Think of it this way. How do you make your money? Providing a product? Offering a service? Soliciting memberships? Regardless, you have to DO something (promote product, perform service, solicit membership) to get that money. When you must be all things to all people, it takes valuable time away from one thing that brings in cash for you. Hiring an assistant can free you up to make more money.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you spend 10 hours a week on actual moneymaking ventures. Your average income in one week is $1,000. You spend other 30 hours per week answering emails, doing bookkeeping, providing customer service support, and so on. If you could delegate many of duties that don’t absolutely require your attention to an assistant, you could devote possibly 20 more hours to making money. That would give you 30 hours a week to make money and only 10 hours per week to do other things.

--- Putting Things In Their Place

First and foremost, you should live by motto, "A place for everything and everything in its place". When you are finished with a piece of paper, a brochure or any other physical document - file it. What usually happens is that you finish using a piece of paper, "temporarily" put it in a stack and then have to spend two hours cleaning up after yourself once a week. Or, you may leave it in a stack and spend two hours a day digging through mess to find what you need.

Create a filing system that works for you personally and then use it! Perhaps you'd like a filing cabinet? There are also expandable folders and numerous other filing systems. Choose one you like, create a folder for it and put it where you can find it again if need be.

--- I'll Be Right There

How many times a day do you say (or think) that? Especially if you work from home, you probably have plenty of interruptions that take valuable time out of your day. If you're a work-at-home parent with young children, it may be a bit more difficult to end interruptions all together, but these tips will help.

1. Set "office hours". As much as possible, let your family know that between 8am and 11am, you'll be working. Then again from 1pm until 6pm you'll be "in your office". (Or whatever hours work best for you.)

2. Ignore your email. Well, partially, anyway. Unless you're expecting some urgent message, don't stop what you're going to run check your messages each time you hear "bell" ring. Decide on time frame that works best for you and then check your email at certain times during day. (Perhaps every three hours or so.) During rest of your work time, turn your email software off so you can resist temptation to check each message as it arrives.