Being a mom is a demanding role. Keeping up with the needs of the family and home can be overwhelming, and many moms are finding they are able to keep up better (and enjoy life more) by leaving the workforce.
Of course, at that point, the money can get a little thin, and they find themselves struggling to get by on one income. For that reason, a lot of moms are starting their own businesses.
Entrepreneurship affords them the opportunity to set their own hours and be available at home whenever they need to, while still giving them a good income to help keep the family on track financially as well. This arrangement not only sounds good in theory, but it works in practice, with many moms reporting that the business actually helps them be better moms.
A successful business requires a lot of work, though, and those better moms are only achieving that by working smart at their business. They have done a great job with optimizing–not minimizing–the time they spend with the business relative to the time they spend on family functions. Reaching that ideal level of work time requires skill in knowing what to do for yourself and what to contract out or to otherwise remove from your long to-do list. Let’s review some of those:
Marketing
A good business should be marketing itself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, no mom has those 168 hours available, but she can build her business while she’s busy with other things. An easy way to do that is with clothing. Next Level wholesale apparel offers a wide array of garments that can be customized with your company’s logo and contact information. You can hand out the shirts to family and friends, and of course, wear them yourself. That way, even when you’re picking up the kids from soccer practice, you are advertising your company. And you thought you were leaving work to run a family errand.
Bookkeeping
It’s almost time for the kids to come home. The slow cooker needs to be turned down. The phone is ringing. The dog needs to go out. And you’re elbow-deep trying to calculate your accounts payable. Most people who get into business do so for the product or service they provide, not because they enjoy crunching numbers. Others actually love crunching numbers, and lucky for you, they’ll crunch yours for you so that you can get to the kitchen, the telephone, and the front door instead of concerning yourself with a misplaced decimal or forgetting to carry a 1. Contracting out bookkeeping can be an important part of keeping good financial records, and it can free up a lot of hours each week, giving you more time to focus on your output and your family instead of on the books.
Market Research
You barely have time to gather today’s shipments and get them on the road as scheduled. How can you possibly put together a focus group? Lucky for you, the traditional group of people sitting around a table discussing products is not necessary. Social media makes it very efficient and fast to find out what people like and dislike about your product or service. You should be prepared for the occasional bad comment, and you should always follow up in a constructive way.
And as for the good comments, be sure to incorporate their feedback as well.
Running a home business is a great way to stay fully engaged as both a mom and a second income provider. It gives you the independence you need to serve in both roles while maintaining your sanity and allowing you to enjoy your family time. After all, isn’t that what being a mom is all about?
