There are billions of people around the world who work busy corporate jobs with frequent long hours and long distance travel to work and back on a daily basis, giving them less time to spend with their families.
More and more people across the world are turning down traditional forms of employment and opting to become self-employed, build a start-up business and lead an entrepreneurial lifestyle where they can build their businesses around their families and have more freedom in their lives.
The rising cost of child care, coupled with the desire to raise their own children, is causing people to reconsider their options and find ways to start businesses on their own terms.
In this article we share some tips and advice about how you can successfully balance a business around your family today.
Table of Contents
1. Don’t Attempt to Multitask
I imagine you have read a bunch of articles about how to successfully balance a business around your family.
And i can guarantee most of those articles include a photo of a happy person with a child on their lap while working on their computer or speaking on the phone.
I’m sorry to say but, life isn’t quite that simple!
It’s more like, when you sit down in front of your computer and start to work your kids are around you in minutes, asking for a snack, drink, help with something, for you to accompany them to the bathroom, or even if you can watch a film or play a game with them.
Depending on your kids, you may be able to distract them with a TV show while you knuckle down and complete a short work task.
We would all love to sit around the table, you working them drawing or colouring, engaging in some crafting activity while they give you time to finish your work. But that for most of us is a figment of our imagination.
Although it’s great having more time to spend with your kids, trying to work when young children are present can be extremely frustrating at times, and an unsatisfying experience not only for you but also for your kids.
Basically you will be frustrated because you didn’t finish your work and you may have deadlines to meet, and your kids will also feel the same as they are not getting the attention and time they want with you.
It’s much better if you can have time slots that you can spend 100% on your business. This can include time with the kids, work days, nights, naps, and weekends. It’s all about what works for you, your family and your business.
2. The Key is Organisation
People who run their home businesses around their families need to be well organised, in fact most people i know lead their lives with military precision.
They identify the time they can devote to their business and fiercely monitor that time to make sure it isn’t “wasted” on other commitments.
I run my life through a series of to-do lists.
- List for the house.
- Business list.
- Quick to-do list that can be done when the kids are around.
- Larger project to-do-list that requires my full concentration.
- Wish list of things i would like to do in my business when i have more time, headspace, and money to invest.
3. Be Realistically Ambitious
It’s in the nature of an entrepreneur to be ambitious about their business. For parents to build a business around their family, and the ambition should match the time you want to devote to building your business.
Someone who can dedicate 40 hours a week to their business will move their business forward faster than someone who only has 10 hours a week to do their business.
For example let’s say your child is born, this is when you need to understand the reality of building a business around a family.
You will need to cut back on your ambition, you still have a clear final destination in your mind, but you need to be realistic about how long it’s going to take to get there.
Be realistic with your ambition, sure you know the direction your heading, and you have a clear goal in mind. Just understand that it may take longer than expected as you grow your business around your family, but you get the best of both worlds, being your own boss and growing a business and having more time to spend with your family. It’s a fair trade-off!
Your kids will eventually be in full time school and this will give you more available time to put bigger plans in place and the extra time will allow you to push further forward in your business vision to arrive at your destination quicker.
Conclusion
Running a successful business around your family is no easy task. It takes a lot of determination, resilience, patience and organisation.
It’s not impossible and you can achieve it by fully understanding and being prepared for what’s involved.
The satisfaction of knowing that you have been successful in fulfilling your own career aspirations, generating a stable income and always being there for your family is truly an incomparable feeling.
If you’re looking to start a business and you don’t have much money, this article about How to Start Your Own Business With no Money will surely be helpful.
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