Being a boss lady takes a lot of time, consistency, passion, and dedication. However, many people think it all comes to a screeching halt once women have a baby. It couldn’t be farther from the truth because some of the trailblazers in the economy are strong women who started their businesses after having kids!
As a DC mom and entrepreneur, you shouldn’t feel pressured into choosing one of the two. While your children are an integral aspect of your life, they are not your identity. You can be a spectacular mom and hold down an amazing business. All it takes is some sifting through and navigational help.
While society continues to hold impossible standards for women, we see millions of them outdoing themselves every single day. If you’re feeling pressured because of the dual stressors of managing a business while raising kids, this blog is an ode dedicated to you. Today, we’ll try to lessen your burden by helping deconstruct several of the common problems faced by mom-entrepreneurs globally with our advice.
Lists are your best friends:
One of the most helpful pieces of advice that you’ll read everywhere but may still discredit is the importance of getting organized. Not only will it show you how much time goes untapped, but it will also help you be your productive best. Creating lists for your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks will make sure you don’t miss a single client meeting or a ballet recital. Our tip would be to create three separate lists that cover your professional obligations, personal to-do, and time with your children. Ordering tasks based on priority will help you push back what can be, and attend to things that are far more important- for instance, a doctor’s appointment for your youngling.
Put your mental health first:
Your mind is the biggest weapon that can be wielded by you, or against you. The best gift you can give to yourself is focusing on your mental health first. This can look like hiring a therapist to help you deal with daily occurrences or even generational habits. Observations by Purple Penthouse DC, show many women embracing using holistic-health products like CBD oil vapes and products to mitigate stress effectively. Using CBD can also help new working moms reduce overwhelm, creative burnout, or fatigue. If you’re looking for ways to enhance your focus, these could be a good start.
Create a flexible routine:
Carving out time to do things you value the most is a mark of true luxury in 2022. However, it’s not what most mothers in business feel. This can be because we’re working against time to get things done. If we were to offer some perspective, let’s take the example of how capitalism is a patriarchal construct. Since people in business were the male majority until the last few decades, the schedules, timelines, and operations have all been optimized as per their capacity. For a gender that does not have any traditional need for off times such as period leaves, hormonal influxes, or the permanent expectation to be the perfect parent, focusing simply on business is simpler. To change the narrative, we invite mom-entrepreneurs to adopt more flexible routines that help you accomplish goals as per your growth model.
Delegate tasks:
One of the most simplistic and handy tips for mom-entrepreneurs is delegation. We’ve observed that women professionals shy away from delegating redundant tasks that are below their pay grade. Time to flip the switch on that idea and hire an intern or employee that can help you lessen the workload on your plate.
Get creative balancing maternity:
Juggling maternity and your professional dream can be achieved by tapping into your creative genius. If you’re feeling like a male-dominant working style doesn’t support your lifestyle, don’t be afraid of adding your flair to it. For instance, you can operate on a nap-to-nap schedule rather than regular hours, because infants can be a handful when awake!
Get household help:
As we said in the points earlier, you don’t have to be the picture-perfect portrayal of the mom entrepreneur that does it all. Instead, be practical and take all the assistance you can get, be it hiring an assistant or household help.
Have a plan:
Things happen and emergencies can take place at any time. Be it a work emergency or a personal cause, it’s essential that you have a backup to keep things going when you need an extra push. This could look like having close contacts with babysitters, housekeeping services, and other such agencies. You also need to make sure that you don’t overbook your schedule while keeping parenting and business on the same calendar. Plan your day as per the lists you create from tip #1 and go from there.
Lean on your spouse or family:
your family and spouse or partner can be your biggest pillars of support while you’re out there making money moves. Work with your family and not against the grain to create a harmonious balance. Your spouse will be happy to pitch in if you communicated with them about how they can make things easier. Rather than going about doing it all yourself, drop the martyr complex. Take the helping hand of your family and let them support you best as they can when it comes to caring for the kids.
Take some time to yourself:
Through all of this hullabaloo, it’s easy to lose yourself in the waves of to-do lists and maternal commitments. However, don’t forget yourself and your partner. Spend some time together, and go on dates to keep the romance alive. On days where you’re short of space, take 15 minutes off to bond and watch the difference in your dynamic!
Wrapping Up:
Learning to make your business work along with motherhood can be a rollercoaster ride, but once you figure it out, the rewards are abundant. Using the advice above will help you understand that your success has little to do with perfectionism and more with consistency. We hope that this blog could help you find an equilibrium.
