Entrepreneurial Mindset, Inspired Living, Productivity

Being A Mompreneur: Juggling Entrepreneurship and Parenting

In this blog post, I want to talk about 5 effective strategies of being a Mompreneur: Juggling Entrepreneurship and Parenting.

Last week, a friend of mine sent me a message. He wanted to invite me as a speaker for his upcoming webinar to share my experience of being a Mompreneur.

He asked me, “Millie, I have many mothers in my community. And I get this question a lot – How do you juggle between being an entrepreneur and being a mom at the same time?”

This is a great question, and one that I believe deserves a blog post on its own (for all the Mompreneurs out there!).

What Is A Mompreneur?

A mompreneur is a woman who runs a business while also acts as the main caretaker of her children.

If you have children, you would know that parenting on its own is a full-time commitment.

At the same time, if you are an entrepreneur, you would also know that starting and building a soul-centered, heart-driven and profitable business requires a lot of time, effort, and hard work.

So, the question is – how do you effectively juggle both entrepreneurship and parenting, without going completely insane?

How I Became A Mompreneur…

Corporate Life

Years ago, I was working in a Multinational Corporation that has 54,000 employees worldwide.

I worked extremely hard. And, within a few years, I managed to work my way up from a trainee position to becoming one of the youngest senior managers of the company.

The income was great and I had satisfaction from my job. I learned a lot, but I was time-broke, tired, and stressed out all the time.

Time flew by, and I ended up working there for almost 8 years.

BECOMING A STAY-AT-HOME MOM

When my daughter Angeline was born. I wanted time for her.

The thought of leaving her at daycare all day when she was still so tiny broke my heart.

I knew that something inside of me has changed – I no longer wanted to climb the corporate ladder. Working such long hours was no longer my priority.

With the support from my family, I quitted my high-paying job and became a stay-at-home mom.

Spending time with my baby girl was a gift.

Just like her name, she was a little angel. I had fun watching her grow up every day. Witnessing her first flip-over, first time tasting baby food, first steps (she was an early walker at just 10 months old).

There are precious moments and I am grateful to have spent that time with her.

Feeling Lost and Anxious

However, after being a stay-at-home mom for about a year, I started to feel lost and anxious.

I felt that I have lost my identity and no longer knew who I was.

My whole world revolved around my little girl. Deep inside, I felt a bit isolated.

With my demanding route of taking care of my little baby all by myself – the never-ending housework and baby duties, I became restless.

Intellectually, I was not challenged enough. Especially after being in my fast-paced career for many years.

I knew in my heart that I needed to have more balance. Something that could allow me to have a creative outlet, more growth, and make my own money (instead of just asking my family for money).

Note to all the full-time stay-at-home moms, you are super amazing!

I Asked Myself… What Could I Do?

So I started searching…

I knew that if I were to go back to a full-time corporate job, I would have the exact same outcome as before. Time broke and stressed out, with little time left for my little girl.

I was lost and I had a lot of self-doubts. I did not know what else I could do!

Ever since I graduated from school, I have been working as an employee. I know nothing about starting and running a business. Moreover, I also did not have much money or network.

All I had – was a burning desire to learn, to grow, to contribute, and to create a life I will love.

Starting My First Business

I wanted to start and build something, and yet still give me time for my child.

That was when I stumbled across an idea in the travel industry and started my first business in the year 2011.

You can listen to my crazy story HERE.

Looking back, that single decision has completely transformed my life.

Having my own business has opened up my eyes to a world I never knew existed. I couldn’t be more excited.

Best of Both Worlds

It is truly the best of both worlds!

I found so much joy and fulfilment in building my business. And at the same time, my business also brought me much personal growth and great financial rewards.

So, for all the moms out there – If you were like me, I want YOU To know that you have what it takes too!

It is possible to raise beautiful children and build an amazing business at the same time. You can do this, sisters!

CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT BUSINESS YOU SHOULD START?

Check out Millie’s online course Perfect Niche Formula to help you dig deep into your heart and soul, and find YOUR perfect business idea that combines passion, purpose, and profits!

A business idea that is soul-centered, heart-driven, deeply satisfying, meaningful, and profitable.

5 Strategies to Juggle Between Entrepreneurship and Parenting

Below, I want to share with you 5 strategies that helped me to successfully juggle between entrepreneurship and parenting.

These 5 strategies are – eliminate, prioritize, focus, leverage, and integrate. Let me explain each one in more detail below.

Strategy # 1: Eliminate

Eliminate – this is a BIG one!

The truth is – there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do.

And that’s OK! You don’t have to do EVERYTHING!

Your goal here is to look at your daily and weekly activities and cut out everything that is irrelevant, unimportant, or un-actionable.

SOME EXAMPLES

Watch less TV or drop that all together (personally, I did not watch TV for the first 2 years of starting my business)
Let the laundry sit around for an extra day or two
You don’t have to clean the house every other day
Order your grocery online and have it delivered to your house
Prepare a few meals at a time to save cooking time
Setup autopayment for all your bills so you don’t have to manually pay them or run to the bank
Don’t check your emails every hour – believe it or not, I used to do that, but now I only do it once or twice a day to get things out of the way
Don’t check your phone all the time. You don’t have to reply to every text message on your phone right away. Let the phone call goes into your voice message. If the messages are not life-threatening let them wait! It is OK to reply to them when you have got your business stuff out of the way first or after your children go to bed. You don’t have to respond to the world that very minute
Don’t get addicted to social media – there are endless videos on YouTube, photos on Instagram, posts on Facebook. Don’t waste your time there!

Be selectively ignorant.

Ignorant may be bliss, but it is also practice. Learn to eliminate or ignore interruptions that don’t move you closer to your dreams.

Learn to say NO! Remember every time you say YES, you are saying NO to something else. Guard your time wisely.

Strategy # 2: Prioritize & Schedule

After eliminating some tasks, you should now see that you have more time to work on things that are truly important to you, your family, and your business.

SOME EXAMPLES

For your business, prioritize your most productive hours and your peak business hours doing tasks that matter the most. In most cases, that will be your income-generating activities such as talking with potential customers, following up with customers, and closing sales, etc.

Do the less important tasks during your less productive hours and non-peak business hours. For example, replying to non-urgent emails and queries, making connections by email/text/social media, reading up on industry information, news, and books.

Plan your schedule around your children’s schedule as much as possible. If possible, work on your business earlier in the morning before your children wake up, while they are in school or at daycare, take naps, or while they are asleep at night.

Prioritize your important tasks and schedule them on your to-do list or calendar right away – and then follow through!

Plan your daily and weekly tasks in advance if possible – put in all your MOST IMPORTANT tasks first. The calendar on your phone is a good place to start.

I have a daily and a weekly to-do list, so I know exactly what I need to do every day to move my business closer to my dreams.

Strategy # 3: Focus

Stay focus and be present!

Have you seen people who say they are working but their minds are not really working?

Or, have you seen people who are with their children, but their minds are not really with their children?

This is what I mean… They are physically there, but their focus is NOT there.

BE PRESENT

When you are working on your business, work on your business! That means turn off your TV, shut the door, shut off all your distractions, and allow yourself to be fully focused on your work so that you can be productive.

At the same time, when you are with your children, put down your phone, and your laptop, and be PRESENT for your children 100%!

The key here is to have quality time for your business when you do your business. And, to have quality time for your children when you are with your children. Make sense?

I get it. Oftentimes, it is easier said than done.

But now that you are aware, at least you can do your best to be focused, and be present for your work and for your children accordingly.

Having awareness is a great starting point. You can do it!

Strategy # 4: Leverage

Leveraging is one of my favorite strategies!

Learn to ask for HELP!

You are NOT a Superwoman and you don’t need to be – it is OK to ask for help!

SOME EXAMPLES

If you have a supportive spouse, partner, or family members, you can ask them to help you look after your children while you work on your business. That gives them quality time with the children, you know your children are in good hands and gives you uninterrupted time for your business.

Hire a babysitter, a maid, and/or a part-time cleaner if you can.

The way I see it, if that gives you more time to build your business effectively, that may a good ’investment’! But make sure that you are using the time you freed up effectively on your income-generating activities.

When I was first building my business, I had a helper who helped me to take care of the chaos around my house – housework, laundry, and cooking. That way when I was with my children, I spent 100% quality time with them – playing and interacting with them.

(Note – it is very affordable to hire a helper in Asia. In North America, Europe, and Australia, it may be much less affordable. But do consider hiring a part-time cleaner to do your house chaos.)

Outsource your tasks if you need to.

Hire an assistant (or a virtual assistant) to complete some of your tasks. The rule is that if you can generate more business and income by outsourcing and freeing up your valuable time – you should consider that.

Don’t have the Money?

Organize your children to have a ’play date’ at classmates’ and friend’s houses from time to time – the kids LOVE that and that also gives you valuable time to work on your business or take a break.

If you know of other Mompreneurs, liaison with them and take turns to look after each other’s children – I call that ’Time Swapping’! That way, the kids will have fun knowing and playing with other kids and all the Mompreneurs get to have some time to work on their businesses.

I have many Mompreneurs in my community, and this is one of the strategies that help tremendously. Teamwork makes dreams work!

Use Technology

Also, consider leveraging on Technology! If you really aren’t able to leave your house due to family commitments, consider scheduling your meetings online. Zoom and Skype are great platforms to use.

That would save you time on your commutes and you can also meet with your clients and teams while you keep an eye on your children at home. I LOVE technology!

Strategy # 5: InTEGRATE

“Instead of work-life balance, try work-life integration.” – Tony Robbins, World’s # 1 Life and Business Strategist.

Get your children to participate!

For me, when I was working on my first business which was in the travel industry, going on vacations is part of my job scope.

I get my children to select our family vacations together.

They get to know what the trips are all about and they usually get really excited about them (can you imagine how excited they were when they found out they were going to Disneyland!). We want to create those amazing memories together!

SOME EXAMPLES

Think of ways you can get your children involved in your business.

If your business has marketing materials, could your children help you to print or fold anything?

If you are doing home meetings, get your (older) children to host your events? It will create a fun and relaxing atmosphere for your guests and it will be fun for your children too.

If you need to bring your children to your meetings, bring a toy/a drawing pad/an iPad with cartoon videos so your children can keep themselves entertained while you attend to your clients.

Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Don’t beat yourself up. Give yourself permission to be imperfect!

If you are on a call or a webinar and your kids are making noises at the back or try to jump on you (as my girls always do), just smile and chill – that’s part of the fun of being a Mompreneur running a home-based business! Many corporate Moms (or corporate Dads) would LOVE to be in your shoes! So, just have fun with that!

READY TO CREATE A BUSINESS AND A LIFE THAT YOU’LL LOVE?

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CONCLUSIONS

For me, being a mompreneur has been such an amazing journey. I loved it so much!

I hope that this blog post has brought you some inspirations, tips, and strategies to help you build a business and a life that you will love.

Being A Mompreneur: Juggling Entrepreneurship and Parenting

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