Often women give up on the idea of starting a business because all their time is taken up with children. You don’t have to make a choice, you can perfectly combine your business and raising a child.
Combine business and family is possible, but you can’t go anywhere without helpers. For example, cleaning the house. After all, it takes a lot of time, which can be spent on other more important things. That is why we advise you to choose a professional cleaning company, with which you can build a long-term and reliable cooperation. For example, a cleaning company in Spokane is https://www.livecleantoday.com/.
Combining business and motherhood is not easy. All require attention. Choosing one of the two is unrealistic. Therefore, there is no need to make sacrifices. It’s better to just accept, enjoy the process. Children grow up quickly, and tomorrow you can only remember from the photos, what they were, and blame yourself for where you were. But no one will appreciate self-sacrifice either.
Night is for sleeping, morning is for doing things
Try to fall asleep and wake up earlier. Experts recommend waking up earlier than the whole family wakes up – at 6 am. At this time, you can occupy yourself, read, draw new toys. We are most productive in the morning because the phone is silent and the kids don’t ask to play with them. So, you can win a few hours in the day, which is just always in short supply. Getting ready for bed is better at 9-10 pm after reading to children.
Schedule
Understanding the balance between taking care of your child and running your business is very important. Not upsetting that balance is the ultimate in self-management. One of the secrets is to plan your time as carefully as possible while maintaining flexibility. Having a clear daily schedule is fine. But you should understand that if, for example, a child falls ill, you will have to urgently reconsider your priorities for the day. Ideally, you should plan your time so that you can work productively all day and then fully “belong” to your child.
Prioritizing
No one will deny the importance of family. But business is important, too. So, separate the time you spend at work from the time you fully devote to your family. If, for example, you have a business trip planned, work from home the day after it ends, or leave the office early. Or take the whole family on a trip. The support of loved ones will make any trip better.
Enjoy every moment
Sometimes you have to keep a thousand things on your mind – the baby, the business, the household chores. In those moments, it’s easy to lose a sense of reality and, even while working or playing with the kids, think about extraneous things. But stop for a second. Enjoy the here and now, because that time will never come back.
Hire employees not only in the office, but also at home
If you have a nanny at home who helps with the kids, in addition to a loving and supportive spouse (only helps, not takes care of the kids completely), work-life balance will be much easier to maintain. It’s great if sometimes relatives are willing to help. It is worth saying that children can get the first lessons of time-management from you, watching how you manage to combine family and work.
Untouchable time for the kids
It could be the morning when you wake your child up, eat breakfast together, drive to school or daycare. Or it can be the evening when you get home, put your child to bed and read him a story. The main thing is that it should happen regularly. And the timing should be as serious as for important business meetings.
Just do it
No one promised it would be very easy. If you want to be productive and still have time for your family, be prepared for the challenges. Getting up at five in the morning for the baby, washing the dishes in the afternoon, spending a lot of energy and resources at work… It’s not easy, but it’s doable if you really want it.
Putting everything in boxes
We spend a lot of time trying to learn how to balance our personal lives and work (sometimes we even need the services of a coach to do this). But in the end, all the advice boils down to one thing: you need to leave your work at the office and your family at home. And at the right time to focus 100% on one thing at a time.
Spending time wisely
When babies are born, it immediately becomes clear how much time has been wasted while the baby was not yet there. And so, the value of those hours when the baby is asleep becomes very apparent.
Focus on the task at hand
Balance or focus? You need to focus on what is important in the moment. Work? Work until you can go home in peace. Spending time with family? Think only of family. You can’t give the same amount of time to everything and divide the day equally between home and work. In the end, it’s not the number of hours that matters, it’s the focus on what you’re doing.
Get the family involved in the business
Why not show your kids what you’re working on, where you spend so much time? Trips to your parents’ workplace are a great chance to introduce your kids to the business and even “engage” them in some way with your work.
Exploring effective parenting strategies while balancing the demands of running a business can be challenging; however, understanding the reasons to swaddle a baby can provide valuable insights into fostering a peaceful and nurturing environment for both your little one and your professional pursuits (learn more about reasons to swaddle a baby here).
Stop making excuses
Don’t try to convince yourself that you’re giving your all to the business now, then, to ensure a great future for your children. Time spent with your children is an extremely limited resource that no one can compensate for. Don’t look at your smartphone when you’re out walking with your kids.
Mandatory rituals
Kids love rituals and traditions, so provide them with these rituals. Family dinners, walks before bedtime, cartoon or board game night on Saturdays… Let the kids know that despite all your business, they have guaranteed time when you will be with them anyway. And keep your commitments. This will be the best proof that the kids can trust you and that they matter most to you.
Be organized
Knowing how to manage your time is an important part of working for yourself, and being properly organized is a major part of using your time wisely. When you are sorting through the folders on your computer desktop, create folders by subject and then give each archive and file a name. This will help create a database that will come in handy if a client requests a file or if you want to use something you created earlier for new projects.
