The 5 Best Hacks You NEED To Be A Productive Mompreneur

If you’re reading this article, then like me, you’re probably striving to become a more productive mompreneur. Well, I’ve got some great tips for you momma!

As Small Business Trends states, “When a woman sets up and runs her own business on top of caring for her young child or children, she’s considered a ‘mompreneur’, an inspiring figure for sure, who’s faced with many rewards, as well as challenges.”

Being a mompreneur can be exciting and fulfilling. But trying to be a productive mompreneur, though, is where the challenges can start…

When I transitioned to working from home, in order to start and grow my online business, it felt like the ideal situation. I imagined having lots of flexibility, more freedom to work on my dream job (working for myself!), and thought I would easily have more time available for my kids. But then reality set in and hit me hard on the head!

Yes, I can build this business from home, but my home life was still…there lol. My kids still have their ups and downs (a.k.a. meltdowns). My home still needs to be managed ( i.e. cooking, cleaning, homework, etc.). My husband and I still have a marriage that should always be prioritized. Also, my chronic health issues still have to be managed on a daily basis.

I jumped into the mompreneur role with eagerness to help other moms with managing mom-life while taking care of themselves, but I was drowning!

I had developed productivity and organizational strategies to manage my life as a mom, while working outside of the home as a licensed psychotherapist. But in order to transition successfully into being a productive work-from-home mompreneur, I had to use different strategies to effectively manage my business and my family life.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have my days when things don’t go perfectly, because that’s just life. But, I feel more in control of my days now, because of these tried and true strategies that I use to be a productive mompreneur.

These tips will also be helpful for any mom working from home! My goal is to help you feel more in control of balancing working from home, while taking care of your family and yourself!

Schedule Breaks/Time Off In Advance!

When I was working in-office doing therapy, one of the best ways that I was able to get myself through the day was to plan for a vacation 🌞. I loved my job, but being a therapist can be emotionally draining. Honestly, most jobs can be draining.

It was helpful for me to have a vacation day to look forward to. It made me more productive, particularly as the vacation was approaching, because I knew that I had to get tasks completed before I left for vacation.

Once I became a mompreneur, I quickly realized that the redundancy of the day was making me less and less productive. Plus, I was getting really bored! Lol

So I decided to schedule my breaks, and this gave me something to look forward to during my “working” hours.” This hack led to me being more productive, because just like with my office job, I knew I had to complete certain tasks before my breaks.

Not to mention the fact that it broke up the monotony of the day. I wasn’t as bored! Lol

More importantly though, it’s healthy to take screen breaks. Prolonged screen time is associated with increased chance of developing health issues such as eye strain, headaches, increased risk of obesity, impaired social skills, depression, anxiety, poor sleep and other many other health issues.

Remember HEALTH IS WEALTH! You can’t be a productive or happy mompreneur, if you don’t take care your well-being ❤️

Bonus! You can find 8 Practical Tips for Overcoming Mom Burnout in this article here!

Adjust Your Schedule Every Week ( Maybe Even Daily) To Be A More Productive Mompreneur

In an ideal world, it would be great to keep the same work routine every week in order to have more predictability in your life.

Realistically though….there’s not much that’s predictable about being a mom.

Just last week, I had to re-adjust my schedule because my 5 year old daughter was diagnosed with double pneumonia and my 12 year old son sprained his ankle at school. I’ve had to go to the pediatrician’s office 3 times in the last week.

So needless to say, my schedule HAD to be re-adjusted last week😭

In the past, these major interruptions in my routine would have seriously discouraged me. I would feel as though “nothing will ever get done.”

I still felt frustrated about not being as productive as I wanted to be last week. Then I reminded myself that I didn’t have to throw all my plans out of the window. I just needed to re-adjust.

In order to not feel discouraged, I pulled out my planner, looked at my schedule and moved my tasks to different days of the week. I also crossed off the tasks that I knew weren’t really a priority.

By doing this, I felt more in control of my mom-life madness!

Re-adjusting your schedule is an effective way to empower yourself when mom-life and entrepreneurial life collide. Part of being a successful and productive mompreneur is to accept that there will be ups and downs when it comes to productivity, profits and motivation.

Eventually though, as you learn from the obstacles, there will be more progress and success coming your way!

Readjust your mindset, re-adjust your schedule and re-adjust your priorities. Trust me: you’ll feel better and be more productive when you do!

Use Time-Blocking As a Tool for Increased Productivity

Time-Blocking can be a real game-changer when it comes to boosting your productivity, especially as a mompreneur!

Time-blocking involves designating sections of times (blocks of time) for one particularly category of tasks or responsibilities. For instance, you could block off 2 hours a day working on writing, then 1 hour dedicated to exercising, then 2 hours of learning time for your preschooler. These are just a few examples of how you can use time-blocking when scheduling your day.

The key to effectively using time-blocking is to only focus on the category of tasks that have designated for each block of time. No multitasking. The focus is on quality, not quantity.

I have found that time blocking not only improves the quality of my work, but also the quantity. On top of that, I feel a lot LESS stressed and more focused!

If you’d like more info on time blocking, you can learn more through this step-by-step guide to time blocking that I found on Monday.com

Now don’t forget to block out time for self-love! Taking care of yourself as you pursue mompreneur life should be a requirement!

Self-love can be as simple as getting away from your laptop to read a book or planning for a warm bath. When you schedule time to take care of yourself (yes, actually schedule it!), you will be empowering yourself and you’ll feel good!

I have some great ideas on how to practice self-love in this article:

7 Self-Love Activities Every Mom Needs In Her Life! (You can thank me later 😊)

Use Music To Increase Your Productivity & Improve Focus

Music can truly be helpful with improving concentration and focus, if you use it the right way.

Music can increase dopamine levels, which in turn gives a well-deserved boost in your mood. I don’t know about you, but I can always use help with boosting my mood!

A simple yet effective strategy for increasing your productivity is to listen to the same music when you are in work mode. I created a “work music” playlist on my Youtube app and I only listen to it when I am working. All of the songs are upbeat instrumental music, which works best for me. You will need to figure out the best type of music that works for you. Oncee you do, stick with it.

I only listen to this playlist when I’m working. So now I’ve developed a strong association between my work music and being productive. My mind and body have actually learned to associate my “work music” with mompreneur mode!

This simple hack makes it easier for me to transition to a productive mindset at while working at home. This is a great way to get your mindset to transition from mom-life to productive mompreneur life.

Here are a few more tips to making music work for you when you are in productive mompreneur mode:

• Find songs that are the least distracting for you. Aim for neutral songs
• Listen to the music that has few or no words. The less words, the better.
• If you’re using Youtube find music videos with a static image (to decrease visual stimulation)
• Avoid songs that have music/images/lyrics that may bring up any distracting thoughts/feelings.

Share in the comments below, if you use music when you’re in mompreneur mode. We’d love to hear about how it works for you!

TURN OFF Social Media & Focus on Boss Mode!

This should really be a no-brainer, but it has to be highlighted!

I know that avoiding social media is incredibly hard to do. I fall into the social media trap ALL THE TIME…ugh…

But if you truly want to be a productive mompreneur than turning off or limiting your time on social media, when you are in work mode, is a necessity.

The temptation is just too strong. Social media is literally designed to keep you on your devices and to keep you coming back. For better or worse, that’s how they make money.

Here are few tips that you can use to limit social media use:

• Leave your phone in a separate room or area, so it isn’t easily accessible
• Turn off notifications
• Set app limits within your phone
• Let family members/friends know when you are scheduled for work mode. Hopefully, they will wait to interrupt you with current events or breaking news topics that can wait
• Delete social media apps on your phone, and instead use your web browser to go on those sites after you’re done working (the apps are designed to keep you mindlessly scrolling)

If you’re looking for apps to assist you with limiting your social media or online usage, Insider has an article listing 3 apps that are supposedly effective with decreasing the online distractions, so you can increase your productivity. I haven’t tried these apps yet, but feel free to comment below and share your experiences, if you have 😊

That’s all for now!

What are your tried-and-true hacks for increasing your productivity while in mompreneur or work-from home mode? Let’s support one another ❤️

Take care!

~Val

Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:35