5 Proven Strategies for Working at Home While Your Kids Are Home

Have you ever thought, “I’ll start a business once my kids are all in school,” or maybe you’ve dipped your toe in the entrepreneurial waters with kids at home and are finding it impossible?

Today we’re going to look at five crucial elements for successfully working at home while your kids are at home.

Certainly, not everyone’s got what it takes to do it.

Good news is, if you’re willing to make a few changes, and maybe even get uncomfortable for a bit, you don’t have to be supermom, or a brilliant business woman, to build a successful business before you have the luxury of sending your kids off to school for seven hours each day.

As with many things, it’s all about knowing a proven formula, and having the desire and discipline to implement it. Simple, but not always easy.

1. Be Flexible

As a mom, you already know a thing or two about flexibility. We've all dealt with the blow-out diaper our little angel saves for when we're walking out the door and running late.

Adopting the same flexibility in your business will be essential to ever getting things off the ground and gaining momentum in your business.

With kids, something's inevitably going to come up, and it will often seem like the interference comes at just the wrong time for your business.

A lot of moms will use this as an excuse for forever being in the process of starting a business, but never getting to the point of actually opening the virtual doors of that business.

You may have heard that the best way to structure your day is to set aside 1-2 hour blocks of time to work. But even if you commit to that two hours during the time your child regularly naps, what happens to the things you were going to get done when he decides not to nap that day, or is sick that day and requires more of your attention than normal?

Instead of just not getting to your to-do list on those days, you have to be flexible enough to fit it in elsewhere. 

Maybe that means breaking up an hour's worth of work into 15 minutes blocks that day, maybe it means staying up an hour later that night, or even skipping your hour of TV that night.

Whatever it takes, you have to build unforeseen interruptions into your life and your schedule and be willing to still get your work done rather than using your child as an excuse for never making progress.

2. Be Uber Productive 

Studies show that the average person who puts in an eight hour day at the office actually works about three of those hours.

Which means if you focused on actually working while you were "at work" you could get as much done in 15 hours a week as a normal full time employee does.

This is great news for the work at home mom who has kids to care for too.

And productivity is a habit, so once you train yourself to buckle down and power through your to-do list during your work hours, exceptional productivity is not hard.

One key to being productive is to be prepared. This applies to both your business and your personal life.

For your business, spending 5-10 each night planning your tomorrow will allow you to hit the ground running and focused.

For your family life, planning your meals so you aren't running to the store every day, coordinating errands so you can make one trip and cover everything that's in the same direction at once, rather than just doing things at the last minute when you absolutely have to, will save you more time than you can imagine. 

3. Be Selective

You'll want to choose the right business, as well as the right customers.

When deciding what kind of business to start, make sure your business will allow you the flexibility to work at midnight or 6 a.m. if that's what fits your schedule best on that day.

Make sure the business you're entering into actually allows you to do the vast majority of your work without ever leaving your home, and that it doesn't depend on you consistently being available at specific times to be on the phone in a quiet environment.

In short, make sure it's a business model that's as flexible as you'll have to be.

Just as important, make sure you're working with customers who understand your business.

There will be people who find a bit of kid noise in the background from time to time to be "unprofessional."

There will be people who don't understand when you have to re-schedule a call or appointment because of a kid emergency.

These people aren't your ideal customers, and that's okay. There are plenty of people out there who will understand, embrace, and actually love you more for being a mom and running a business.

4. Be Needy

Most moms have at least a touch of supermom syndrome. That feeling that we can, and have to, do it all ourselves.

The faster you get over this and start asking for as much help as you can get, the quicker your business will be in profit and running smoothly.

Most entrepreneurs wait far too long to outsource work to others. You need to outsource work before you're comfortable with it, before you can afford it. If you have to, you can even barter with other service providers, enlisting them to do the things you aren't good at, and doing something you are good at for them in exchange.

Get help at home too. You'll be amazed how younger kids can switch out the laundry, feed the dog, load the dishwasher.

Entice your children to help you by sharing your business with them and letting them in on some of the plans for that extra money you're about to make, and they'll become more willing participants around the house.

Accept the offer from a friend or family member to take your kids for a day or even a few hours, or get involved in ride sharing and carpooling when it comes to the older kids sports and other activities.

You don't have to do it all yourself, and you're doing yourself, and your family, a disservice by thinking you do.

5. Be Patient

New entrepreneurs tend to compare themselves with others and get discouraged when they see someone with a business that's way ahead of where they are.

Sometimes the gap between where you want to be, and where you are, can seem insurmountable.

When we look at others who already have a successful business, we can become overwhelmed and feel like giving up.

Maybe they started a year ago and already have a well-established six-figure business and you can't even imagine that being you in a year.

First of all, stop the comparison. It doesn't matter whether you get there in a week, a year, or two years.

If you only have 10 hours a week to work on your business and someone else has 30, chances are you'll progress a little slower than they will. (Although, as you learn about becoming productive you may be surprised how fast you pass others up!)

It doesn't really matter how long it takes you, the time is going to pass anyway, and looking back on it, if it took you one year to be where you wanted to be instead of 6 months, you're not going to have any regrets.

Second of all, starting is the hardest part.

When you look at where someone else is now it may seem unattainable to you, but you'll be surprised how quickly the ball starts rolling once you get going and are taking small, consistent actions in your business.

What Are You Waiting For?

Truth is, putting off your desire to have your own business, postponing the freedom it would bring your family and the personal satisfaction you’ll find, until the kids are all in school is just another excuse.

Chances are, if you ride on that excuse for now, you’ll find another one pops up once everyone is school age.

If you know having your own business would fulfill a dream for you, take the financial pressure off, or merely allow you to take those vacations you now only wish for, then now is the time to start making your new business your new reality.

And Kids Party Characters is here to help. 

Once a single mom of young children herself, Kids Party Characters owner Cheryl Jacobs has a passion for helping moms just like you get started on the road to successful entrepreneurship.

Whether you’re a stay at home mom with small kids, or a work outside the home mom who regrets dropping her kids at daycare each day, Cheryl has created an opportunity to have your own Kids Party Characters business that could quickly change things for you.

With membership to Kids Party Characters, you’ll get an exclusive territory in which to book parties, the right to use our 200+ costumes, and access to our acting coach and casting director.

You’ll also get step-by-step mentoring from Cheryl on how to set up your business the right way, so you can avoid the many mistakes and steep learning curve new entrepreneurs often face.

If you think this might be the perfect opportunity for your life, schedule a free, no-pressure chat with Cheryl right here, and she’ll answer all your questions and give you the details on getting started.

Want to learn more about Kids Party Characters and the magic we bring to children’s parties? Connect with us on Facebook for daily updates, including our best strategies on working from home while raising happy and healthy children.