No two days are alike, that’s for sure. But I think perhaps that’s the best thing about being self-employed and working from home.
I’ve seen the topic come up a lot in discussion forums lately. People want to know what it is that we do from our home office, or they want to know if there are things they could be doing better from theirs. Or maybe they just want to know if weird is normal, or normal is weird…
As for me, my schedule is so flexible that is more of a non-schedule. There are times I start my day at 5am, and other times that I end it at 5am. Of course, during the school year I get up early with the children and so I’m more likely to be working during the day.
School started back for my two today, by the way. The house was so strangely quiet that it was unsettling, and so I decided it was a good day to run errands. I browsed the car lot while I was out, and have my eye on a 2001 model Jeep Cherokee that was priced right. I also stopped in and had my hair done, and then had lunch with some friends uptown.
I had started my work day at 5:30 this morning, so by 9:30 or 10 o’clock I pretty much had the things done that I wanted to accomplish today. Plus I knew I could work a couple of hours this evening if I wanted - once the kids were in, fed and settled down for the night.
I can easily fit an 8-hour work day into every day of the week, and still find plenty of time to do the things I need and/or want to do outside of that. And I do. I have friends who stop in for coffee, things I like to do with the kids, sleepovers on the weekends, a 2-mile walk in the evenings, and I do my grocery shopping when there is no traffic and no lines at the checkouts.
As for my actual work routine, I do have ‘daily rounds’ every morning which includes (in order):
- Check Email
- Manage orders, replies, etc that came in overnight
- Moderate & respond to blog comments
- Moderate my discussion forum (& approve new members)
- Post new entries to my blog(s)
- Check Email again
Of course, most of that is relatively quick & easy so the rest of my working hours are spent writing content, creating products, brainstorming new ideas, researching niche markets, getting new links to my sites, checking in on other active forums, analyzing stats, contacting potential JV partners, reading blogs that I enjoy, and things like that (in no particular order).
I think its important (or at least it is for *me*) to have those daily tasks noted and to do them first. Otherwise it’s entirely too easy to let the “and things like that” list snowball and take up your entire day… leaving you feeling scattered and behind on the important tasks.
Everyone’s home office set-up and schedule is going to be different, as we are all different people with different business models. Even two affiliate marketers may approach their online business completely different.
I think this might be frustrating for people who are new to internet-based business, and that would like nothing more than a blueprint to go by and a schedule that is proven to work. But what works best in this business is finding out what works best for you.
But if you want to see what it’s like in MY home office on any given day, check out this video clip taken during my “morning routine”:
And yes - I’m keeping my “day job” 
lol
Tags: wahm, work at home mom, working from home, flexible schedule, financial freedom
16 responses so far ↓
Delecia Meza // Aug 13, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Thanks for sharing!
I too find that having a “to do list” and completing those tasks first help me, otherwise I get on some wild rabbit trail and dont get the things done that need to be done! Another words, my day is much more productive
Sandy Naidu // Aug 14, 2007 at 3:23 am
Interesting…I love reading about the daily schedules of other Whams. I enjoy working from home. I love the flexibility and the freedom that comes with it. I have two kids. The older is in kindy. The younger is a year old and is with me 24*7. Its a bit tough to get things done with him around. I normally work in the nights when the kids are asleep. Its bit hectic but no complaints. Life will become bit more sane once he starts pre-school (or so they say)
Sandy
Lynn Terry // Aug 14, 2007 at 5:53 am
Me being a “they”
I used to say that too, as I started working from home when mine were 5 months and 5 years old. My son started K when he was almost 6 (his birthday is past the cut-off date) so they were both home with me for 8 or 9 months before he began school.
By the time my youngest was ready to start K, and my son 4th grade, I homeschooled for a couple of years. So it was a little bit longer for me.
But you’re right - it does get easier over time
Carrie Wigal // Aug 14, 2007 at 8:57 am
When I started online, my daughter was just a few months old…I didn’t want to have to go back to work, so that was my motivation to get something going from home.
I kept telling myself over the years it would get easier working from home once she started school. But that doesn’t work when you keep having babies. LOL
She’ll be starting Pre-K next year…she too missed the cutoff date. But given the birth of my latest…I still have a ways to go before I don’t have a child with me 24/7.
But I’m finding too that it does get easier as they get older.
Lynn Terry // Aug 14, 2007 at 9:09 am
I so enjoyed your blog post, Carrie - thanks for sharing the link
Stephanie // Aug 14, 2007 at 11:32 am
I’m thinking on how to rework my son’s nap schedule so that he might sleep while his sister is at school. Her kindergarten runs until 1 in the afternoon, so if I can switch my 2-1/2 year old to a morning nap rather than afternoon, I’ll get quiet time, and they’ll have the afternoon to play together.
Nell // Aug 17, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I loved the video! I think you’ve inspired me to do a video about my typical morning…mine’s a bit more chaotic!
Lynn Terry // Aug 17, 2007 at 11:20 pm
You should - I’d love to see it!
It can get pretty crazy around here too. My 10yo daughter often has a houseful of girls over and my son plays bass - and of course, I’m singing off key over the top of all of that usually
ChristyK // Aug 19, 2007 at 7:48 pm
lol, Lynn. Cute video. I see you have 2 flatscreens as well. My husband bought me a second one for my birthday earlier this year (large wide-screen). He said I’d never go back to using one and he was right. It should be a basic requirement for all who work online.
There’s a great Firefox addon that helps with the morning routine (which you may be aware of) called Session Manager. It’s at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2324 and it let’s you save a group of sites that you visit on a regular basis. So you can click one button and all sites that are part of your routine will load at once. It sometimes takes few minutes for everything to load so click the button, grab your coffee (or water bottle in my case) and then get started.
Tishia Lee // Aug 20, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Love the video….and the singing
I have to have a ‘to do’ list for the day or I’d never accomplish anything other than spinning my wheels and surfing the net and reading blogs:-)
hans // Aug 23, 2007 at 10:46 am
thanks for the info, Lynn. I like your presscut theme; how did you get the gray area on either side of the content?(coding) I would like that, too, because it nicely pops out your copy.
thanks,
hans
Lynn Terry // Aug 23, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Thank you, Hans. I dont recall specifically but I imagine you can edit the css file and manipulate the page background color easily.
Casual Friday Everyday » My Morning As A WAHM - Video Post // Aug 27, 2007 at 1:09 pm
[...] Lynn Terry posted a video of her morning routine. It was so fun to watch what other work-at-home mom’s mornings are like, what they do first thing, and what their office looks like. [...]
Alyssa@Lifefrommylaptop // Aug 27, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I’m curious about the two screens as well. How does that work? I have a laptop so it most likely wouldn’t. I also like another commenter use session manager. I wish I had a digital cam corder to do a video.
Lynn Terry // Aug 27, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Its pretty easy actually - and laptops are already set up to do dual monitors. You’ll see a plug-in for a monitor on the back of your laptop so you dont need any additional hardware.
With a desktop computer you need a special video card that supports dual monitors (it has two connectors on the back of it - one for each monitor).
Lynn Terry // Aug 27, 2007 at 6:26 pm
p.s. See this link:
http://www.clicknewz.com/437/working-with-dual-monitors/
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