4 Key Steps You Can do as A Mompreneur to Save Time
4 Key Ways you can save time as a Mompreneur
Many of us moms struggle with time. We can never have enough of it so we are always chasing it in this endless loop. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be constantly present to enjoy all that life has given us? I get it, kids come first. Kids need to be fed, clothed, entertained, and more. We can fall way down our own list. The tasks seem to topple over to each hour, to each day, to each week and beyond. I hear you! But what if I told you that there are simple ways you can save time, and be more present?!
According to statistics Canadian women are working a “second shift” after their paid work. Here is what Statistics Canada noticed: We, as mothers have the: “ultimate responsibility for the coordination of children’s lives; the smooth functioning of the household (e.g., planning meals; scheduling medical, dental, and other appointments; and arranging for repairs or deliveries); “emotion work” (i.e., the enhancement of relatives’ emotional well-being and provision of support); and “kin keeping” (i.e., the maintenance of relationships with immediate and extended family by keeping in touch; remembering and acknowledging birthdays and other milestones; and planning and organizing family celebrations and vacations)—even as their economic roles have expanded. ““Time use: Total work burden, unpaid work, and leisure” by: Melissa Moyser, PhD and Amanda Burlock, Statistics Canada, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/54931-eng.htm
I just want to take a moment here and say that I think you are doing an amazing job raising your child/ren. It’s not easy , and wanting to start a business while having a family is a difficult task. You are doing it all, and even if you don’t feel it right now, you are where you need to be. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the 4 simple steps to Save Time as a Mompreneur.
Plan out your monthly calendar.
Ask yourself; what are my time frames and time blocks? This is where you take this month’s and next month’s calendar and you write out any events, milestones, and celebrations you need to block out. Next consider things like date night, playdates, self-care time, work-out classes, etc… From there you want to plan out, generally each week and then everyday consider a plan daily.
Implement Book End Routines (an idea from the Compound Effect)
These are morning and nightly routines that are 10-15 mins maximum to catapult productivity and efficiency. You want this time to be kid-free so you can give yourself fully to this time. Certain routines can be a coffee or tea and read a personal development book. You can journal about your thoughts or feelings. I would recommend listing the tasks for the day. Add positive affirmations to it and you have a wonderful morning routine. At night time, you can brain dump all your thoughts then journal about your feelings. Whatever the routine is for you, make sure you can be consistent and it makes you feel productive.
Here are some examples of morning routines:
10 mins to organize the day’s to-do list
10-20mins quick workout
10 mins to meditate, pray, and or reflect
10 mins listen to motivation podcast
Here are some examples of night routines:
organize tomorrow’s tasks
journal about the day’s events
put together tomorrow’s outfit
pack the kids’ lunches in advance
Ask yourself these questions: What can I eliminate, duplicate, delegate and automate?
This will take a bit of time to figure out. My suggestion is to write two separate lists. One list will be all the items you need to do for your business to keep it running. The other will be a list of the tasks you do as a mother. It can be overwhelming at first but once you have completed it, you can categorize the tasks by asking what can I DUPLICATE, DELEGATE, and AUTOMATE?
I’ll give a short example of a business list:
-Short reels for Instagram and Facebook (social media marketing)
-Monthly email newsletter
-End of month bookkeeping
-Photos for social media
Now let’s ask ourselves what can we DUPLICATE, DELEGATE, and AUTOMATE? Let’s break it down further.
-Short reels for Instagram and Facebook (social media marketing) (Automate and Duplicate and/or Delegate)
Short reels are easy to automate when you have a short intro of different clips that is part of your branding. This can be done by a professional, a friend, and yourself. Be sure to take many different product clips, action shots, and a variety of different angles. You can change up videos when you do lives or for an announcement.
-Monthly email newsletter (Duplicate AND Automate)
Have a template that you use regularly. You can change out products or add blog links but the overall template doesn’t change. Have this scheduled and ready to go for months in advance to save you time.
-End of month bookkeeping (Delegate)
You can find an accounting student or hire a bookkeep for an hour or two, depending on business needs. If you do this monthly, you will free yourself from having to do the accounting tasks which could take hours. Having someone that is dedicated to handling that side of your business frees you do make more sales or spend time doing things you love.
-Photos for social media (Duplicate and Automate)
I like to add a variety of different photos to my social media. I use product shots, selflies, and inspirational quotes. The good thing about quotes and product shots is that you can do a bunch in a small period of time and use them over a period of time. You can also duplicate the photos for later use (like a year or so). If you choose to do photoshoots for your social media, you can crop down your photos and get even more shorts for social media. Make sure you place everything on a social media calendar so you can post automatically.
What are you eliminate from your tasks?
Dedicating time to do this will bring you so much clarification on your priorities are. There are certain tasks that only you can perform like networking, your craft, and anything that requires your expertise. There is a fourth step that I like to talk about as well. WHAT CAN WE ELIMINATE? For me this is a hard one. I like to take on alot because I believe I need to learn all the skills and have expertise in them. It is impossible to know everything and to do everything. Take the same list and see what you are holding on to that you can just let go completely because it doesn’t serve you. This could mean looking at your social media analytics and noticing that you Tuesday Tips get to engagement so you take that out completely. You may also find that sales wise doing tradeshows are hindering your profits so you decide that you no longer do them. I like to do add this at the end because it may require research. For me personally, I need a moment to process things and let go. Letting go for me, sometimes feels like failing and that never sits well with me. The process will look different for everyone but it is important.
