Okay, I may sound somewhat sexist here but I think most women's clocks have less time then the guys. Primarily because most of us with kids are the ones who are on the front line in regards to handling the children's schedule and corresponding transportation(ie. school, field trips, scouting, church activities, ballet lessons, karate, soccer, baseball, . . . you get the idea). Please, I am not saying that there are no men in the same circumstances but it usually falls to the ladies to schedule and navigate work and the kids activities.
In my case, my spouse has very long work hours and because of the work he does I need to be the parent on call at least 95% of the time. So where do I find the time to do the "business". I discovered long ago a few things:
1) Magic wands don't really work;
2) I would not be able to hold not a conventional job because that meant choosing between being there for the kids and keeping my job.
What I do now is perfect combination of all worlds (even though I am still building the business). I can work from almost any place as long as I have technology on my side. A reliable laptop is number one. My trusty camera is another.
Laptops can be your time machine. In my case I have two: one of them has all the bells and whistles so if needed I can work on photos on the road. The other is a simple, very small one that I can take with me to work on blogs, emails, and marketing ideas (but nothing with too much graphics).
So how are these my time machines? Well there are those moments in life when we are just "hanging out" or waiting for an extended amount of time for something or someone. Currently I am sitting in a bookstore that has free wi-fi, waiting for my daughter who is at a 2 hour class. The class is too far away for me to drop her off and just come back so here I am, laptop in tow. The nice thing is that I don't have to deal with any disturbances that may occur when I am working in the home office. I can "hyper-focus" if need be.
What if you are at a place that doesn't have wi-fi? Now adays most cell phone carriers have some sort of webconnect technology (though it may be pricey). I have not tried any of these so I can't comment on their usefullness. Personally I am a free wi-fi geek.
The other magic trick I use is developing task lists where I can get to them easily so if I do have time to kill, I can check my list to see if there is anything I can get rid of. It doesn't matter if you have a small notebook in your pocket/purse or use electronics for this. Just keep something handy to list those business details that have nothing to do with the photography part itself (ie. invoicing clients/developing new price list/ updating your business plan, etc.).
I actually have two lists (seems I do a lot of things in two's - hmm - but I digress). My Google email has a task list that pops up when I am in my email and I have a secondary list on my I-Touch (I hate paper, primarily because I always lose it). Play with different type of tasks lists (aka: to-do's) until you find the one that is most effective for your situation.
I am sure as I progress in developing my business, I will discover other magic tricks (and then share them with you).
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