How to Handle the Madness of Raising Kids While Starting a Business
After careful consideration, you’ve finally decided to take a leap of faith. You’ve saved up enough money to start your own business. If you’ve done your homework, you know that it takes a lot of work to make a startup successful, but you’re up for the challenge. The question is, how do you do so while still being there for your family?
Starting a business takes a lot of invested time, money, and energy, but so does raising children. Yet, there are lots of parents out there today with highly successful businesses and a sound home life. So, it has to be possible. It simply requires having a plan in place.
Create a Space for Work
You have to keep your home life and your personal lives separate, even if you are working from home. Find some space or a spare room in your home that can be converted into a home office. This gives you a designated area to work free from distractions around the house.
Set a Work Schedule
The thing about working for yourself is that there is no one to tell you when to clock in or out. Though this flexible schedule might be ideal for doctor’s appointments, school assemblies, or family vacations, if you’re not disciplined enough, it can also be your undoing. To keep things in order, set a work schedule. If you’re going to work Monday – Friday from 9 am – 3 pm. Then, stick to it. This schedule will also make it easier for you to coordinate your personal schedule.
Develop Routines
If you haven’t had much structure in the household now is the time to do it. In order to keep yourself from going insane or putting personal matters before the business (or vice versa), you need routines. Decide on the appropriate time to wake the kids for school, make breakfast, and get them off to school on time. You should also have an after school routine planned out where snacks are passed out, homework is completed, and dinner is being prepared.
Ask For or Hire Help
No successful entrepreneur can honestly say they got where they are today without some help. Just as no parent can say they didn’t raise their children with a little assistance. There is nothing wrong with needing help as you embark on this journey. Talk with your significant other or family members about your goals for your business and where you need assistance with the children. As for the office, it may not be a bad idea to outsource tasks that are tedious or mundane to free up your own schedule.
Know How to Relieve Stress
Even with a decent plan of action for running a startup and raising your kids’ stress is almost certain. Not knowing where your next dime is going to come from, struggling to find clients, trying to manage the needs of your kids, it can all become a lot to cope with. If you’re not careful, this could cause you to develop mental health problems spanning from chronic stress to depression.
If you are currently feeling depressed or anxious about your current circumstances, it is ideal to get mental health treatment to improve your mood. For those who are just getting started, develop some methods to help you deal with the stress. Whether that’s going out to the local cafe, taking a walk through the park, taking a nap, or hanging out with your friends on the weekend. You have to find ways to balance your mood.
Take Care of Your Health
When you’re responsible for a business and a household it can be pretty easy to start forgetting about yourself. You stop showering as much, eat whenever you can, barely get any sleep, and are constantly stressed out. This is no way to operate as eventually, you’ll find you can’t do much of anything.
Keep your health first. Make sure you’re eating 3 times a day, keep grooming yourself, take breaks from the office on occasion, get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, and exercise regularly.
To say that running a business and raising kids is a piece of cake would be an overstatement, but it can be done. All you have to do is make sure that you have a plan in place that allows you to prioritize your family while managing your business. It can take some getting used to but before long you’ll have it all down packed.
Feature Image Source:
