In honor of International [Working] Women’s Day on March 8th and Mom and Pop Business Owners Day on March 29th, I thought I would write about what I spend pretty much every waking moment working on….my small business, FIT4MOM McKinney/Allen/Prosper/Little Elm/Frisco (aka M.A.P.L.E.F).
Mompreneur, according to Wikipedia, is defined as a female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur. Actively balancing–is that what I’m doing? I’m not so sure!
So, in hope of trying to find tips and tricks to help me and other mompreneurs actively balance work life and family life, I asked some of the hardest working moms I know for ideas! I got a few great tips like communicate effectively, delegate, surround yourself with a great network to help you, and wine (Ha!). While all of these are a definitely helpful, the most common answer I got was that most mompreneurs don’t really balance work life and family life at all. They do what they can when they can and don’t focus on #allthethings all the time.
I like the way one mom put it,
“I personally avoid the idea of balance as much as I can, it’s not my thing. I visualize my life as a rollercoaster. There are times I am coasting, times I am screaming, times I am laughing, times I am upside down, and times where I need to get off and eat a candy apple.” (Takara B., FIT4MOM Honolulu).
Another way that I have heard it explained, by Ash Robinson, CEO of FIT4MOM, is having “alignment with our values” instead of balance. That by always trying to find balance in our lives we are burning too much energy, which then I believe puts us into overwhelm and exhaustion. And when we are in overwhelm we aren’t productive in any area of our life. To survive we must have a harmonious work-life balance and to do this we must set some boundaries and stay within our core values. We must prioritize and make prioritizing a priority! Focus on one job at a time, set office hours, and know that it is okay to say “no” to things. We must also take care of ourselves and learn to counterbalance. When you feel work starting to take over make sure you counterbalance it by taking some time for yourself or spending good quality time with your family.
As mompreneurs we may not always (or ever) be in “balance,” but following a few of these tips will at least help to keep you sane!
