolled out of bed.
Working from Home Idea: Transcriptionist
A lot of people find the idea of working from home appealing, but just don’t know how to find jobs online. With so many work from home scams floating around, beginning an online job search can be difficult– especially if you don’t know where to look. Without a specific job to look for, it can become easy to get lost or give up. Well, today I stumbled across this awesome article by Andrea at Savings Lifestyle on how to get a work-from-home job as a transcriptionist. So, if you’re looking for a stay at home job, but don’t know where to start, consider this an option:
Transcription is turning audio or video into a written, typed format. A general transcriptionist works on interviews, podcasts, speeches, forums, sermons, financial calls, etc.
Most transcriptionists contract with large transcription companies. Many transcription companies require prior transcription experience, but there are a few companies that will hire someone without prior experience including:
Be sure to check out the whole article for more help if you are interested! As always, be sure to investigate (aka google) any job openings you find and keep a sharp eye out for con men. As a good rule of thumb, if they ask YOU for money or payments to “get you started,” it is probably a scam.