Data Entry Jobs: Work From Home Data Entry Jobs, Services

By Joyce Gowens

Working from home while caring for toddlers can be an extreme challenge. Trying to find the time to work on your business, without depriving your toddler of the love and attention they need can be hectic. Often times, work at home moms find that either their toddler is spending too much time in front of the TV or that the business is neglected. So, how do you get your business thriving while still being a good mom?

I can tell you from first-hand experience that maintaining a deep level of concentration on work in a home business for long periods of time is next to impossible. Nap time does offer some reprieve, but any break from the kids is usually short lived.

Even with older children, summertime introduces new challenges with kids running in and out of the house all throughout the day.

Set business ground rules and share them with your kids.

Your kids need to be aware that you operate a home-based business and know how to act accordingly. Set out basic rules that will allow you to operate your home-based business as professionally as possible, such as how to answer the telephone, how to answer the door, and how to act when clients are around. Include rules that will help make the time you spend working on your home-based business more productive, such as not touching Mommy’s desk or not interrupting Mommy while she’s in her office.

However, from both a business viewpoint and from the human relations viewpoint, it’s best to have a clear understanding with each of them as to what kind of things they will and should do (answer the phone, open mail, pack and ship merchandise, etc.) and what they definitely are not to do (make payments to people without your authorization, make agreements, deals or contracts without asking you). Such advance agreements can avoid a lot of aggravation and make everything go much more smoothly.

Include your kids in your home-based business.

No matter what kind of home-based business you run, there’s something your kids can do, and making your kids a part of your home-based business can be a great opportunity for you to spend more time with them and teach them things such as handling money.

For instance, one home-based business owner I know takes her age 7 and 9-year-old kids with her when she goes around replacing the products in dispensing machines, and has them count and organize change.

If your kids are working in your home-based business, I believe you should pay them. This is not only a great way to teach your kids the value of labor, but can be a business tax deduction for you as well.

Find creative ways to combine your home-based business and your kids.

If the client is agreeable, for example, you could hold a business meeting at MacDonald’s, for instance, or some other restaurant that has a play area for kids. If a client is coming to meet with you in your home, perhaps she could bring her children so your kids could play together while you meet. Take your kids with you when you go to buy more office supplies or run other business-related errands.

Give your toddler his own office.

Most moms find that their toddlers want to be like mom as much as possible. So, set your toddler up with a table and chair next to yours. Make sure you have good office supplies for them. A coloring book, a few sheets of paper, crayons and a pencil are basic essentials. If possible, an imitation computer and play phone would be ideal office equipment. Then sit at your desk and work beside your child. Remember that a toddler requires a lot of praise, so be sure to look over at your child’s work and compliment it from time to time. Also keep their attention span in mind. Keep your child’s office time limited to a half-hour and only do this once a day. It keeps your child from getting bored with the “game”. Be sure to reward your child for working and allowing you to work with some quality time afterwards.

If you have two or three kids with age range of 3 to 5, you will definitely be up to your neck. While often restless and cannot stay put for a minute, it does not mean that toddlers cannot be trained to cooperate with you while you are working. I know of a friend who was able to manage these

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 6:03 am and is filed under Data Entry Jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.