Month: June 2025

What can you accomplish in 60 minutes? Could an extra hour first thing in the morning make your workday better? If you use your extra time wisely, an additional 60 minutes can significantly enhance your productivity for the entire day. As a remote worker, you probably enjoy the option of being able to sleep later when compared to the time you’d have to wake up if you had a commute. While sleep is very important, having more time in the morning before you start your workday can set you up for success. If you’re looking for ways to be more productive, consider an earlier bedtime so you can wake up an hour early to get your day started off right.

Deal with distractions

Use your extra hour to deal with things that can distract you from work throughout the day. Whether it’s getting laundry folded or prepping lunch and dinner, doing household tasks before you start your workday can help you concentrate better and get more done. Plus, when you have those tasks done before work, you can use your breaks to eat, relax, or go outside for a quick walk. 

Complete your admin tasks

Think about the easy but important tasks that you do every day to get ready to work. For many remote workers, this may include checking and replying to emails, going through work messages, and verifying meetings or other activities on the calendar. When you have extra time in the morning, you can complete these tasks without feeling rushed, which allows you to schedule your day. 

Clean your work area

While it’s a good idea to clean up at the end of your day, it simply doesn’t always happen. Take 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning to declutter your work area and remove unnecessary items from your space. This step allows you to get straight to work when it’s time to start your workday. 

An extra hour may not seem like much time, but when used wisely, those 60 minutes can set you up for success. As a remote worker, sleeping in may sound tempting, but rising early enough to do chores or admin tasks can make your day go more smoothly. Consistently getting up just 60 minutes earlier than you need to can significantly improve your productivity. 

Writing your first book is often a long and arduous process. There are many ways to approach the writing process, but outlining your ideas before you start writing can help you organize your thoughts about your characters, plot, and other important parts of your work. While an outline is not essential, many first-time authors find that having a well-thought-out and organized outline makes it easier to write, especially when it comes to completing longer works like manuscripts. Don’t underestimate the importance of creating an outline before you get started on your manuscript. 

What makes a good outline

A good outline should be organized and thorough. Outlines are not supposed to have all the details but should instead provide you with a rough guideline on how you want your work to flow. Your outline should start with your book’s purpose, focusing on your target audience and what you want them to gain from reading your book. Once you have your main idea or theme, you can continue outlining the content of your book. 

Different outlining methods

Some authors choose to outline their books by chapter. This strategy can often work well for nonfiction authors, but if you’re writing fiction, another approach may be more helpful. Fiction writers may wish to create an outline by starting with the introduction, developing the main plot points, and then outlining the conclusion. Find an outlining style that works best for you, then make use of your outline to streamline the writing process. 

While you may be tempted to just jump in and start writing your first manuscript, creating an outline before you start writing can help you organize your thoughts and make the writing process easier. Outlines can help you remember ideas and keep you on track with your writing goals. Your outline acts as your guide, which can often help you avoid writing slumps and encourage you to keep going until you have a finished product ready for editing.  

Business ownership is a common goal for many who wish to be more in control of their lives, and especially their finances. Small business owners often face many hardships when trying to get their business off the ground. While owning a business can be rewarding, it can also be one of the most challenging experiences you’ll ever face. Many small businesses fail within one year of opening. Understanding why these businesses fail may help you prevent these problems from happening within your own business, so you make it past that one-year mark and beyond. 

The importance of a business plan

Poor planning is the cause of many business failures. Without a good business plan in place, there are too many ways things could go wrong. On the other hand, if you have a good business plan, you’re ready to face the many challenges associated with running a small business. A good business plan provides you with a budget, expected profit, market trends, competitor analysis, and predictions on opportunities and threats. This plan gives you a broad outline of how to operate, so you’re prepared to tackle issues as they arise. 

Financial preparedness 

Small businesses often fail within the first year because of a lack of funding. It’s important to have your finances in order long before you launch your business. Have a budget in place, know your costs of operation, and use market statistics and other data to estimate your revenue. As a small business owner, you may not make a profit for a considerable amount of time, as much of your revenue may have to be invested back into your business to keep it going. There’s no way to ensure that you don’t face financial struggles during your first year, but you can take steps to prepare yourself to face those struggles so you can stay open.

Running a small business is risky, but many owners find the rewards worth the risk. Due to poor planning and budgeting, a considerable number of small businesses close during the first year of operation. If you wish to make it to that one-year mark and beyond, creating a thorough business plan and focusing on financial preparedness can help you succeed.   

When you complete your first manuscript, you’re likely anxious to get through the editing process so you can work toward being published. Editing is an essential part of creating written work as it makes your manuscript clearer, removes errors, and improves your work so it’s better received by your readers. It’s not advisable to rush through the editing process. A thorough edit increases your chances of success as a first-time author. However, there are some steps you can take to simplify the editing process and reduce the time your editor must spend on your manuscript. 

Use online tools to find mistakes

You can complete the first round of editing yourself by using an online editing tool. These tools are available for free, or you can pay for a subscription to get a more thorough editing experience. An editing tool doesn’t take the place of a human editor, but it can catch simple mistakes like misspellings, grammar errors, incorrect punctuation, and formatting issues. Going through this process before sending your work to an editor can save time and money, plus it allows your editor to focus on the more important areas that need to be tweaked. 

Seek meaningful feedback

Before sending your work to an editor, have someone else read over it. Family, friends, and colleagues can read your work first to give you insight into what changes you may consider making. Be sure to choose people who will be honest with you, as constructive feedback, even if it’s negative, is essential if you want to make your manuscript better. 

Going through editing can be one of the most stressful steps when trying to get your manuscript published. It can also take a lot of time. To reduce the time required to edit your work, you can do a pre-edit using online software, which can catch many mistakes. Asking for feedback from someone you trust to give an honest opinion can also help you make changes to your work before you send it off to your editor.