Mom Business Owner - Mommy I Need You, Right Now!

Mom Business Owner - Mommy I Need You, Right Now!

Green commented: Everyone who’s been around a six-year old knows that the key to their cooperation is feeling authoritative. “I’ve found that the best thing to do is to have my daughter help me with my work; stamping envelopes or stapling papers together makes her feel big and important”.

It’s 3:30 in the afternoon, so far your day has been an awkward but familiar mishmash of rice cereal and banana feedings, client e-mails, grocery store adventures, fax machine mishaps, skinned knees, torn knee-highs, letter head confusion, and you now look forward to bath time aquatics and dinner plan amnesia.

You must be a mom business owner.

Most people would agree that being a mom in itself is the most demanding job in existence; one can only expect that being a mompreneur requires an enormous amount of patience, planning, and creativity in order to end the day with more than just a headache.

Being a good mother is at the top of all of our lists; no one wants to imagine their child, 30 years down the line, having an epiphany in their therapist’s office, “It was my mom’s fault!”

While that sounds like a dramatic conclusion to ponder, many mom entrepreneurs struggle with striking that careful balance of managing their home life without letting their venture fall to shambles.

Elke Green, founder of WebMonkee design and self-proclaimed “crazed Monkees fan” is created her business while she was pregnant.

“Managing my time is probably the toughest thing for me,” shared Green, “There are just never enough hours in the day to everything I want and need to do so I’ve started setting time limits to keep me on track.”

Attacking the day without a plan is a surefire recipe for chaos. Writing out a plan the night before can save you in both frustration and Tylenol.

Websites such as the Organized Home (www.organizedhome.com) are great resources. Many of these sites offer free printable weekly and daily planners, grocery lists, and other items to help you stay on top of your life.

Now that we’ve gotten a schedule out of the way, what about those cute little creatures that love to test them? Kids and schedules are why the word “flexibility” exists. What happens when the baby needs you and the clock demands you?

“Baby wins of course,” said Erin McCormick of Henry’s Hearts, a charitable organization that creates specialty gifts for businesses, “but you can be creative. Take care of the immediate need. If your kids come in your office, even if you’re in the middle of something, give them your attention and a hug. Put boundaries in place too…and bribes!”

Everyone who’s been around a six-year old knows that the key to their cooperation is feeling authoritative. “I’ve found that the best thing to do is to have my daughter help me with my work; stamping envelopes or stapling papers together makes her feel big and important,” commented Green.