Dandelions and Daydreams

Running a home requires focus. Starting a business requires focus. These two jobs collide when you, as an entrepreneur housewife, start a business in your living room. The jobs shout for your attention and threaten your dreams of being a success in both arenas. The entrepreneur housewife who lives with the cycle of laundry and business will quickly learn that success can only be achieved through balance.

I have found three tools for finding balance between running a household and starting a business. When I use these tools, at the end of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment, and by implementing these three tools, you can pursue your dreams of being a successful entrepreneur and a successful housewife.

• Set aside 4 hours a day for business work. I set aside 4 hours a day to work exclusively on my business. Since I have several jobs going at the same time, I alternate which job I am doing by day. This helps me to block out all the housework that is calling my name, and focus on building my business. I will get to the housework after these 4 hours are finished.

• Use www.igoogle.com’s Do 4 Me to do list, or a similar electronic to do list. I love this little tool because I can keep my to-do list on my computer rather than having it written on random scraps of paper that keep getting lost. The reason I picked the Do 4 Me to do list is because it allows me to separate my to-do list into categories. I have categories for books to read, posts to write, housework, and business work. The greatest advantage of having categories comes when I am doing the 4 hours of focused work daily. I can see at a glance what is the next thing to do on my business list.

• Use a timer. After my 4 hours of business work, I spend the rest of my day working on what is most needed. I use www.igoogle.com to do this too. Using the category and priority settings, I can see what needs to be worked on first. I will set my timer for 15 or 20 minutes and work on one task on my to do list. If I finish the task, I move to the next one and so on. When the timer goes off, I take a few minutes to mark items “done” and assess what I need to tackle next.