How do I balance being a stay at home mom, wife, coach and business owner?
Well, I will begin by admitting that taking on many roles like these in today's society is quite common. In fact, I'm sure my list does not seem all too lengthy compared to many super-moms out there. Afterall, I do only have one child... although sometimes I think that having more would makes it easier on both him and me (besides the point).
With anything we do, its important to keep priorities, priorities, and take the other less significant or demanding tasks and mold it around them. Anytime we need to consider more than one person's priorities in the equation of life, it does makes it a little harder to balance out. So, here are three important questions to ask yourself when balancing the role of mother and business owner:
1. What transitions are necessary in light of: Business, productive methods to pursue, important activities, and parenting obligations? There is nothing like becoming a parent and having another person to nurture that will make you do a complete 180 with your business and life's priorities. For me I was inspired to get smarter about making money so I could work less (at home) and focus on what was really important while still maintaining a productive business. Parenting forced me to really evaluate where I was spending my time in the sense of where I really wanted my service efforts to go... which leads to my second question.
2. How do I design my business around my most profitable activities? To put it plain and simple; Let go of what is not working and focus most on the three to five activities that are. Sometimes after a time frame, say 3-6 months, you need to stop and evaluate what activities are really paying off. Pick the three that require more time, and focus on those during your quiet time in the day. Each night I made a list of the top five things I needed to accomplish the next day. Also, I found it best to create blocks of time through the week and stick to a schedule that helped me to focus on a "category" during each block of certain times frames while also putting a restriction on how much time I could spend on that particular activity. Granted, the most productive, were early mornings, nights and school times... or may be (baby's) nap time for you. By being more productive when I didn't have things cluttering my thoughts I was actually able to increase my income (working less hours a week) simply because I had laser focus during those blocks of time I scheduled.
3. What areas are more profitable and create long-time customer? First- I considered the way I was charging for services and considered new ways to make money; given the same system. Time certainly became more valuable to me when I entered the stage of motherhood... so why wouldn't I consider putting a monetary value on it when it wasn't easy to come by. "Time really is money" and when you're in business, there is a reason you decided to devote your time to it... for it to be productive. Right? So I considered what areas of work would result in the most happy customers. Happy customers means return buyers which is much less work than finding new ones.
4. What rewards and perks could I offer current customers while building new ones? I began to brainstorm ways I could bring on new cliental while rewarding current product users. Giving incentives helps people realize you value there business and that you want to give back to them. When I offered an incentive to them, it solidified my belief that referral based marketing is the best way to spread the word about what I offer. It also makes it really fun because friends love to help friends and share what they like with them. It amazed me how product sales increased as people were given a little something extra to help spread the word about what I had to offer.
If being a full-time mom and entrepreneur is on the top of your list, don't hesitate to take action now. Find a mentor and a training system that you can follow through with in a few hours a week and do the necessary actions to get your business up and running. Honestly a few focused actions taken each day, really do add up. Don't get caught up on not making money immediately, because remember, your overall focus is on having a balance between motherhood, time commitments and business ownership. You'll be amazed when you look back one year from now at what you accomplished with a few consistent daily steps.
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