Home business time management

If you enjoy the flexibility of mixing personal and business tasks, but aren't sure if you're spending enough time on one or the other, try keeping a chart for a while, in 15 or 30 minute increments. After several weeks, add up the time spent on business and personal efforts to see what the reality is.

You may find you are spending more time working than you think - even though you're doing too many personal things. You may find you're putting in eight to 12 hours on business, just not consecutively.

If the opposite is true and you're spending more time on personal chores, then you might want to set some guidelines for yourself. For instance, if you're a morning person, you might work in the office from 8 am to 3 pm, spend time with your children after school until dinner, then return to your office for an hour or so in the evening.

There will be times when you will have to spend more time on the business, and other times when personal responsibilities demand your attention. It usually balances out in the end. But the good news is, because you're home-based, you've got the flexibility.