Moms can be some of the most tenacious and determined people of all, so it’s no surprise that many of them decide to take on the ambitious task of starting a home business.
The Mom/CEO position is not for the faint of heart. You have to know beforehand what you’re getting into, you have to plan well for it, and you will have to get creative to find ways to maintain organization throughout.
Women are doing it every day, though, and it’s an entirely achievable and worthy venture. The following are a few pieces of advice with insight from women who understand the plight of moms working from home.
1. “The best revenge is the take-home pay.”
—Cheryl Demas
Those who work from home understand that it is just as demanding as a conventional business, but your friends and family tend to think that you’re kind of just fooling around because it appears that you’re just sitting at home all day.
Cheryl Demas explains that when they start to see how much money you’re making, they will get the picture. So work hard, keep bringing in more customers and clients, and keep crushing it because when you start really bringing in the benjamins, they’ve got their proof.
2. “Don’t beat yourself on the head by setting your expectations too high and too early.”
—Meg Mateo Ilasco
You are a mom and a home business owner, at the same time. That is a momentous undertaking, which is why you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself when you don’t see new revenue rolling in right off the bat.
It takes time to figure out how to balance your time and effort between your children, your marriage, and your business; so, calm perseverance is going to be the key.
3. “Your vision of taking that call from Lucky Magazine while your son draws peacefully in your office might be a little unrealistic.”
—Meg Mateo Ilasco
There is a myth that if you start a home business, you will finally be able to kill two birds with one stone and work at home while spending more time with your children. Not likely.
Just keep in mind that if you’re running a business from home with kids, it’s going to be pretty tough to seriously devote yourself to either endeavor.
4. “Locking yourself in your office to make an important deadline requires disconnecting from your family.”
—Mary M. Byers
If you have any illusions about what a home business will require of you, then you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment and pain, down the road.
Being the owner of a home business is no less demanding than any other business, and you will just add more stress to yourself if you do not separate the business from your family life.
You separate your bank account from your personal account, and you keep work time separate from personal time. It’s when they start to run together that you’ll drive yourself crazy.
There’s no getting around the fact that your home business is going to be tough to manage, but as long as you let your work and family have their respective space, then there’s no reason you can’t have great success, even as a mom.
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.