It`s so easy to get caught up in building your business and end up neglecting everything else. I know because I`m terribly guilty of this myself. When you run your own business, it never goes away. You could literally work on it 24-7, if you didn`t need to sleep or eat or feed children!

All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl though and you`ll find that as a work at home mom, at least a chunk of time should be invested in having fun. I don`t care how you want to have fun, just do something you enjoy.

Think about something you love to do, whether it`s reading a book that doesn`t have anything to do with your business, watching a sitcom or rolling around on the floor with the kids. When was the last time you did that activity? If you answer more than a week ago . . . it`s time to stop reading this and go enjoy yourself!

Having fun means you will be more refreshed and able to work harder and more efficiently when you get back to work. So try it. Have some fun today. Ideally, you should do something every single day that you enjoy . . . it gives you a reason to wake up in the morning.

Everyone has things that take away from what they really ought to be doing. By eliminating these productivity drains, you will find that you can get a lot more done within the same amount of time. So, keeping this post relatively short today, here are the three steps to eliminating productivity drains.

1. Identify them. You can`t eliminate something you don`t recognize. Spend a couple of days writing down whatever you notice is distracting you. Here are some common examples:

• Email
• Blog stats
• StumbleUpon
• Facebook
• Computer games

2. Make a plan to wean yourself. Quitting cold turkey usually isn`t an option for most people. If you check your email every ten minutes, for example, you won`t be able to just start leaving it all day. So, you need a plan. Maybe this week you can set a timer and only check your email every 20 min. Next week, every 30, etc.

3. Eliminate your productivity drains one at a time. It`s no good trying to quit everything at once, it very, very rarely works. So choose on thing at a time and get rid of that.

Rinse and repeat for each productivity drain. You might not get rid of them all, but even dropping a couple will give you a huge increase in time to focus on your actual work.

I`ve been a fan of Lynn Terry for a long time now, ever since I first started researching affiliate marketing and earning money online. The fact that she`s a mom definitely makes her someone I`m interested in listening to, as well.

Well, on her blog, Lynn has just written a killer post on Starting a Free Online Business. In it, she shares not only business ideas that can be started for next to nothing, but some great resources as well. I have to admit, I started reading this post and ended up spending about an hour following various links. It was an educational afternoon . . . and I already have an online business!

While there are several ideas for businesses in this post, the main focus is affiliate marketing, something that is very appealing to work at home moms because it lets you work when you can (i.e. after bedtime and during school hours) and works for you even when you`re out playing with the kids. It`s called passive income, not to be confused with not working! You work, but collect the rewards for a long while after. Lynn has offered a couple of free courses, as well, that are definitely worth checking out.

Since many of my readers are moms who don`t have a lot of extra spending money to sink into a business, I highly recommend popping over to Lynn`s blog and checking out how you can start your very own online business. Seriously, this is great information, so don`t miss it.

There are quite a few work at home moms who have recently found out what it is like to work at home with a newborn. It`s not always easy, especially if it`s your first baby, but there are a few areas that pretty much every mom deals with when she has a baby.

0-3 months

These are actually the best months of your baby`s life when it comes to working at home! Sure, you`re exhausted all the time and struggling with the post-birth hormones and frequent feelings of helplessness . . . but the truth is, most babies will be more than happy to just be held at this point.

It`s a good idea to leave yourself some breathing room after the baby is born, especially if it`s your first. There`s a lot to get used to and you will need to get some sleep in there, too. So leave at least 2 weeks free after the birth to get back into some semblance of routine.

Some people have babies who sleep all the time. Good for them. Neither of my boys has EVER slept well, so I spent entirely too much time trying to rock the first one to sleep. With the second baby, I had it figured out . . . he just wanted to be close to me. Not a problem. I put him in a baby sling and learned to type with my elbows sticking out. Sometimes, he would settle nicely in his bouncy chair, with me rocking it with one foot. You`d be amazed at how much you can get done while carrying a tiny infant, just make sure it`s hands free so you can still do stuff.

4-6 months

At this age, your baby is looking for more entertainment. This is when you get an itsy bitsy glimpse of what life will be like in the future. Suddenly more alert, your little one won`t be happy to just sit like a lump on a log. He wants you to entertain him. Some babies even start crawling by 6 months.

A few ideas to keep that little person busy:

• Give the baby items of clothing to feel and chew on. Choose various textures and when he bores of one, switch it out with a new one.
• Rattles and noise makers are lots of fun for your baby at this age.
• Tummy time is important, but if your baby is like my two, putting him on his belly will just provoke a screaming fit. Try propping his chest and arms up with a rolled up blanket. This lets the baby play with toys in front of him.

7-9 months

Now things are getting interesting. And now you`ll start realizing why everyone keeps saying a newborn is so easy.

At this age, your baby is starting to get mobile. He can probably sit up on his own, scoot around somehow (my oldest scooted on his bottom for the longest time, while the little one slithered like a snake on his belly), which means you have to keep a close eye on things like houseplants and chokeables. Older babies need more attention, too, or they get bored and tend to flip out.

The good news? By now, your little one will have a proper napping schedule, probably 2-3 naps a day, which means you can schedule your working time for naptime. You`ll also have more energy than you did in the early days and will be able to stay up later at night to work if needed.

Good toys to keep a baby of this age occupied:

• Wind up or pull cord toys. You can send them zipping across the floor and let your baby scoot after them to bring them back.
• Mirrors are lots of fun at this age, just make sure they are unbreakable.
• Toys with buttons that do things, like make noises, are popular.
• Water bottles with a handful of beans or rice inside and the lid glued down are great cheap noise makers.
• Show your baby how to bang on a formula tin with a spoon and he`ll keep it up for ages.
• Most babies enjoy bopping to music at this age, too.

10-12 months

Wow, a whole year has already gone by. Trust me, toddlers are a lot of fun, and the great part is that they can really entertain themselves a lot. But if things get too quiet, don`t forget to peek in on them.

By this time, your little one is probably crawling, thinking about walking (early walkers will start now) and pulling himself up on stuff. Watch out, this is when your computer is in sudden danger. Odds and ends being shoved into the disk drive, curious fingers poking the on/off switch . . . start teaching them now that the computer is off limits. We actually got our boys a toy computer that they could play with, but ours was off limits.

Keeping a super active baby busy while trying to work is not easy. Here are a few ideas to help you out.

• Set up obstacle courses, chairs with blankets draped over them to make tunnels, cushions to climb on, etc. Babies can spend hours climbing through these.
• Snacks. At this age, most kids are able to eat finger food on their own (within your sight) and this is a great way to offset a tantrum or to keep him busy while you finish typing up an invoice.
• Making noise is a big hit at this age, so those bottles with rice come in handy, as do pots and pans.
• Babies like exploring, so set up a cupboard full of things he can get into, like plastic dishes and pot lids.
• Have lots of chunky board books available, most babies who have been read to will sit down and take a moment to flip through a book on their own. Of course, then the hard part is actually working instead of being distracted by the cute little voice “reading” aloud!

Babies are a blessing, but they are also a lot of work and it`s tough to work from home AND take care of a newborn. That being said, there are tons of women who do this every day and it`s not impossible. Make sure you take time to enjoy your baby along the way, you`ll regret it if you don`t. After all, the whole point of working from home is to be with your little one, right? That doesn`t mean you shouldn`t consider a nanny or other childcare if you have to get a lot done, but do schedule in time to go for walks together, or just hang out on the floor with your baby.

Feel free to add any advice you have in the comments.

Photo by Editor B.

There are times when it`s just necessary to work the night through when you`re a wahm. What surprised me most on Twitter is just how many moms do this on a regular basis! I mean, I know I tend to stay up until 3 am on projects, but it turns out that I`m in good company. Also, I know that many of you are facing the same issue because a LOT of people are finding this blog by searching variations of “how to stay awake”!

The problem is, after you have a kid or two, your energy seems to go down the drain and staying awake enough to actually be productive at 2 am becomes a challenge. Gone are the days of hanging out all night with friends (or in my case, delivering pizza until 3 am before heading to my construction job at 6) when those couple of hours of sleep were more than enough to carry you through a night. Now, it takes some planning and effort to pull all-nighters, even when they are a necessary part of your business.

Luckily, there are a few ways to make these late nights easier.

• Take a nap. This one only works if your kids are in school or you have toddlers or a baby who still sleeps. Even a short nap can help give you that little boost of energy needed to pull through to the wee hours.
• Coffee. I recently cut coffee out of my diet and oh, how I miss it on those late nights! For now, a cup of tea does the trick, but the more caffeine, the better!
• Organization. It`s easy to lose focus once the kids go to bed and you finally get to do something on your own. Having a careful to-do list will help you stay on track. Plan to do your more mindless tasks later in the night, when your brain is starting to conk out.
• Support. I find it very nice to have the connection on Twitter with other moms who are up late. It doesn`t necessarily help you stay awake, but it does make you feel less alone.
• Fun. There`s no reason you can`t have a little fun to motivate yourself. Do a pre-set amount of work and then play a round of your favorite game, read a chapter in a book or watch some TV. It will make your nights more enjoyable and you`ll look forward to the prize, rather than just sleep.
• Exercise. When you start to feel real sleepy and still have a stack of work to do, take a break, do a round of the house or even walk around the block. This gets your blood pumping and helps to wake you up (also handy the next morning when your toddler wakes up entirely too early).

Truthfully, it`s probably better to actually get a good night`s sleep, but work at home moms don`t always get that luxury. So, hopefully these tips will keep you awake into those wee hours and if you`re up at 2 am, say hi on Twitter . . . you`re not alone.