Welcoming a new baby in to your family is always a great moment of joy. It is the ultimate fulfillment of our destiny, continuing our family line and name and adding unconditional love to your life. But what happens to your home-based business while you are blissfully enjoying your new role as a parent?
This is one of the biggest dilemmas for home-based business owners. The baby has priority, of course, so will their business suffer? Will they lose clients, will their sales decline and will their family’s financial future be jeopardized? Actually, the perspectives are not as bleak as you imagine. Of course you will have less time to dedicate to your business, but with some creativity you will be able to balance both your parenting duties and running your small business.
Today we want to offer you helpful advice and tips which will guide you towards developing a working schedule for your business and your family life.
1. Accept That You Are Not Superman
The drive to do everything to perfection will prevent you from achieving anything at all. By embracing your imperfections and accepting that you cannot multitask and take care both of your baby’s needs and your business at the same time is the first step towards finding the balance between your parenting duties and your daily activities related to running your business.
Many young parents and entrepreneurs are over-thinking and stressing themselves out because they want to do everything perfectly in every aspect of their lives. Thus, they are unable to manage their time accurately and end up staying up late to catch up with their business – developing insomnia and an altered state of mind which affects both their professional and personal lives.
2. Work When the Baby Sleeps
Newborn babies sleep a lot, both during the day and during the night. The quiet times during the day when your baby is peacefully sleeping are the ideal moments to run your business. You can focus on your tasks, connect with customers, answer emails and work on your products and marketing strategies in peace and quiet. When the baby wakes up, you will be ready to take care of their needs without stressing over your home-based business.
3. Learn to Delegate Tasks
The first two years of your baby’s life are critical for the bonding with the parents and siblings. For certain types of home-based business, where it is not feasible to slow down the activity, it is a good idea to start getting various family members involved in running it. We have already discussed the pros and cons of working with your family in your home-based business, and the pros have outweighed the cons. You should consider delegating some of your daily activities, even for a few months, to someone you trust while you focus on being a good parent.
4. Learn to Work in Time Pockets
Do you remember those desks with many pigeonholes for various bills, correspondence, other documents, writing paper and so on? Imagine your day as such a desk and each pigeonhole represents half an hour. Assign various activities to each pigeonhole, both related to your parenting duties and running your business. Set aside half an hour for reading and answering emails, half an hour for bathing the baby, another half an hour for monitoring social media, the next for feeding the baby and so on. This careful portioning of your time every day will allow you to take care of all the activities which need your attention.
5. Learn to Be Flexible
There is one universal rule you need to take into account: babies have a mind of their own and they follow their own schedule. So, no matter how well you have planned your day, you will find that your baby is claiming your attention at unexpected moments. Do not sacrifice these precious moments of bonding with your child for the sake of making more money. After all, working from home is meant to offer you more flexibility to go out and enjoy yourself at a moment’s notice. Go to the park with your baby, sing a lullaby and play with them whenever they are awake.
Whatever you do, remember that your child will not treasure the designer baby clothes you bought them, but the times spent together playing and looking after them with all your love. This will certainly help you set your priorities right.