Keys to Increasing Mompreneur Productivity
Three things that professional moms strive for – sustainability, flexibility, and productivity. We always try to achieve all three to make our lives smoother. I can tell you from experience that all three relate to each other, so just by improving one, you will improve the rest!
So, how can you increase your productivity while being a busy mommy entrepreneur?
Your struggle with productivity depends on your personality type or where you are in your business. For instance, you could be a Mompreneur who:
✉️ Feels she’s stuck in her inbox
🕓 Wants to take advantage of every minute
🚧 Needs help setting boundaries
☔️ Takes on too much every day
🗓 Has her calendar filled with meetings
🌋 Gets overwhelmed with amount of daily tasks
⏳ Can’t fit in time for herself
Click on any topic above for tips and tricks to increase your productivity!
For the mom who feels she’s stuck in her inbox
A lot of my clients find their inboxes stressful. Here are some tips to make it more manageable!
➡️ Keep emails concise – The more fluff you have in your emails, the more time you spend writing them and the more time the recipient takes to read them.
➡️ Create Template Responses – Some responses you send over and over can be turned into a template and saved in your email account. The response is written and sent with a click of a button, saving you time and energy!
➡️ Only See Important Emails – That’s right! You can organize your inbox, so you don’t have to see anything unimportant. Everything can be organized into a category, so you know exactly where to find it and only spend time on the emails that require your attention.
Email is an essential communication tool for businesses, but that doesn’t mean it should consume your day or overwhelm you. You must ensure you see business-related emails and bypass all the spam!
For the mom who delegates
There’s a right way to delegate and a wrong way. Which have you tried?
If you’ve delegated in the past and it left you more frustrated, behind and defeated, you might not have followed these crucial steps:
➡️ Achieve More Together – Feedback is more important than ever when starting a team. You can expect your team to learn and improve without appropriate feedback. Everyone absorbs feedback differently, so find how your team receives input best. Once you find your sweet spot, you’ll be on a roll.
➡️ Enhance Skills With A Team – You might be doing everything right now, but there are, without a doubt, tasks within your business that are not your forté. Find people on your team who will take those tasks to the next level! Before long, you’ll be grooving in your flow, and so will your team.
➡️ Set Expectations – This is just as important as #1. There will be mishaps and miscommunications if you don’t set expectations with your team. Everyone is aware of what is desired when you have expectations in place.
➡️ Start Small – Don’t overload and overwhelm your team when they start. You might be eager to get things off your plate, but everyone will need time to adjust and learn. Overloading them will only lower their confidence and your trust in them, which won’t work out for you. Slow and steady wins the race; you will know when they are ready for more.
➡️ Train & Hand-Off – Training is vital if you want your team to perform tasks like you do! You are likely hiring someone with a different skill level than you, so they will need the training to increase their performance level. Also, building training that can be universal for anyone new is best, so you only have to create the training once.
For the mom who wants to take advantage of every minute
What do you do with the extra time between tasks, calls, or meetings?
There’s always something to do, even if you only have five minutes, two minutes, one minute.
Here’s an example:
You just got to a stopping point on an enormous task you are working on. You’d rather not start the next task because you have a meeting in 5 minutes. So what can you do in five minutes?
➡️ Write an email
➡️ Check emails to see if there are any you can mark read to get them out of your inbox
➡️ Prep materials for your meeting
➡️ Organize your tasks
➡️ Organize some files
The list can go on and on. The point is that there will always be time-consuming tasks and quick tasks on your to-do list. By utilizing the time you have, you can check off more times from your list, hence making you more productive!
Start by recognizing the small time gaps and utilizing them to your advantage. Because your brain knows it has limited time to complete the task, you will focus more on knocking it out. Lastly, when you mark it off your list, you will feel productive and motivated to do more!
Tips for the mom who needs help setting boundaries (because she’s constantly getting interrupted or people think they can come to her about anything, and she won’t say no)
The best first step is to ask yourself what you are willing to do and not do. You can’t do everything, and you’re not available 24 hours a day, so where do your boundaries lie?
➡️ Create a working Mom schedule, preferably a digital schedule
My schedule is on my Google Calendar, and I always have it open on my computer to keep myself on track. It’s also easy to pull up on the go or share with anyone who needs to know my availability.
➡️ Pause Notifications – Set your email settings not to notify you between certain times. Put your phone on “do not disturb.” Pause notifications on every device, and platform.
➡️ Set an auto-responder on your emails
Your inbox is the main platform everyone is using to communicate with you. With an auto-responder, your clients can receive an instant reply that alerts them of your availability, response time, and vacation dates.
➡️ Have your boundaries visible everywhere
Don’t give anyone an excuse why they didn’t know your boundaries. Place them on your website, auto-responder, contracts, welcome packets, etc. Leave no stone unturned! And this doesn’t just apply to clients; you can also utilize this strategy for the notorious friends and family that like to pop their heads in.
➡️ Keep Doors Shut – The quickest way to let others know you are busy and want to focus is by closing your office door. I’ve even seen companies get signs on their door, like a “do not disturb.”
➡️ Wear Headphones – The open concept is trendy nowadays, making it difficult to focus with uncontrollable distractions. Investing in noise-canceling headphones might be something you need.
➡️ Provide Ample Information – If you feel you answer other people’s questions all day, you need to start providing more information. If you anticipate their questions, you can assemble all the answers they will need. It might take a few extra minutes beforehand, but having them interrupt you every five minutes is less productive.
Without boundaries, anyone and everyone will come to you about the littlest thing. They will interrupt any time of day! You will end your day feeling unaccomplished and stressed going into the next day as deadlines get closer.
Boundaries are essential, and they are a necessity for setting yourself up for success! The sooner you have them in place, the more productive you can be. Don’t wait any longer.
For the mom who takes on too much every day
Don’t know where to start setting daily goals? Here are some tips.
➡️ Prioritize your goals – It’s a great idea to have a master list of your goals and break them into quarterly, monthly, and then daily. Tackling daily goals turns into small accomplishments, then leads to one large goal you can feel great about checking off!
➡️ Follow the SMART guidelines when creating goals – After you’ve broken your master list down, you can make them super detailed, making it easier to accomplish them!
➡️ Less is more – We all tend to underestimate how long tasks will take each day. God for bid, there’s a fire you need to put out. On average, setting 3-5 daily goals is a great place to start, but if you often feel you don’t get enough accomplished, begin with two daily goals.
➡️ Schedule time for each of them – You should set due dates and plan out how much time you allow yourself to complete tasks daily. If you don’t block time for it, then most likely, you are going to have interruptions and meetings scheduled, leaving you very little time to accomplish anything.
For the mom whose calendar is filled with meetings
Who has time for meetings? We’re all busy! These tips help make them quick and easy!
➡️ Change your meeting style – Have you heard of a stand-up meeting? Standing keeps people alert and focused, making the conversation flow better.
➡️ Plan agendas – Include all topics and the time you’ll spend on each. Share it with attendees to help everyone stay on track and concentrate on the planned topics.
➡️ Attend virtually – I’ve said it once and will repeat it: We are all busy. Everyone wants a flexible schedule, and by attending meetings virtually, you can pop on and off without interfering with your other plans for the day. Studies also show that virtual meetings automatically take less time than in-person meetings because you are less likely to hang around to chit-chat.
➡️ Have fewer meetings – If we organize our work and use the project management tools effectively, there should be less need for meetings. Also, other tools can be used to communicate with your team members without coordinating schedules for meetings, and Loom is an excellent example. Record a video of yourself or your screen, share it. You and your team can record, comment, and watch independently.
Being BUSY is just the norm these days, so we have to think outside the box and utilize resources that will make our lives less hectic and flexible so we don’t feel like we are being overwhelmed.
For the mom who gets overwhelmed with the amount of daily tasks
Here are some great tips if you feel your productivity levels have been low!
➡️ Concentrate on your most extensive and time-consuming tasks before working on smaller and shorter ones first.
➡️ Get to know your energy and work at the time of day when you are most alert and energized!
➡️ Plan your tasks based on the time it takes you and the time of day you work best.
For the mom who can’t fit in time for herself
Self care for moms is probably one of the most challenging things to implement into our schedules!
Someone once said, “You should always start your day by doing items for yourself because once you start working on tasks for someone else, you will never take a break until you stop for the day.”
I found this to be very accurate in my schedule, and immediately, I started blocking off my mornings to give myself time to get a few things done.
When I have that time to accomplish items for myself, I feel more motivated and focused and less sidetracked throughout the day.
Here are six ways you can use your mornings to incorporate more time for yourself and feel more productive throughout the rest of your day:
➡️ Start your day by staying hydrated, making your bed, getting caffeinated, showering, and getting out of your lounge attire.
➡️ Make it brighter by going outside to get some sun, stretching, walking, or doing an activity to get your body moving.
➡️ Enjoy time with others by getting your family ready for the day and spending extra time with your partner or having breakfast with a friend.
➡️ Create space for your emotions by journaling, meditating, practicing prayer, and setting a daily intention.
➡️ Get inspired by reading a book, listening to a podcast, making time for reflection, strategizing, reviewing or setting goals, and prioritizing.
➡️ Push toward your ambitions by learning something new and working on long-term goals.
For the Mom who is a perfectionist
Perfectionism is a term I’ve heard recently; many at home working moms say they struggle to complete even the smallest of tasks. Becoming a woman of success is tough to begin with, but when adding perfectionism into the mix, it can be even more challenging.
Check out my tips for business success and learn strategies to tame your perfectionism.
