Monday, May 30, 2016

How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur While Being a Successful Parent

blend work and family

Being a parent isn’t easy. Being an entrepreneur isn’t a walk in the park either. But being both a parent and an entrepreneur can be enough to put in in non-stop therapy sessions.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad. But it’s still a challenge, isn’t it?

You work hard to grow your business because you want to build a legacy you can leave to your children. At the same time, you’re trying to make sure you’re doing a good job of raising your children. Both take tons of work, and both are incredibly rewarding.

One of the two jobs in the world where you will encounter some of the most responsibility is being an entrepreneur and being a parent — and this of course goes double if you happen to be both. Think about it: Building a business can affect the lives of many people, and your success or failure can greatly influence the success and failure of your customers and employees.

Similarly, being a parent means you are helping to grow a little human being into a fully-functioning adult, and much of his good and bad habits will be a result of your influence.

No pressure, right?

But you don’t have to worry. It can be done! This article will provide you some tips on how to blend work and family even when you’re busy running your own business. 

How To Blend Work And Family Tips

Develop a Routine and Stick to It

Businesses, just like kids (and adults), do better when there is a daily pattern. The reason for this is that routine promotes habits, and habits save you time, willpower, and mental energy. That’s why you need to develop a daily routine.

For example, when was the last time you really thought about brushing your teeth? Did you fight yourself about it and procrastinate? Probably not. Chances are, you got up and didn’t even consciously make a choice to go to the bathroom, put toothpaste on your toothbrush, and brush your pearly whites.

Of course, not everything about business is routine — there are many times you will need to consciously brainstorm new and innovative ideas. Much of it, like life, will certainly be habitual once you get a good system going. Forming good habits will save you time and brain cells, and the best way to make those habits is by doing them at the same time every day as part of a routine.

Additionally, when you have habits and routines that govern your day, you will have a predictable schedule for when work is supposed to happen and when recreation is supposed to happen. This will make a distinct separation between “work mode” and “play mode,” which will help ensure that you don’t get burnt out. It’s about finding the right balance between your business and family life.

Life is also more predictable to children when there’s a routine. When you’re relatively new to the world, life can be confusing, and certainly having something constant in your life can be extremely helpful.  Having routines helps blend work and family.

Don’t Be Afraid to Get Help When Necessary

One of the best lessons that you can teach your children is that we can’t always do everything alone, and sometimes we need to ask for help. This includes you!

You may not always be able to take care of your business and your children at the same time. In order to accomplish both, you may need to hire some help.

There might be times when you need someone who can look after your kids when you have that important business meeting. If you don’t have a babysitter who can help, you can use a nanny agency. There’s nothing wrong with having somebody help you with the kids if you need it.

Of course you don’t want to overdo this. Your children still need their parent to raise them. It’s about finding the right balance and the best way to blend work and family.

Remember to Take Breaks

As cliché as this may sound, you can’t expect to get very far cutting down a tree without first taking some time to sharpen the saw. Taking breaks and having free time is what will enable you to feel renewed and be at peak performance in many areas of your life.

This means taking breaks both from your business and sometimes even from your children. Remember that being a parent can be hard work, and going directly from having to run a business during the day to having to care for a pack of youngsters in the evening can be exhausting without time off to relax.

Take some time to yourself. Do something purely for fun. You will need that time to recharge.

Also, make sure you’re getting enough sleep. This is something that many entrepreneurs ignore, but it’s so important. Getting the right amount of rest will actually make you far more productive.

Include Your Kids in the Businesses

You may pride yourself in being able to provide your kids with all their material needs, but you probably also know that the best gift of all is not material in the least: The best thing you can give a person early in life are the critical learning experiences that will set a good foundation for a productive life as an adult. Including your children in your business and teaching them how the economy works will give them a huge head start compared to most of their peers, and it will also give you an opportunity to bond and blend work and family.

Conclusion

Building a business while raising young people is no simple task, but hopefully these tips have helped you in some way and you might be inclined to incorporate them into your everyday life.

Mompreneur Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur While Being a Successful Parent" was first published on Small Business Trends

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