How to Plan Your Business Mompreneur Style

How many times have you tried to scratch your head to figure out how in the world are you going to have an important meeting, yet have a busy 3-year-old asking you what does the "Del" key do on your laptop - while two seconds away from touching it and deleting your entire project? Being a mompreneur can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be the end all of end all. You probably wish you could even schedule a play date while you work! I'm going to give some tips on how to plan your business, while working around your bubbly bundles of joy.

Tips You Can Use

1. Schedule during a time you know your child is about to wind down for nap or resource time. Planning a FB Live tutorial video, watching a webinar, chat session with a new client should be planned around the time when you know it is time for the kids to give you some free time. It can be quite difficult to share tips and tricks of the trade when you have baby screaming their head off in the background.

2. Schedule when you are most focused. The great wonders of online businesses is that you can be flexible with your work hours. If you're most alert at 5:00 am while the kids are still snuggling, find your quiet space to blog, create content, and pre-record your videos. It's not a good idea if you've gotten cottonhead around lunch time, and while the kiddos are eating, you're just looking for a cup of coffee and a place to zone out.

3. Network with other mompreneurs. Yes! Someone who shares your story. Someone who knows the challenge of trying to focus on writing your next blog article, while young "Cody" is asking you to come help him color because he's bored. Find a time and place where you can both meet up and let the kids play away while you take turns monitoring them, learning more about them and their business, and getting some work done at the same time. This leads up to tip number four.

4. Find local play date meetups. Trade time with sanity. Join groups that offer to watch your sweetface, while you go to the room up the hall to answer e-mails, make important calls, and host that next great lead generating webinar. You will be surprised how play date meetups can save you time and peace of mind, and build your revenue.

5. Make smart task planning choices. Let's face it, tips 1-4 may work some of the time, but may not be foolproof all of the time. The life of an entrepreneur is demanding, and being a mompreneur is unpredictable. So, choose to plan your tasks wisely. During the hours when the kids are fully-loaded with energy, it's not a great time to schedule a time to chat with a sponsor. Take this time to check and respond to emails, add dates and tasks to your calendar that you didn't have time to do yesterday, check your to-do list and check off things you've accomplished to energize your efforts.

6. Purchase and use a day planner. Make your life a little bit easier and organized with jotting things down. As a mompreneur, it is easy to forget things and overbook yourself. To prevent additional frustration, map it out. Leave room for the unexpected (like "Cody" putting a lego block in his nose, causing you to cancel your perfect 1:00 naptime his time, 1:00 your meeting time). Only add tasks that will be achievable. Don't plan so much, that you only get one thing accomplished, and feeling like your entire day was defeated.

Being a mompreneur can be rewarding. If you're choosing to raise the kiddos at home, but want to work to build a legacy for them, or if you're opting to build your business so that you can spend more time with your kids, where there is a will, there is a way.

CLICK HERE to get your resource list of child-friendly places where you can also have work time for you.

Planning Soon for a Wedding in June: Bride's Plans

On the last blog post, we talked about the immediate stages in planning a wedding quickly. This post is the follow up of planning a wedding soon. Now that you've gotten the basics taken care of (I hope so), now we're going to go into warped speed to get to the bride's plans and the groom's stand.

I hope that you took advantage of the free budget planner from the last blog. If not, there's still the opportunity to go and get it! It is a lifesaver and helps to guide you throughout this process of planning your wedding, whether it's soon in June or later in October. Most planners give you a checklist to plan your wedding at least one year in advance, but when he pops the question or she finally says "yes," you might want to go ahead and move fast forward ahead.

This blog post, we're going to wrap up everything neatly with a bow and cross all "t's" and dot all "i's". So here we go:

Perfect Planning

Alright, you have your maid or matron of honor in place, and it's her duty to get things kicked off and get your engagement or bridal shower on the roll. I suggest that elaborate planning is not the way to go. Nice restaurants where you can rent out rooms are a hit for quick planning. Another nice place is a convention or community center or even your place of worship. Make sure you're checking your budget, and communicating with your maid/matron of honor on how much you have to spend so that the vendor and venue research stays within the time and budget for your wedding.

The Perfect Dress

Have you been biting your nails in search of the perfect wedding dress? Stop biting and take into consideration these nifty tips that can help streamline your search just in the nick of time. Wedding dresses can be found on sales sites, yard sales, trade sites, consignment stores, as well as bridal shops that have discounted dresses. Your perfect dress doesn't have to be the most expensive thing in your budget. Remember, you have to live after the wedding! You want a dress that speaks to your personality and compliment you as well as the occasion. Keep checking and have a sketch in your mind or on paper of what you want and do thorough searches for what you'd like. Keep in mind also that you have minimal time for fittings and if dieting to get in your dress is on your to-do list, make sure you purchase your dress at least one size larger, because most retail or wholesale outlets run their dresses a size smaller.

Who's Coming

This has to be one of the most stressful checklist items for any wedding, whether you plan six months in advance or two years in advance. Guessing who's coming can be nerve-wrecking when you're working on a budget and with limited time. Your guest list plays a crucial role in your wedding planning because it determines how much food your caterer makes, the size of your venue, as well as how much to spend on miscellaneous items like plates, forks, drinkware as well as paper and stationery for invitations and programs. Narrow down your list by speaking with the groom and going over your budget. It's important that you keep that guide in front of you. If you both have a large family, have an intimate setting with the immediate family and friends, and plan a nice large get-together some time down the road that just serves as a reception or welcome to the newlyweds. You want to also make sure that you account for out-of-town guests and search for hotels, inns, and other accommodations for your guests. Make sure that you're being considerate of their budgets as well to come and share in your special day.

The Cake

The wedding cake is the next to most important checklist item to a bride. The groom may not care what the cake looks like, just as long as it tastes good, but even in that, there is a process to finding just the right cake. Take your time and shop around. Go to social media and post recommendations on cake decorators and bakers. Make sure that you have your amount on what you intend to spend on the cake, your colors, your designs, as well as how many you plan to feed. All of this information is a time saver when consulting with a cake vendor. Schedule at least two tasting appointments to make sure that it fits into your schedule as well as the vendor's. And one mistake some brides make is that they don't take someone with them. Have a second opinion! Your taste buds and your companion's taste buds may be different. You want the cake to please you - but remember your guests are eating it too. And this also goes for the caterers. Use these same tips when planning your menu and arrangements for your food for your reception, rehearsal dinner or special meals. (Click HERE for 10 questions to ask your cake baker. Courtesy of theknot.com)

Entertainment

Are you planning on having entertainment at your reception? What about the ceremony? Who is singing, dancing, speaking, etc.? Get these people in line early on, and make sure you provide them with an itinerary of your rehearsals as well as expectations of them. Some brides leave it up to their entertainment and vendors, and then have a headache on their big day because they didn't spell out the expectations clearly. If you're hiring a DJ, make sure you give them a song list or a list of what is not acceptable to play. Make it clear how the payment arrangements will be as well as time expectations on when they are to arrive, where they are to set up, what part of the service they are to play and when they can break down to leave.

Planning a wedding is work. There is no easy way to plan it, but it can be done with strategic planning and budgeting. A wedding in June doesn't have to be thrown together, or condensed. You can have the day of your dreams with the right mindset and goal to get it done. And remember, it's not all about the big day, but about sharing with those you love the special day of being one with your partner forever.