Are you considering pivoting from working outside the home with a full-time career into a work-from-home entrepreneur to be present for your family? Well, that’s exciting! Creating a work-life balance for a work-from-home mama is different for everyone. Let’s talk through a few things to consider during your pivot.
Which camp will you fall into?
Working with women entrepreneurs, specifically mothers, I've found that they will fall into one of two camps.
The first camp is the one that I fell into when I began my business. I found myself creeping into my office at any free moment. This came from the mindset that I must hustle harder. My work-life balance was way out of balance.
The second camp is the new mana entrepreneur that struggles with time management and keeping herself accountable when there is no set workday.
Now that we know the two camps, here are ideas to set yourself up for success as your pivot into a work from home entrepreneur.
Hustle Harder
Let’s look at the conscious changes to not fall into the trap of hustling harder.
Now, this is important; what is your why. Why do you want to be present for your family and be an entrepreneur? I’m guessing that you have lofty business goals, and nothing is standing in your way. I get it; define why you had a desire to be a work-from-home business owner. Even though you think your why is your big goal, I think you’ll agree with me when I say it will be freedom to be present for your family.
Another critical point is to sit down and map out your dream week. Using your why and your business goal, map out the perfect dream week. Plan this out from the time you wake up to when you go to bed. What will you be doing when you are working, what will you be doing when you’re with your family. Remember, as a work from home entrepreneur, you have the freedom to be present for your family throughout the day.
Struggle Bus
Maybe, you’ll be on the struggle bus with time management and keeping yourself accountable when there is no set workday.
All of a sudden, you have all this freedom! It is glorious; all the things you’ve wanted to do are now yelling at you, “Get me done!”.
Now, this is important what are your intentions. After all, intentions are the cornerstone of your life. What intentions do you want in life and as a work-from-home entrepreneur? Besides the freedom to be present for your family, what do you want to happen for you? If you don’t know, get out your journal and ask yourself, what are my intentions? Journal until you have your answers for both your work-from-home business and your life.
Besides making time to tackle all of those home projects that are yelling at you, be clear with yourself when you are in work mode and home mode.
This is done by figuring out your time bank and your time blocks. Here is a link to a previous post on time blocking that will be helpful for you.
Additionally, another challenge will be setting boundaries with your family. This is new to them; they will also need to shift their thinking about having you at home all the time.
How do I know? This scenario is one that I’ve worked through with more than one client.
When they transition from a 9-5 to working from home as an entrepreneur, it is essential to take the time to set boundaries with your family. As I mentioned, this is new for them, too. In the past, when Mom was home, she wasn’t figuring out the balance between running a business and taking care of her family. The focus was purely home mode and taking care of her family at that time. All of a sudden, that’s no longer the case. Besides setting your own boundaries with your time, it will also mean having a conversation with your husband and children to understand that it is like you're not at home when you’re in your office or workspace. Trust me, you will not have a successful work-from-home business if you say yes to dropping your work to running errands for your family.
Given these points, make sure that you’re honoring your commitments to your growing business and your family.
Little Side Note
Be kind to yourself. Finding the balance between the demands of running a household and running a business may be overwhelming at first. That's okay! You'll figure it out; I believe in you.
Work-Life Balance
At last, these are the things that I’ve found that work and suggest to my clients to try out.
Above all, allow yourself the freedom to get a few things done around the house. Using the Pomodoro Method is a beautiful way to tackle your home to-do list items. If you’re not familiar with Pomodoro, it works for 25 minutes of focus time on one thing. After that, 25 minutes, take a five-minute break. In these five-minute breaks, I fold laundry, pick up my house, and clean the kitchen. I get as much done as I can in that five minutes, and when the timer goes off, I’m back to heads-down focus time on my business. Essentially, you can work like this for your whole day. It’s magical for getting so much done.
Equally important is to set yourself up for success the night before. Start with identifying your pain points in the morning. What is a repeat pattern that causes stress? Is it figuring out what you or your kids will wear?
What if you make that decision the night before and have it all laid out and ready to go. Now, this is important to ensure the kitchen is prepared to go with breakfast, such as bowls and spoons on the counter or Overnight Oats in the fridge.
Do you know where everything is to get your kids out the door? This is one that I’ve set an example for with my kids from a young age, put your stuff away so that you do not need to spend time looking for it, especially in the morning.
Yes, I know this may sound harsh to a few of you, but it was a very rare occasion that I’d help them find it. If the item was not found by the time we had to leave, they would go without it. I’m not going to lie; it destroyed me inside to listen to them cry on the way to daycare. I’d reassure them it would be okay, and once we returned home, I’d help them with the hunt first thing when we walked in the door.
By gathering everything the evening before, our stress-free morning was the norm. Look for routines to set up to make your life go smoother.
Look for new habits and routines that you can create as you pivot from working outside the home to becoming a work-from-home business owner.
Check in with yourself do a self-assessment to discover where you feel out of balance. Download my free resource to find where you’re out of balance in your life.
Private Coaching
Why do I believe in the power of private coaching?
Because it is truly life-changing. When your coach asks you that mind-blowing question that suddenly allows you to see what you've been missing all along that was literally right in front of your face.
You just need someone with a different perspective to help you see it.
Are you ready to experience life from a different perspective?
