The Entrepreneur Parent

Parenting is a tough job. It's even tougher when you're an entrepreneur working from home. 

Kids rely heavily on their parents. Depending on their ages you have to feed them, dress them, bathe them, take them to soccer practice or help them with their homework. All of this requires a very precious commodity for entrepreneurs: time.

It can seem as if you don't have enough time to dedicate to your business and if you spend more time on work than with your kids then you feel guilty. So you try to juggle both and end up with a string of sleepless nights, which affects not only your health but your creativity and productivity as well.

I've been there and sometimes still struggle with making it all work. But there are some sure fire things you can do to help things run a little smoother:

1. Schedule everything.  I'm serious. I know spontaneity is fun and cool and the spice of life or whatever. . .but if you don't adhere to some form of time management you will fail miserably. You should schedule answering emails or phone calls early in the AM while your kids are sleep or at school. When the kids are awake schedule an activity with them from X time to Y time, and then get back to work during their nap.  If you have a strict project or client deadline, you may have to put on a movie (gasp!) or call over a relative to babysit for a few hours.  

2. Quit at quitting time. If you schedule everything you should be able to set a realistic time to stop working. If you were working outside of the home there would be a set time to turn off the computer and leave the building. Apply the same thought process when working from home. Log off and close the office door or put the laptop on the closet shelf out of view.


3.  Examine your priorities. You are more than likely working from home because you crave work life balance. You want to be able to spend more time with your family. So do it. Don't spend all your time working and miss out on those special moments with your family because you can't ever get that time back.