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Forum - Key to balancing children and business?
Key to balancing children and business?
Fri, 01/04/2011 - 10:25 — Mark Williams
Starting and running a business is hard enough without the added pressures of having to look after young children and a home. If you're a successful 'Mumpreneur', how have you managed to balance your family and entrepreneurial responsibilities? What advice can you offer to other mums who might be considering starting their own business?
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I am a full time dad of 3 and a full time carer too. what I found works best is planning and forward planning with everything not just with business but day to day life.
There is nothing like constantly fire-fighting issues and getting to the end of the day wishing there were more hours left in it.
Prioritise what is important and what is not, have a look at the "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" there are some good videos on youtube too.
I think it is necessary for everyone needs to find their own balance in life.
I an not a mom so can't tell the exact way but what I have learned from my working mother since childhood is management between family and work. She was good at managing her time as we never felt short of time from her part.
One thing that I should tell(for the mums having school going children) is that you can make your children smart at the young age. She used to teach us how to do our things while she was at home and we followed those in her absence. It made things easy for us. She guided us on phone from her office and was always there to help us.
I won't say its easy to make your child self-dependent but you can try it and concentrate on your work parallel.
I think everyone needs to find their own balance in life but my three top tips would be
1. Don't worry about what everyone else's business is doing - you never know what their personal circumstances are.
2. If your business is progressing slowly due to your commitment to your children then so be it ... they will be at school full time by 4 years old. Then you'll have plenty of time to concur the world!
3. Remind yourself why you run a business and juggle children ... if I'm up late sewing or writing, I remind myself that I work for myself from home so that I can enjoy the time with my children as this time is precious and if a day at the beach means late night sewing so be it ;)
And don't try to change your time with gifts.
Personally, there is SO much pressure on women to 'have it all' and achieve a perfect work:life balance - I remain unconvinced that such a thing exists.
I've learnt to relax and go with the flow, sometimes I work too much (ok, most of the time I work too much) but I strongly believe I'm a better mum for it as I feel happier when I'm busier building my businesses and challenging myself so when I do get time with the kids I enjoy it much more as it's more precious.
I've got 2 good & happy kids and I'm happy - the balance I have may not work for everyone, you have to find what's right for you and not get swayed by friends & family who may think otherwise.
Set up stuff that works for you when you're not at your desk or workspace. make the hours productive by using social media to push your message out. Have a look at my stuff for some ideas...
I work with many mumpreneurs who are juggling family life around running their own business.
Most mums are great at juggling but do have a tendency to work long hours. Starting early before the kids are up, working when they're at school and working late when they've gone to bed. Creating a FULL working day within an already busy day.
It's important to be focused - you can't do everything, so make sure you're focusing on the right things at the right time. Planning is key to this - know what's important and what you need to do each day. Work out how much time you realistically have to work on your business each day - without burning the candle at both ends. Remember that this will be less when the children are young but more time will become available as they get older. Plan your business accordingly.
Having a plan upfront means that if you have to drop things when a child is sick or you have to pick them up from school suddenly - you know where you are and can quickly get back on track.
Use your support team - make the most of friends and family to give you distraction free time in your day. If you have young children at home - arrange for childcare one day a week or get a friend to look after them for a few hours so you can really focus. Swop with another mum so you can share childcare.
If you're serious about your business - delegate and simplify as much as you can - get someone else to help out with admin, accounts, marketing etc. while you focus on the parts of your business only YOU can do. Use systems and processes to smooth the flow. Get help at home - housework, gardening, shopping etc. to give you more time.
MAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF! - if you're worn out, exhausted and stressed you won't be nearly as productive or be able to give as much to your family and your business - your focus and productivity drops and you'll achieve less even though you're putting in the hours. Most busy working mums miss out on this important step.
Take time each day for a complete break. Get out with friends once a week. Spend time with your partner - just the two of you.
Find ways to create a better balance with a free Time Audit - download from my website.
Work around your childrens sleep. Your children are more important than your work - even if you do have a deadline. Having said that you will need a good eye cream and big sunglasses!
IMO it's a balancing act between how much childcare you use and who gives it. We have children at school and one pre-schooler. He has a couple of days in nursery and often some time in the week with a family member, which feels about right. I'm fortunate to be able to work part-time as I'm in a non-critical role in the company, but there's easily a full-time job to be done and I do find myself unsuccessfully trying to do work while the youngest is around as I can't switch off - it always ends in tears! You have to make yourself put work aside completely at certain times but that's much easier said than done. It's easy to feel the entire future of your company rests on getting this one email/blog post/thread post written but of course it doesn't. I just enjoy my job too much to want to stop, which has to be a happy position to be in.
Work flexibly. When I have a lot on, I get up at 5am, put in two hours before the kids wake up; then do the school run and get back to laptop at 9am, work through til 3pm; and then spend time with the kids until 7pm bedtime (often with half an eye on laptop while they do homework/ eat etc) and then back to laptop once they're in bed. You can put in an 11 hour day and still spend time with your kids - until the holidays come...
Do what you can when you can and never give yourself a hard time if your child needs you more than work - they are only little for a blink of an eye.
Do what you can when you can and never give yourself a hard time if your child/ren need you more - they are only little for the shortest time.