How To Run A Business Whilst Raising Your Children:

Many different people in various circumstances and situations choose to start and run their own businesses. For some, it is an easy thing to do – they can begin right away and push forward as quickly as they want and need to. For others, particularly parents raising young children, it can be a huge juggling act that sometimes feels impossible. It’s not impossible, of course; here are some things to remember if you want to run a business and raise your children at the same time.

Say No

People who run businesses will have many different demands on their time. Parents also have different demands at the same time. You can’t do everything and learning to say no is what is going to keep you focused and allow you to have a good work-life balance so that your family doesn’t suffer. If you can say no to the things that are going to make your life more difficult, you are effectively saying yes to something that will help you out.

Don’t Set Working Hours

If you try to set specific working hours like you would if you went to work for someone else in an office, then you are going to have problems and feel rushed and pushed. Working 9 to 5 when you have small children just is not going to be possible, even when they go to school. Therefore, you need to be prepared to work when you can, not necessarily when you would want to, at least at the beginning. Always focus on getting at least seven hours of sleep a night and then look at what your family needs from you. That way you’ll know what time you have to focus on your business – it might be that you work early in the morning and late at night, for example, but if it means getting it right then it is worth it.

Invest In Help

As a business owner, you may feel as though you want to do everything by yourself, but sometimes that just isn’t possible when you have a family to care for at the same time. Investing in help and outsourcing some of your work is a good idea; it may cost you some money, but it will free up your time and make you more productive in other areas. You can outsource your marketing, for example, any data recovery services you may have need of, your accounting work, and perhaps even your customer service department. Think carefully about the tasks you currently do that take up your time and don’t actually build the business, or that you don’t have the right skills to do as well as someone else might – these are the things to outsource.

Don’t Hide Your Children

If you have children, they are part of your life regardless, and that is important in business. People like to buy from people – especially people they have an affinity with. Therefore, being your real self and having your family around you and within the business, if need be, is important. Some customers may not like it, but others will, and they will understand that you are doing the best you can.