Steps Moms Can Take to Manage Work Life Balance as Entrepreneurs

I recently talked to a friend from college who had her first child a year ago. She had taken six months of parental leave and had trouble acclimating when she returned to work. One of her biggest challenges was balancing her professional and maternal responsibilities.

A growing number of mothers are feeling this way. They are turning to nontraditional employment options, such as freelancing. The gig economy currently accounts for over a third of the workforce. Based on my own anecdotal experiences with young mothers looking for more flexible ways to make a living, it seems that they are one of the biggest demographics that is driving growth in the informal employment sector.

However, some self-employed moms have other reasons for going into business for themselves. Having flexibility with their work hours is not the only appeal. Some of them are more ambitious and are actually trying to build scalable business models that can make more money than the previous career. Some of these mothers actually aspire to be the breadwinners in their family by creating profitable businesses. This is certainly possible, as many moms became millionaires after having their kids.

This is a more ambitious undertaking. It will require spending more time in client meetings, late nights working on projects and other hard sacrifices. Mothers that are trying to start scalable businesses will need to follow the steps listed below to manage their responsibilities as a wife, mother and business owner at the same time.

Step outside your comfort zone

T. Harv is a leading personal success trainer. He states that it is important for people to step outside of their comfort zones. This is something they need to do every day to grow.

You need to do the same as a mother turned entrepreneur. You are going to have to take time away from your kids and take some risks. But they will pay off if you play your cards right.

View childcare as an essential investment

Many mothers are unrealistic about their ability to juggle multiple obligations when they are starting their new business. They often believe that they can take care of their children and work from home at the same time. The harsh reality is that running a business is going to require your full attention. You are not going to be able to put your Skype meetings on hold when your child is crying or miss a deadline because they had a fever.

It’s one thing to take time off once in a while when your kids really need you. However, you need a long-term solution to get dependable childcare. Fortunately, you have some flexibility and can follow these options to cut childcare costs:

• Use an in-home child care service. One mom and entrepreneur I spoke with uses in-home childcare while she works and says it is much cheaper.
• Use childcare for a few hours a day, while your husband is also working. He can take care of the kids for a few hours when he comes home if he has a flexible job.
• Work longer days and take an extra day off, so you can pay for fewer days of childcare.

There are a lot of ways to save on childcare, but it is a necessary investment.

Avoid wasting time on unproductive activities

I have noticed one very big trap of that new entrepreneurs fall into. They confuse busyness with productivity. They waste a lot of time on tasks that don’t help them reach any of their long-term goals. The feeling that they are working hard is satisfying, which unfortunately blinds them to the fact that they are not accomplishing nearly as much as they could.

This is a mistake that leads to a downward spiral. New mothers have many other obligations that they cannot ignore. If they waste time on trivial tasks with little pay off, they will have less time to dedicate to taking care of their families. They will also gradually get frustrated with the lack of progress with their business, even as they feel burnt out from all of the energy that they have expanded on it.

If they want to create sustainable businesses, they need to prioritize their time. This means stepping back and looking at all of the tasks that they plan to complete on a daily basis. Those tasks need to be ranked by priority.

This prioritized list needs to be reevaluated periodically. Some of the tasks that seemed very important during the formative stages of the business might prove to have a smaller ROI than initially expected. Others that received less attention might end up being vital and require more attention.

It is difficult to give specific advice without understanding the nuances of a specific business model. However, one of the observations I have made over the last few years is that many new business owners waste a lot of time trying to manage numerous social media profiles. Many of the social media profiles don’t give the business owner the opportunity to reach their core customer base, so they are a large waste of time.

Mastering Work-Life Balance as a Mom and Entrepreneur is Challenging – But Necessary

Being both a mom and entrepreneur isn’t going to be easy. Fortunately, you can make it work with the right planning. You need to be realistic about making sacrifices and make sure that you invest your time on the right projects.

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