Why I Work from Home One Day Each Week
I became a full-time entrepreneur almost 2 years ago. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that I have to keep myself focused when I work.
I co-own The Salvaged Boutique with my sister, Karen. Over the years working with me, she identified that she will focus on one project at a time and that I, on the other hand, will juggle multiple projects all while bouncing back and forth handling other tasks at the same time. It’s ridiculous.
For the store, I handle all of the back-end and online tasks. The website, social media, email correspondence, bookkeeping, accounting, marketing, order management and more.
Within the first year, I realized that I wasn’t getting these tasks accomplished while I was in the store. So, I would take time away from my personal schedule to get these things done.
When you’re in the store and customers walk in, deliveries are being made, or other people are popping in to discuss things, it’s hard to stay focused on those other tasks that need to get finished.
So, I had a conversation with my sister about working from home one day a week.
It takes discipline. Because you’ll find family members may assume that because you’re at home, you can do home-related tasks. But, you will have to stay firm. I’m not home to do laundry, dishes, catch up on tv shows, or clean. I’m home to work on the business!
My day starts when Karen’s day starts at the store and that’s 10 am. My workday ends when Karen’s day ends and that’s 4 pm. If I make a personal appointment, I guarantee that it’s at 4:15 or 4:30 pm.
I know it’s a privilege to work from home, but it’s also a gift to our business. I get SO much done on my Thursdays at home and that means I’m not sacrificing personal time for myself, or with my family and friends.
Work at Home Tasks
What do I handle on my work-from-home days? Here’s a list:
- Social media scheduling and planning – I’ve been working on scheduling one full week’s worth of social media posts
- Weekly bookkeeping – we use the Profit First system so we have multiple accounts and it helps to stay current on bookkeeping every week
- Monthly accounting – I reconcile EVERY month around the 15th – if I wait too long it becomes overwhelming
- Email correspondence – I use this day to make sure all emails have been responded to from the past week and clean out our emails
- Custom order requests – I keep all of our custom services requests and orders organized in a Trello board and I use time on Thursdays to keep this organized and add any new requests from the past week
- Order management – I take a look at upcoming shipments we can expect, I re-evaluate orders and determine if we really need the merchandise we ordered
- Strategy and event planning – I dedicate a few hours each month to planning events, corresponding with subcontractors, posting events on our website and social media, and reaching out to potential vendors to collaborate with
- Inventory management – if we have new inventory to add to our point-of-sale system, I try to handle some of this from home
You might be thinking “well, I don’t have a business partner”, but you probably have at least one part-time employee. Have faith in them or train them to cover you for one day or maybe even half a day. Make this part of your routine or schedule.
I get it. We wear so many hats, but we also need help and sometimes we just need to focus.
Do you give yourself some time away from your shop to focus on other aspects of your business? Comment below and tell me about it!
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