How to be a Social Media Manager from Home (with kids in school!)

Whether you are are a seasoned Social Media Manager, or you are looking for the perfect work from home gig – managing social media for companies is a perfect job to do from home.

If you have kids at home, working can take a little bit of figuring and finesse, but you can completely do it. I compiled my list of tips for how to be a social media manager from home (with kids in school!)

As a social media manager, I have worked from home in 3 main life scenarios:

with kids in school
with little kids at home
and as a homeschool mom

I can guarantee you that I have tried every routine and system in the book, and have a TON of tips for you.

Today we’re going to walk through tips for Scenario #1: working while your kids are in school.

If your kids attend school each day, you have the perfect opportunity to pursue being a social media manager. You have 7 hours per day (or so) to dig in and get it done.

My tips here revolve around maximizing your time each day while kids are away at school. Here are my suggestions for this life scenario, in no particular order.

How to be a Social Media Manager from Home (with kids in school!)

Daily Routine Tips

Wake up early (before the kids) and get ready for your day. Shower, eat breakfast, get dressed. This way once the kids are out the door for school, you are prepared to sit down with a major cup of coffee and dig in to your job.

Make all efforts to get your social media work done before the kids are home from school. This way you are able to give your kids and spouse your full attention. Also, this way you’re not feeling distracted. Every time I am trying to focus on my family AND get work done at the same time, I end up feeling like a failure at both. I recommend working as hard as you can during the school day, and then put it away until tomorrow.
If you DO get your work tasks done early for the day – ENJOY your time! Watch something on Netflix. Go get a pedicure. Feel free to reward yourself for busting it and getting things done. This will train your mind to keep aiming for efficiency each day.

Tip: I keep track of EVERYTHING in a planner. There’s no way I could manage life, kids, and work unless I write it all down. Here’s my favorite – the Living Well Planner. I love that you can break every task down into hour increments! Perfect for working from home.

Running the Household Tips

Do everything you can to minimize errands. Instead of grocery shopping, do grocery pickup (or even delivery if it’s available in your area!) Create an Amazon “subscribe and save” list for all of your vitamins, toiletries, etc, so that those items just magically show up each month.

Automate every chore in life that you can. Have your bills auto-withdraw so that you don’t have to remember to pay them.
Batch life tasks to save time. Plan a freezer cooking Saturday (and get your family to help!) You can take one day and prep suppers for a month at a time, saving hours every week. Crockpot meals are your best friend! Plan crockpot or freezer meals for every work day so that as much time as possible is freed up for working your job.

Prep YOUR lunches a week at a time. On Saturday or Sunday afternoon, prepare lunches for yourself for the week. This way, it’s as simple as walking to the fridge and grabbing your lunch. Also, as a bonus, you will have a healthy lunch ready, so you don’t grab junk food on a whim.

Working Hours Tips

Stay focused in spurts. Here’s what I mean by that. No one has the endurance to hunker down with a list for 7 hours and stay on task. But, we can all handle staying extremely focused for a 45 minute burst of time (or so).

Gamify your list. Look at something you have to do, decide you’re going to get it done in the next 45 minutes, and then say how you’ll reward yourself when you do. Here’s an example: I’m going to get this week’s Instagram posts scheduled in the next 45 minutes. After I do that, I’m going to have a cup of coffee and call a friend!

Make sure to schedule any meetings DURING school hours. Whether these meetings are in person, on the phone, or on the computer – try to schedule all of them for hours where you are focused and undistracted.

My favorite part of this scenario is that you control a LOT of your time each day. There are very few things that can throw your whole day for a loop. Unless you have a sick kid at home, you are pretty much set hour to hour in what your day will look like.

If you are considering becoming a Social Media Manager, it can be the perfect work from home opportunity that allows you to make extra income, and also be home with your kids!