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Five Ways to Stay Fit When You Work at Home

August 6, 2012 By

If you’re running a home business while raising a family, you probably feel like you have two full-time jobs. For many mompreneurs, the last thing on the list of priorities is an exercise routine. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that new mothers exercise less than childless women their age. Add to that a new business, and you have a recipe for an exhausted, unhealthy mom.

So we agree that work-at-home moms have unique challenges when it comes to maintaining a fitness routine. But chances are, one of the reasons you chose to start a business while raising a family is so you could create a more balanced life. So you could earn a living doing what you love while remaining present at home for your family. When you ignore your own health and fitness, you can’t possibly live a balanced life. And while you may be physically present for your family, you may not be the most pleasant mom. (Trust me – I’ve been the cranky mom many times!)

Regular exercise gives you more energy to keep up with your children and your busy schedule. It helps you stay focused and productive in the office. Exercise relieves stress and endorphins that help you feel better about yourself, your business and life in general. And it creates a healthier home because a happy mommy is a good mommy.

So how can you create time for fitness when you’re running a business and taking care of your children? Try these fitness tips for mompreneurs:

Five Fitness Tips for Busy Mom Entrepreneurs

1. First Things First. Have you ever read the book Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy? It’s about procrastination and the idea of tackling your highest priority task first thing in the day (your “frog”). For me, that’s exercise. I discovered long ago that the only excuse I have the morning is that I want to sleep longer. As the day progresses, the excuse list gets longer. Life gets in the way. So I know I have to knock it out first thing. You may have better results with an evening routine or lunchtime workout, but try to choose a time of day and make it part of your regular schedule. Then you don’t have to figure out where to squeeze in a workout. It’s already part of your day.

2. Follow Your Heart. Exercise doesn’t have to be grueling and painful. In fact, if you want to stick with it, you should choose something fun. If you’re not into running or hanging out at a gym, then take a look at other options. Try Zumba, yoga, swimming or belly dancing. Take a class in rock climbing or stand-up paddle boards. Go hiking, biking or in line skating. If you’re having fun, you’ll want to do it again.

3. Set a Goal. As an entrepreneur, you’re probably used to measuring results. For some people, the motivation comes from the monitoring this progress along a journey to improve something specific. To lose weight. To get stronger or faster. To live longer. To be happier and less stressed. Get in touch with your own personal motivation. What is it that you hope to accomplish through exercise? It doesn’t have to be a number on the scale or a certain size jeans. It could simply be that you want to have energy every morning. Or perhaps you want to be able to keep up with your dog on a hike or walk that you take. Or maybe you want to run a 5k for a charity. Whatever it is, write down your goal and keep it someplace visible for motivation.

4. Find a Partner. What’s the reason Weight Watchers is so successful? Accountability. There is someone waiting for you to show up each week and get on that scale. Having an exercise partner gives you that same accountability. Just knowing that someone is waiting for you and counting on you to show up can be a powerful motivator. I’ve run a marathon, completed several bike centuries and competed in many triathlons. I know for certain I never would have made it to the starting line in any of those events without a training partner. Here’s a tip about choosing your exercise partner: find someone who is slightly faster, stronger or more skilled in the activity than you. This will ensure that you are challenged but not completely outmatched, which would leave you both frustrated and discouraged.

5. Honor Your Commitment. Once you’ve decided to make fitness a part of your daily routine then give yourself permission to spend the time you need to workout. This may require hiring a babysitter or letting go of another obligation. It may mean that something else simply doesn’t get done perfectly (like laundry or housecleaning). Take some time to explain to your family why you are exercising and how important it is to you. Help them understand that you need their support and encouragement if you are going to keep it up. Ask them to respect your need for dedicated workout time. You may even decide to include your family in your exercise program!

It’s your turn. What are your tips and tricks for staying fit while working from home? Please share them with us here!

Filed Under: Mom Entrepreneur Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to Recover from a Bad Business Decision

October 18, 2011 By

So you made a decision you regret. Hired the wrong person. Invested in a lemon. Trusted the untrustworthy. Lost money. Wasted time. And now you’re beating yourself up. We’ve all been there. In fact, if you haven’t been there, it’s probably because you’re not willing to take the risks that are necessary in business.

Just this week I heard from a client who invested $200 in a contractor who said he would optimize her website and improve her business ranking in Google. She’s frustrated and disappointed that she seems to have thrown that money down the drain. Another client tells me she spent $3,600 on a PR firm that was handling her social media for her business and she had to let them go because she spent more time managing them and cleaning up the mess they made, than she would have if she had done the work herself. And I recently hired a contractor who agreed to deliver a project in ten days for $1,600 and it’s now going on three months of excuses, delays and empty promises.

What’s a mompreneur to do?

Let it Go!

Well, the first thing is to let go of the frustration, anger and disappointment – it’s not helping the situation. Instead, let’s focus on the blessing and the lesson. My guess is that if you search deep enough, you’ll find a single lesson – a powerful truth – from the experience that God has placed on your path.

“There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.“

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Assess the Problem

Next, we need to figure out how we got into the situation in the first place. From my experience, small business owners and entrepreneurs tend to engage in five specific behaviors that lead to bad business decisions. So let’s take a look and learn from their mistakes (ok, so they’re my mistakes, too)!

Five sure-fire ways to get swindled, bamboozled or cheated in business:

1. Go for the lowest price. You’ve heard this before: free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it – nothing. The same holds true for choosing a product, service or vendor solely on the price point. Ask any volunteer coordinator and she’ll tell you that managing a team of unpaid workers is more of a challenge than managing a staff of highly paid professionals. If you really need a professional job done for your business, then hire a professional – and pay them what they are worth.

2. Hire a friend. If you’re hoping for a disaster, the next best thing to getting work for free is hiring a friend or family member. This is not to say you should never work with friends or family, but take an honest look and determine if there is a pattern of failure with this tactic. There are ways to protect your interests when hiring anyone – including a friend. Do you need a written contract perhaps?

3. Barter your services. OK, so I’m repeatedly guilty of this tactic but I seem to have found a way to make it work. My rule of thumb is that I never barter my services unless I would have purchased the other business owner’s product or service anyway. So I avoid agreeing to provide my services in exchange for something I may never want or use. (Consider this an open invitation for Starbucks to barter with me for copywriting services!)

4. Dig your head in the sand. There’s something to be said for developing your strengths and outsourcing your weaknesses, but we can’t afford to be entirely ignorant about what we’re purchasing. That means we need to understand enough about search engine optimization or website development to know what the contractor is going to deliver and how the process works. We need to know enough to ask the right questions. And if you don’t know – find someone you trust to help you understand the basics.

5. Play Mrs. Nice Guy. Women often have excellent intuitive and social skills, which work in our favor in business. We develop relationships, make people feel comfortable and we truly desire to help others. But we tend to be too nice, showing empathy and granting extensions and exemptions to employees and vendors. Sometimes it’s our compassion that leads to a nice big mess in business. This is my biggest downfall. This is where I let my feelings take over at the expense of my business. This is where I forgive and forgive and forgive (letting the resentment and frustration build up inside).

Proceed with Caution!

Now it’s time to set boundaries. Once you figure out your weakness (like hiring someone you know from church who promises to solve all your problems), then set up a structure in your business to protect your interests. Maybe it’s a contract or written agreement. Or perhaps it is a financial incentive for finishing the job on time or within budget. Be very clear about what you understand and agree to, as well as what the deliverables and deadlines are. Then put checkpoints in place to re-evaluate and reassess.

This is what it means to put on our “big girl panties” and act like the businesses owners we are! It’s not easy, and I certainly haven’t perfected it, but every time we stretch ourselves in the entrepreneurial role, we learn and grow. And if you truly believe that your business is part of God’s purpose for you, then he will equip you with the confidence and courage to lead and serve as he has called you to do.

Now it’s your turn: have you made a bad business decision that taught you a lesson? Share your insights with us!

Filed Under: Mom Entrepreneur Tagged With: , , ,

Take the Peace Challenge

July 15, 2011 By

“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Sometimes I think my daily struggle to attain five minutes of peace is futile. The kids, the phone, the never ending laundry…Repeated interruptions, unexpected delays and devastating news tug away at my heart leaving me feeling unsettled. The chaotic pace of life adds to the frustration making it impossible to complete my quest for peace.

But I’ve realized that peace is not the destination, it’s the mode of travel. And I’ve discovered that there are small but powerful actions I can take every day to contribute to a more peaceful heart, a calmer environment and a happier home.  Some of them seem effortless but the results are dramatic. If you’re struggling with clutter, chaos and angst, take the Peace Challenge by implementing one or more of my personal tips.

Theresa’s Top 10 Ways to Create a Peaceful Journey

  1. Turn off your cell phone, email and internet browser during specific times of the day – especially when you are working or having a conversation or meal with someone. If you can’t turn them off, set the alerts to silent (not vibrate!).
  2. Silence all background noise – including the television, radio or anything that you are not actively listening to at the moment.  You may not realize that the negative messages coming from the news reports while you are making breakfast are robbing you of a peace-filled morning.
  3. Go to bed by 9 pm once a week. This is a tough one for me because I am often just tucking my kids in bed at this hour and I feel like I finally have time to myself. But getting to bed early is a treat, so I try to do it once a week.
  4. Make your bed every day. I know it sounds crazy, but this small act of creating order is just what I need to start my day feeling somewhat “in control.”
  5. Throw away junk mail before you walk in the door – take it directly from the mailbox to the trash can (unless you need to shred it).
  6. Refuse to engage in or listen to gossip of any kind. The same thing holds true for complaints – make a commitment to yourself to be complaint-free for one week and ask a friend to hold you accountable.
  7. Spend at least one hour a day outside — walking, running, sitting, bird-watching, gardening or doing something that allows you to appreciate the beauty of nature. Breathe fresh air!
  8. Forgive someone – maybe yourself.
  9. Smile. It’s contagious.
  10. Put a journal or notebook by your bed, in your car, in your purse or anywhere you might get a ‘brilliant idea’ and need to capture it before you forget!

Not everyone has the same definition of peace. The music I perceive to be distracting noise may create a state of peace for my nephew. So the trick is to recognize the activities and environmental factors that cause discomfort in your heart and avoid them.

What would you do to create your own personal Peace Challenge? Share your tips with me!

Filed Under: Mom Entrepreneur Tagged With: , , , , ,

Busy Bad, Busy Good

April 12, 2011 By

mother-balancing-act

Did you ever find yourself thinking “I am just too BUSY! I have too much to do. I am overwhelmed, underpaid, stressed out and not enjoying any part of my life, EVER!” I too, find myself experiencing those days, weeks and months, at times. It feels like everything is a burden, everything is hard, and I am not enough.

My clients go through these periods also. As I work with my clients, I have shared many tools with them to help them to shift perspective and ease the process of being too busy. It’s a fine balance though. We like to have enough to do, but not too much to do. Like a dessert soufflé, it can be divine, but if we get the ingredients wrong, we may watch it crumble before our eyes.

So what is this phenomenon of “too busy?” How can we begin to take smaller bites and enjoy the contents of this soufflé for what they are?

One way is to adopt “busy bad to busy good.”

Let’s say, you look at your day and it is all just too darn busy – let’s face it; its busy bad. Now start to take apart your day – what are you busy with? Do you have to go to the gym? Why? Does this make you feel good about yourself in the long run? Are you running to pick up your kids? Are your kids a gift in your life? Do you have to pack for a vacation, buy a new dress for that party or hire a babysitter so you and your husband can go out? Is some of this busy-ness, buying you “busy good?”

If we can start to separate busy bad and busy good and see the tasks in life that lead us where we want to go, as positive, we will lessen the burden of “busy.”

Here’s a thought that one of my absolutely fabulous clients (I learn so much from watching the courage and creativity of my clients!) sent to me today about “busy bad to busy good” related to a diet that she is on:

“Regarding Busy Good Busy Bad. I’m not sure why, but this simple little thing has really been a great jumping off point for my attitude in general. I realized that I was really having a victim attitude related to this diet I’m on which has recently become increasingly restrictive. But then, I realized what a great opportunity it is to be healthy and take good care of my body. I’ve been trying to tell myself that all along. But I noticed that I still need to be paying attention to my attitude. One way is to look at it using busy bad to busy good. It is simple and snaps me back to the positive.”

Coach Me Quick Tips:

1. Where are you “too” busy?

2. What are you busy with? Where are the gifts?

3. How can you shift your thinking? If you can shift the way you are categorizing activities, you can shift your experience.

Filed Under: Mom-Empowerment Tagged With: , , , , , ,