One of the main reasons parents set up their own home-based businesses is ostensibly so they can spend more time with their families and see more of their children. However, if you run your own business from home and you've got small children, you'll know how hard it is to try and combine the two. If it's not your baby screaming loudly while you're trying to talk to a client on the phone, it's your toddler smearing your laptop with sticky fingers as they try and 'help' you type. Here are a few ways you can try and make your work life and family life mesh a little better:
1. Use childcare! This might run completely contrary to the rose-tinted ideals you had when you first started up your business - after all, you became self-employed so you could spend more time with your children. But if you can arrange for a couple of hours of uninterrupted worktime every day, or even every few days, that means the time you do spend with your kids is going to be much more precious. There are a plethora of options, from childminders to nurseries, nannies, grandparents and other parents: whatever suits your budget and your own preferences.
2. Assign non-time-sensitive tasks to the evenings when you're children are asleep: things like marketing, social media updates and so forth can be done at anti-social hours.
3. Use a call answering service or a virtual assistant for day to day customer care and service.
4. If you have very young babies, don't try to do too much. They grow so fast - make the most of this time together. For slightly older babies, try working during their naps, use a sling and learn to type one handed while breast-feeding!
5. Automate everything that you can. Use email service providers to send out newsletters and pre-schedule your blog posts and tweets. If you can afford it, pay a cleaner to come in once a week or fortnight to blitz the house - that'll be extra precious hours you'll save on cleaning. The same goes for gardening and pet care.
Finally, though, accept that you can't do everything at once. Your children won't be tiny for long and this time really does go in a flash. Yes, your business might grow more slowly than you'd like but if you continue to put a little bit of time and effort into it, it will grow and as you begin to get more time to yourself, you can increase your efforts. Clients come and go, and businesses can be built back up again from nothing, so relax and enjoy this special time while you can.
Want more information and advice on setting up a home-based business?
Go to http://www.domestic-entrepreneur.com/ to sign up for the 7 day FREE e-course 'Kickstart Your Home-Based Business'. Domestic Entrepreneur is the one-stop information website for anyone who wants to start earning an income from home, for whatever reason.
Celina Lucas is the author of the Amazon Kindle books 'How to Start a Business When You've Got No Time - Or Money' and 'Article Marketing for Beginners'. She runs Domestic Entrepreneur.com plus her virtual assistance business Office Alchemy.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marketing-Beginners-promote-business-ebook/dp/B0073WV7HS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328628252&sr=8-1
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