Being A Mompreneur Can Be Great And Here's How

Mom life is the best. Working for yourself is also the best (in my biased opinion lol). The two together are tough if you don’t get yourself on the right tracks.

So I thought that since I am now a mumma of 3 and have been self employed since the first one arrived earth side that I would share with you fellow mompreneurs the things I wish I’d known and what I’ve learnt along the way.

Let’s start with the lie we seem to all chase…DAILY BALANCE

I’m just going to put it out there, this is such a load of codswallop as we say in my mother-tongue. What a lie we have been fed by other moms, social media, movies and just the world around us. That somehow we can achieve this magic realm of work-life daily balance. That we can attain the perfect alignment of the two if we just try hard enough.

When in reality that’s just false. Guess what, entrepreneurial life requires different levels of your attention at different times, as does motherhood. There may be seasons where everything is running well and the demands of your business are not as high which means you can now focus on your kiddos, your husband, your friendships and yourself a little more.

But then come the days and sometimes weeks that it’s completely nuts crazy and you are having to throw all you have at your business. And thats OKAY. Don’t beat yourself up, you are still an incredible mom and wife!

The aim shouldn’t be to achieve the unattainable daily balance but instead to recognize that our business’ eb and flow which must cause us to prioritize our other relationships accordingly. When you know that you are on a downtime then you have to give that extra time to your family. You have to be there, all in.

Let’s stop beating ourselves up at the end of the day with epic levels of mom guilt when we haven’t spent all the time we should have on everything we should have.

Aim instead for a balanced life, a balanced week and month. Over the course of a week have you managed to give quality time to your children, your spouse and yourself. Yes on Monday you spent the whole day at work and the kids were in bed by the time you got home but then on Thursday and Friday you did no work at all and instead spent it playing with your kiddos and getting yourself to the gym.

That’s the balance we should aim for, that is attainable, that is realistic and that is possible. Over a week you can fit it all in, you can prioritize your marriage, yourself and your kids.

Next up…PLANNING

You HAVE to learn time management and the gift of being an incredible planner. Yes your business demands change day to day but your family need you continuously. If you just think to yourself ‘I’ll make time later to take the kids swimming, to go on a date with hubbie, to go and get my hair done’ it won’t happen.

You HAVE to book it in. You HAVE to plan your life out when you are a self employed mumma. Once your business has been running for a while you can anticipate those busier periods and crazy days/weeks. Because you have that ability to know whats coming (for the most part) you have the ability to schedule your quality family time around it.

There is nothing wrong with sitting down on a Sunday evening with a pen and note pad and actually writing out your weeks schedule. Literally write out the time slots you intend to spend with your family and on yourself. Even go as far as to write in what you will do in that time with that person. Sometimes I’ll write in that I’ll sit on the floor between 12-1pm with Joel and play with play dough. It might sound silly but it means when I get to that day I am 99% more likely to actually spend that time with him than if I just ‘hoped’ to do it.

Finally you have to master the skill of SWITCHING OFF.

When I say ‘skill’ I really mean it. I genuinely, whole heartedly believe that switching of is a skill you can learn and develop. Just saying ‘I don’t know how to switch off’ is a cop out. Yes it takes effort, focus and a willingness to try but it can be done and is necessary.

We’ve all been there as entrepreneurial moms, we’re playing cars with the kids, or baking, or taking them to the park and our minds wander. We start to think about the items on our work to-do list, we feel our hands reaching for our cell phones to send that ‘quick email’ or check the interactions on a post. STOP. STOP. STOP.

We have to be present, we have to be fully engaged and fully involved. If this means you leave your cell at home or in the bedroom then do it. If you have to turn off the TV, the laptop, do it! Whatever your usually distracted with simply remove it as an option.

I promise that if you start to switch off and become more present in your non-work life you will feel the benefits across the board. If I can do it, you can do it, it just takes a willingness, planning and commitment.