Schedule for Working on Your Business with Kids at Home

Summer is here (my kids are 7 and 9 and have only been out of school for 2 weeks we go back the first week in September), and while it’s a season of fun, sun, and family activities, it can also be a challenging time to keep your online business on track. 

Juggling kids’ schedules, vacations, and your work can feel like a balancing act on a tightrope. 

Plus there’s always focus issues.

But no matter what time of year it is, this can be a schedule that works for you to get things done when you have children at home with you, whether it is summer, they are sick or you just have somebody home while you have to work.

I’ve got help! I wrote up this simple plan (which is one I actually follow) to help you maximize your time and keep your business moving forward with under 10 hours of work a week.

This may not work for you depending on your life, but it is a way to get in some work hours, but also be present with your kids and other obligations. Plus have a little me time too.

This schedule is based on waking early, an afternoon work session, and more time in after the kids go to bed. It’s also based on batching your work – so you do the same topic area all day and then a different one the following day.

Sounds good? Here is an example schedule to use for when kids are home with you and you still want to get things done for your business.

see all of my blog posts about productivity here

Before You Begin

Here are tips to help you before you set this schedule in motion.

• It’s always helpful to know exactly what you will work on when yo sit down to your laptop. This will keep you from window shopping on Amazon or doing mindless things that don’t get work done.
• If you don’t have a planner, grab this digital one that has a Trello board with it.
• This schedule assumes you have client work and your own business products. If that doesn’t work for you, adapt as needed of course.

Sample Schedule for Working from Home with Kids

Monday:

6:00 – 8:00 AM: Early morning work session (Check emails, plan the week; Admin) Pro Tip – You can do this on Sunday evenings also.

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Nap time hustle (Client Work)

If your kids no longer nap (mine do not) then plan some academic activities for them. We have summer journals, write pen pal letters, and do a lot of activity sheets.

After bedtime (repeat this 4 days a week): This block is a flexible space to do what you want. Sometimes you are too exhausted to do anything, other times you want time to yourself, go out, do your own activities (I still take dance class).

But you can also put in more work hours here. If your focus was good during the day you can get around5 hours of work in daily with this schedule.

Tuesday:

6:00 – 8:00 AM: Early morning work session (Client work) If you don’t have client projects, work on publicity for yourself or any preparation to get clients if that is your goal.

2:00 – 3:30 PM: Kids’ quiet time (Client work)

After bedtime: Client work or catch up

Wednesday:

6:00 – 8:00 AM: Early morning work session (Content Creation Day)

1:00 – 2:00 PM: Nap time hustle (Blogging / Long Form Content Creation) See above if there are no naps. Or maybe you want to take one yourself.

After bedtime: Finish up content creation. Don’t forget to make a SOP for this to speed things up. Schedule and posts, social, videos, podcasts.

Thursday:

6:00 – 8:00 AM: Early morning work session (Product Development – This is where you work on any digital products you have or are planning. Course development, publicity, creating presentations, pre-launching, market research etc.)

3:00 – 4:00 PM: Kids’ quiet time (Marketing strategy – This can be any publicity that you do for your business. This is important – don’t skip it! It can include networking sessions, pitching to podcasts, applying to bundles or summits, and similar work)

After bedtime: Optional night off or finish up things you didn’t finish in the above time slots.

Friday:

6:00 – 8:00 AM: Early morning work session (Review and wrap-up) Here is where you review your to do list for the week and get moving on anything still outstanding.

1:00 2:00 PM: Nap time hustle (Open Time – Pick What Needs to be Finished)

After bedtime: Optional night off. It is Friday! Give yourself a reward for all of your hard work or keep going if the spirit moves you. You can also take the night off from your business and do whatever of course.

I hope this gives you an idea of what to do and when to do it when you are working from home with kids. Whether it is the summer, vacation week or some other time, you can still be productive.