Working From Home as a Nonprofit Consultant: 4 Tips to Keep Time on Your Side

By Betsy Baker

“T-i-i-immmme is on my side” or so The Rolling Stones tell me. I’m not so sure about that. I run a busy nonprofit consulting business, I have a five year old son whose preschool ends early afternoon, a household to clean, dinner to cook, bills to pay, errands to manage…are any of these “to-do’s” sounding familiar? I knew that I wanted to work from home many years ago, and I’m very thankful that I made the decision to do so, but the reality and my perception of what it would be like are two very different things. Fortunately, over the years I’ve developed habits that help keep my home and business life balanced and in check. Want to know my secrets to managing precious time wisely? If you want to work from home, or already are and about ready to tear your hair out, of course you do. Keep reading.

Review your entire week on Sunday evening - Especially if you have a family, the number one piece of advice that I can give you in managing your time wisely is to look at your calendar on Sunday evenings for the upcoming week. I review the client appointments I have, what my family has on the schedule, what personal things I need to do and what work projects I need to get accomplished for that week. To me, it just creates a lot less stress on Monday morning if I know exactly what I have for the week. I then assign all of my tasks a date and time to be completed.

Be an early riser - I also get up each day before anyone else in the house to review what it is I have going on that day and to make adjustments in my schedule if needed. I actually have blocks of time on my calendar dedicated to certain tasks and if I need to rearrange those then I don’t feel so harried in the middle of the day. I’ve already decided that morning how to best juggle them and I know that nothing is being left undone.

Break up your day into manageable chunks – Don’t feel like you have to be chained to your computer during all of your scheduled work time. At the office, you have friends and co-workers that give you natural breaks but at home you don’t have that. Brain work is exhausting. Be sure to break up your work into chunks of time. Work whatever is comfortable for you and then take a snack break, or check your email or Facebook and just relax for a little while. You’ll feel a lot more refreshed when you give yourself little breaks like that.

Speaking of Facebook… - Be disciplined with your time spent online “goofing.” You know what I mean by this – Facebook, Farmville, Youtube. I’m dating myself but ten years ago when I jumped from full-time employment to working at home for myself, I didn’t have nearly the distractions that I do now. I know that internet entertainment can suck you in just like it does me but I’ve come to rely on the importance of timing myself. It is so easy to lose thirty minutes of precious time just by checking your Facebook. You might benefit from one of those egg timers to catch yourself. I have a timer on my microwave that I use. You may not even need that kind of discipline but I admit it – I do. I am naturally a time waster and a procrastinator so I have to use these little adjustments to keep me on track.

Even with all the time stressors and distractions, I still wouldn’t trade one minute for working from home to going back to an office. You can do it too! For more tips on successful nonprofit consulting, be sure to download my free ebook The Easy Action Plan to Create a Profitable Nonprofit Consulting Biz!

About the Author
Betsy Baker is a grant writing guru, consulting business coach and speaker and is founder of Your Grant Authority. She is dedicated to helping people jumpstart their own work-from-home career and helping nonprofits find a solution to finally end their financial struggles. FREE grant writing and consulting guides can be found at www.YourGrantAuthority.com. You may also call 678-240-0402 to share your own struggles, ask key questions and talk about solutions free of charge.