time management

I run a successful direct sales business and I am also a Mom of 3 children.

And these two identities are not mutually exclusive. (Well, most of the time…)

I’ve been running a direct selling business for sixteen years now and I’ve built it up to a multi-million dollar turnover.

During that time I achieved my Masters Degree, I had 3 children, and I moved to a completely new area.

And I’ve only been able to do that because I work in the direct selling industry.

I believe that the direct selling industry is a perfect industry for women because you can run a successful, profitable business and be an engaged mother at the same time.

There are no glass ceilings and you can make the business as big or small as you want to.

For the past fifteen years I’ve loved my work and I’ve talked up the virtues of the direct selling industry to anybody who’d listen.

But it didn’t hit me how valuable this flexibility really is until my 6-year old daughter was diagnosed with acute leukemia nearly 2 years ago.

Running a business from a hospital room

With my direct selling business I have been able to work from my daughter’s hospital room. Other parents I’ve met on the paediatric oncology ward have had to give up their job or put their career on hold, causing further stress in the family.

But I’ve been able to keep my business going, keep my sanity by giving me an outlet for my own needs, and continue to provide an income.

All the while I can also support my daughter as she’s battling this illness, and continue to be a mother for my other two children. I don’t know of any other industry where you can do that!

As you can see I’m pretty passionate about the direct selling industry. And this passion has led me to establish Direct Sales Inspiration. I want to help as many women as possible achieve their dreams in this industry and enjoy the fabulous flexibility that I’ve been able to enjoy.

Learn to work in snatches of time

The biggest tip I have for budding business Mom’s is: Don’t expect to work 9-5.

Work when the children are asleep. Work when they are at school, pre-school, or day-care. Work when they’re with the grandparents. Find snatches of time where you can work on your business.

Here are some ideas to help you to do that:

Take multi-tasking to the next level. You can make business calls while you’re walking a little one in a pram. Make sure you’re ready to go on your business calls when you go for a walk and you’ll be working on your business, providing stimulation to your child and getting exercise. Win!
Create task folders for everything you need to do on a particular part of your business. Set it up so that you can just grab it and take it with you. You’ll be amazed how productive you can be while you’re waiting at gymnastics or swimming lessons.
If you have to do coaching-type calls with people, hold group calls or tele-conferences so you don’t have to keep covering the same ground with different people. Group the calls into topics and allow multiple people to benefit from them.
Download training materials onto your tablet or phone so that you can access them when you have a few spare minutes. Always have some training or inspirational videos or audio books ready to go.
For one or more nights a week, organize “Office Evenings”. As soon as your partner arrives home, you go to the office to get some work done. By having an agreement in place you won’t get stuck in the “could you do….while I …..” conversations. Kids will soon get used to it too.
Get up an hour before the kids so you can get the most important tasks for that day done.
Have “work toys”. These are special toys for the kids that they only get to play with while you need to do work. They’re great for those times you absolutely have to get something finished or take a call while the kids are with you. You can also use a tablet with a few games or YouTube videos that they only get access to while you’re working.

Always be ready to knock over some work

These are the things that have worked for me, they may not work for you. However, it’s the mind-set that counts.

That attitude of always being ready to work on your business, ensuring you’re always ready to knock over a task when the opportunity presents itself. If you develop that attitude, then you can develop your own practices to suit your business and family life.

Also, check these video interviews for more ideas and experiences of Mumpreneurs.

Update: I recently found this amazing direct sales planner. I it so much that I’m excited to promote it. It helps me to set goals and I can plan out my month, my week, my social media, my follow-ups….I can plan EVERYTHING in the one place. Check it out here.

Working In Your Business vs. Working On Your Business

There’s a difference between working in your business and working on your business. Allow me to explain…

I noticed that when I started to treat my direct sales business as a business, rather than a hobby I did on the side, it started to grow. Massively.

Instead of just doing the parties, working to get bookings, and fulfilling orders (working in my business), I began to work on activities to grow my business (working on my business).

The most important thing I did to make this work was to set aside time to do the things that would help me to get ahead. And I also made my business portable so I could work in small pockets of time.

When I started to plan my time across all aspects of my direct sales business (bookings, hosting, social media, recruiting, etc.) to keep a balance in my efforts things started to really improve. I made sure I worked in the business to deliver awesome service and maintain an income now, and I worked on the business for future growth.

Balancing your energies and efforts is important. For example, if you only spend your time and energy on finding new people to sponsor, you will soon run out of party bookings and your business and orders will fizzle out. But if you only spend time on getting new bookings, you’re not growing your team and you’re running on the spot (just faster).

Like the circus act, you have to keep all the plates spinning or they’ll fall and break!

Planner

To help me maintain that balance and keep myself focused, I developed my own weekly planner.

I found using this planner to be super helpful because once I started to actually allocate times, I stopped trying to do everything all the time. I stopped replying to messages, making host coaching calls, or be on social media while really I wanted to be with my children.

Now I could be with the children and give them my full attention because that was time I had freed specifically to be with them.

During the times I had allocated for business activities, I was able to focus and be more productive because I wasn’t trying to do 5 things at once while feeling guilty for not spending enough quality time with the children.

I also negotiated times with my husband to work in my home office for a few evenings while he organized the kids so I could work on my business, adding to my available work time.

Using the planner stopped me from feeling overwhelmed because the boundaries between work and home life were no longer blurred.

When I was with the children, that was my time with the children. When I was at work, I could focus fully on work and be productive.

Using the planner also helped to plan other important activities for myself, such as exercise, date nights, etc. Self-care is important and the planner helped me to make time for it.

To-Do List & Making Business Portable

To focus my work time, I used specific to-do lists for each aspect of my business, such as party bookings, sponsoring, host coaching, etc. This meant I could walk to my office and be immediately productive because I always knew what I had to do.

Additionally, I created folders for each of those aspects of my business. This way I could grab a folder and start work and have everything on hand that I needed.

This also made my business portable.

If I had some waiting time, for example waiting at gymnastics or basketball, I could grab a folder and my to-do list and make these times incredibly productive. Waiting for the kids never felt like wasted time.

Even if you only have 15 minutes, you’ll be surprised by how much you can get done if you’re organised and ready to work.

Over the years I’ve trained many people on this system (using a weekly planner, business to-do lists and portable folders) in their direct sales business. The people who actually implemented this system reported a big boost to their business and a big increase in the quality of life as their work-life balance improved.

Update: This system has been so popular that I’ve now designed a direct sales planner – no more bits of paper lying around everywhere!

It’s pretty, super useful and designed specifically for direct sellers and party plan consultants.

Start Free Trial for the Full Platform

How to Use the System

Planner

Grab the Planner download and print it off. You’ll find a timed version and a version without times so you can put your own time blocks in.

You’ll notice that it’s divided in hourly blocks of time and the days of the week. Now cross out the times you definitely can’t work on your business because you have other commitments.

Also cross out the times you need to keep fee for personal time, such as exercise, time with family, etc. Alternatively you can write in these time blocks what you’re doing.

Now look at the times you have left. That’s the time you can allocate to working on your business. Grab a highlighter or colored pens and allocate some time to each aspect of your business (bookings, sponsoring, host coaching, customer care, social media, or other).

Some people like to write in the time blocks what activity they’re doing, some people use color coding and highlighters. Use whatever works best for you.

To-Do Lists

Grab the To-Do List download and print it off.

On the sheet you can see the different headings that correspond with different aspects of most direct sales businesses. There’s also an unlabeled spot for your specific needs (or you can use it for notes). Now sort all your business activities for this week under the various headings.

Folders

Use the To-Do List headings for your folders. You can put everything you need to complete the tasks in these folders so you can easily grab them when you have a pocket of time. So you’d have a Host Coaching folder, a Bookings folder, a Sponsoring folder, etc.

So there you have it: the complete system to plan time to work in your business and on your business and you’ve made your business portable!

I’d love to hear how you implement these tools in your business and which topics you add to your planners. Remember to send me a message and let me know.

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