When it comes to raising children, no matter what age they are, whilst they live at home, something is always going to crop up that demands your attention and eats away at your time.
Even mothers fortunate enough to not have to work, know that looking after kids (especially young ones) is already a full time job, the result of which makes any personal time they find all the more precious to them.
Adding the pressures and time demands of running a business (even a small one) on top of a pre-existing, inescapable family commitment, can be a totally daunting prospect. Most people worry that they will never be able to find a balance between their two jobs (motherhood and the business), whilst also still finding time to do pleasurable things for themselves.
I’m not going to lie to you, it is extremely difficult. Being a good mother and an entrepreneur at the same time is a lot of work, but unfortunately there is only so much time in every day, so sacrifices will have to be made in order for you to succeed.
Wrong Ways to Find Time for Your Business
Some of the common ways in which work at home mom‘s find the time to run their businesses whilst also looking after their children are:
- Cut out all unnecessary commitments (anything not related to your families well being)
- Give up TV
- Organize the house cleaning differently (get the family to help out more, hire a maid, try to get away with doing less).
- Spend less time sleeping.
- Spend less time exercising.
- Spend less time doing activities with their husbands.
- Stop going out with friends and participating in other social activities.
After reading those suggestions you’re probably become filled with a sense of dread and resignation. Deep down you know they sound like good ideas. Ideas that will probably lead to you having more time in which to be productive, but at the expense of you having fun.
If (like most work at home moms) you find yourself short on time, it probably seems like actually following through on some of those suggestions is the best course of action for you to take.
Well it isn’t. Whilst they are all technically valid suggestions (as certainly discipline, self-control and sacrifice play a large part in successfully managing any business), there is no point in working yourself to the bone, only to deprive yourself of the things that make your life worth living.
Often people feel guilty about wasting five minutes on Facebook, or for spending an hour in the evening watching their soaps. When in fact they’ve been working hard all day, sometimes well into the night as well, balancing two incredibly demanding jobs and they deserve a break.
The Answer Is In Time Management
Time management can come in many types and forms, so you’ll need to experiment to find what will work for you. You can try to:
- Keep a diary to not forget special tasks and appointments.
- Set manageable goals
- Set an alarm when necessary to keep track of time and remind you that you have to wrap up whatever you are doing now and prepare for the next tasks.
- Start using appointment plugins and tools
It may also be helpful to start using time management tools like Outlook to easily set changes or modify priorities should they need to.
I guess this section deserves a separate subheading because the following has been my main time management tool for years: email.
So:
Use Email to Manage Your Time and Tasks
Here are a few life-saving tips on how to use email to organize yourself properly:
- Use Google Spreadsheets to create your weekly and monthly schedule
- You can use Gmail as a multi-tasking machine as well as create filters to increase your productivity
- You can use Gmail to manage your site management and SEO tasks: here’s a detailed how-to guide on that
Having a solid business plan and a tightly controlled work schedule, will go a long way to helping you achieve a happy, balanced and successful mompreneurial lifestyle.
Image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay