When I was a teenager I always wanted to own a red MG sports car but I never actually thought that I would or that it would be possilbe. When I saw a red MG driving down the road, I would dream of owning one – maybe one day when I was retired!

I remember having a conversation with my Dad when I was about 19 years old, discussing my dream to own a red MG, and he said to me “well, why can’t you?”. This got me thinking, “well, why can’t I own a red MG?”. What was stopping me? So I began doing some research on how much MG’s were and taking my brother, who knew about cars, out to look at some. I spoke to the bank about finance and not long after that I actually bought my very own red MG. I was estatic. I’d fulfilled my very first dream.

Now this wasn’t free of problems, the car seat had to be adjusted so that I could see over the steering wheel (being 5 foot nothing has it’s disadvantages!) and having a car that was 30 years old required constant maintenance, not to mention the safety aspect of the vehicle. But the feeling of driving the car that I had dreamt of owning for years was amazing and has been one of the most important lessons in my life, and that is that I could do whatever I put my mind to.

As a business owner, sometimes taking a holiday can be more stressful than staying at work! I’m about to head overseas for a short family holiday to Penang (an island in Malaysia) and there’s so much to worry about before I head off. So like everything I do, I have a checklist. My checklist has everything on it from what I need to pack, making sure my housesitter has the keys, and ensuring I complete my BAS before I leave.

I have decided that I want to have a proper holiday, and by that I mean that I don’t really want to be thinking about work for the majority of the time that I’m away – I might as well still be here! So I’m handing over my mobile phone to one of my team members, giving her access to my emails and have given her a run down on the status of all the projects and to schedule any new projects that come in.

I am very grateful that I have such a wonderful team of people working with me, and I feel more than comfortable leaving things in their capable hands.

So while the next few days are going to be frantic while I get everything organised, it won’t be long before I’m sitting by the pool with a cocktail.

When was the last time you had a good clear out of your electronic files? If you’re anything like me, I start documents and spreadsheets and then save them somewhere “safe” not only to either forget about them or lose them. Every now and then it’s good to have a good “spring clean” of your electronic files as well as your paper files.

While you’re having a clear out of your electronic files, it’s a good opportunity to make sure your folders are set up how you want and to make it easy to find things for future reference.

Setting up your folders and sub-folders is a great way to separate your documents into relevance and you can create as many folders and sub-folders as your heart desires. A good way to get started is to think about how you would file documents in your filing cabinet, and then rather that suspension files and manila folders, you create folders and sub-folders.

If you have colleagues or a team of people that you need to share documents and files with, Dropbox is an ideal solution. You will need to make sure that it is kept up to date and that you don’t end up with old or conflicting files.

Don’t just stop at your electronic files; why not take the opportunity to have a spring clean of your emails as well? Some service providers will suspend your email account if you are over quota, so it’s a good idea to ensure that you don’t have too many emails that are taking up valuable space. In Microsoft Outlook you can check the amount of space you have by clicking on the “Tools” drop down menu and then “Mailbox Cleanup”, and then select the “View mailbox size” option.

So now for the task ahead of me, sorting out my electronic files and deleting those that are no longer required.

Regards,
Barb

When I tell people what I do for a job and that I work from home, so many people say “Wow, you are so lucky!”. I’ve got to say that this comment really isn’t true – for a start luck has absolutely nothing to do with it. Luck is winning Tattslotto, most businesses are started due to the determination, passion and perseverance of the person – nothing else!

There have been many hours spent developing my business – lot’s of sweat, stress, sleepless nights and sometimes tears! Constantly keeping abreast of technology, wondering if there are better, faster ways of doing certain processes and then there’s always the concern about having enough work and money to pay wages and bills.

It is really upsetting to think that some people believe it is so easy to start up a business, find clients, and keep that momentum going forever. It’s very difficult to have a sick day and take holidays, and if you do have to take leave, then there’s the catch up when you’re back on deck.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love what I do and the flexibility of working from home is great (especially with a young family) but I have worked exceptionally hard to get where I am and it has absolutely nothing to do with luck!

When I get to the end of the day, I often wonder – “What did I actually achieve today?”. As a Mum of three young girls and a business owner, there are days when things go to plan and there are also days when things go pear shaped!

Here’s a sample of my day:

7am – Up to get eldest daughter organised for Kinder
9am – Kinder drop off and walk home with daugther #2 and #3
11am – Squeeze in a cup of tea before hanging out the washing
Noon – Lunch time and start preparing tea
1pm – Catch up on a few emails and telephone calls while daughters are happily playing (lasts all of 15 minutes, so I’ve got to be quick!)
2pm – Kinder pick up and play at the park
3pm – Kids outside playing and one asleep, so squeeze in a bit more work
5pm – Feeding time at the zoo
6pm – Bath and bed starts (not for me – how I wish!!)
8pm – Back at the desk to do some un-interrupted work

Some days I get heaps achieved and everything crossed off my “To do” list, and then other days I wonder what I did all day.

So, what did you do today and did you get some things crossed off your list?