Separating Work from Home, When Home is Work.
For the last four years I have struggled with the balance between work and home. The main struggle is that I work at home so it can be very difficult to shut the door to the office and try to be just Mom. I realized not too long ago that my children needed MOM, not CEO. Here are some tips on how I have tried to balance the two.
Set hours and stick to them. I decided that I didn’t need to work constantly from 3pm until 8pm. This is the time my kids get home from school until they go to bed. One of the reasons I wanted to work from home was to be at home with my kids. This is the time they need me. We play, do homework have a nice family dinner and end our day together with some bedtime stories. This is my favorite time of day. I only work if there is an emergency. And yes, there are plenty of those from time to time. But by making a promise to focus on my kids from 3pm-8pm it has improved my attitude and theirs. Of course the minute they go to bed I’m back on the computer until midnight or later catching up on what needs to be done. I personally feel it is worth it.
Prioritize what is important and learn to make choices. This has been tough too. Realizing that you can’t do everything, and you can’t be everything all the time. I have had friendships suffer and some fail. My husband has learned how to spend the quiet evenings with me, and my laptop…although he doesn’t complain; he used to say I talked too much! (HA!) But by making choices that work for me and my family I am able to keep focused on my family and growing my business.
Involve your family. My kids love to help, of course they are 7 years old. I realize that will not last forever. Right now they feel important when they get to help me. They do a great job packing boxes, applying fragile stickers and helping me organize my office. My son is really into computers and enjoys learning how we build website pages. My daughter loves coming up with new ideas on how to use our favors. They feel they are a part of this business too.
Remember why you are doing this. There are many times that I am just exhausted. With so many hats to wear, my head starts to hurt. These are the times I have to remember why I worked so hard to get this far. I wanted to be home with my kids for as long as possible, I wanted to be successful, I wanted to work for myself, I wanted to contribute to my family’s financial bottom line. These reasons keep me going. They help me get up at 6am to work before the kids get up. They help me get through each day.
I would love to hear how some of you have learned to balance your e-commerce business with your home life!
1 Comment
Lori says:
Hi Kara,
You make some good points here. The best one is the fact that you can't have it all. As a baby boomer, I became a working woman at the height of the 80s when having it all was the key. I remember all the ways we were advised to put family in one compartment and work in another like a man would do. Ha! So not easy to do. I finally made a decision that I didn't want to have it all at the expense of my family in the early 90s and then worked a combination of freelancing and part time. Now that our kids are all adults and we even have a grad child I can see the payoff of all that I really truly gave up in order to put first things first. Now I advise young women to consider which side of the fence they will want to be on once they become a mother. Regardless of what anyone says, becoming a mother changes everything in a woman's life and yo must be prepared to have confidence if you are going to stay home. I remember how mad some of my co-workers were the day I finally left my company. Can you imagine they were mad because I was deciding that I could do without a few things career wise until my kids were grown! What really surprised me though was that my kids really needed me until the last one got out of college just this past May. LOL!
Thanks for these great tips. I remember them now that I'm a half mother (grandmother) and making choices like this again.
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