When you’re a mother and a business owner, there are times – many – when your business will seem like it’s moving in slow motion, put on pause or even rewind. That’s what happens when life happens, and family. As a solo business owner and mother these situations can be really stressful and emotionally and physically overwhelming.
Add to that major life changes and the challenge magnifies.
You may or may not know that we’ve just spent 3 months living in Thailand and that we’re moving to Sydney this week.
Myla was 14 months when we left for Thailand and in that 3.5 month period she got whooping cough, handfootmouth disease (the joys of starting nursery in a hot, bug friendly climate – not easy for this naturopathic nutritionist mama to take on board when we’re ‘meant to be’ healthy = added emotional guilt, blame), chipped a tooth which required dental attention by a specialist, we had to move house twice and fit in a trip to Malaysia to extend our visas.
That’s quite an eventful few months! How I kept my business going I really don’t know. But somehow I it all worked out, as it does.
And then the move to Sydney where we’re moving into temporary accommodation for two weeks, have to look for, find and move to longer term accommodation and Dominic has a 3 day business trip the second week we’re there. When travelling with little ones it takes time for them to settle in. You can’t just move and get a nanny or put them into nursery right away. They need time. You need time. To settle in. To get your bearings.
So how on earth do you run a successful business during those periods where you’re a full time mum and have to arrange ‘life’ on top of it all?
First of all, mindset. Be OK with business slowing down. We’re not production line machines. We are human beings who want to enjoy where we are at any one particular time. There is no race. If you’re in one, it’s only with yourself. So give yourself permission to slow down and smell, feel, taste, experience what your life looks like through these changes and situations. All that stuff that I just mentioned? That’s life happening.
On a practical level it takes organisation, planning and outsourcing.
- plan ahead. have a schedule. know what you’re doing when. this allows you to:
a) in cases of unexpected illness or other event, have your eye on the bare essentials that need doing to keep your business ticking over without wasting time on the ‘other’ stuff
b) in cases of expected change and major events, schedule as many blog posts and newsletters ahead of time for the duration of the time you’re going to be either taking off or playing low - outsource:
blog post writing to a copywriter or arrange collect guest posts ahead of time and schedule them in
newsletters to a copywriter or VA
emails to a VA
client communication and bookings to a VA
speaker requests to a VA (don’t miss out on those opportunities, have then set up for you for when you’re back ready to go)
Oh, and did I mention being OK with business slowing down and enjoying life a little more during those times?
What are your top THREE productivity tips to keep business ticking over when life happens all at once?
