A popular time to start a
home-based business can be when it coincides with starting a family.
As you may expect, starting a business alongside a new family takes very
careful planning. Here are my top 5 tips to make it work:
1. Be realistic
Let’s face facts: a sizeable proportion of small businesses fail. At best a
little over 50% in the first few years.
The primary reasons they fail is a mix of insufficient planning and funding
at start-up, and being overwhelmed. In small business everything can become
rather hard, rather quickly.
If your new business is going to succeed it needs to make good commercial
sense and you need to be very clear about your role and the many hats you'll
need to wear.
2. Get help
In the same way that preparation and support networks exist for the
mum-to-be, so too resources are many and varied to support business
start-up.
Do your research thoroughly. Spend time online, talk to others who have trodden
the path and bury yourself in some good books.
3. Plan your workspace
If you try to set up a business where you're squeezing a tiny workstation
in-between the change table and cot you risk putting yourself under huge
pressure from the outset.
With a newborn, your energy levels will be severely challenged as it is, so
your place of work should support you as best as possible.
4. Set boundaries
Boundaries are to a home-business what a playpen is to a toddler. They are
the fences you construct around you to enable you to perform at your
best.
Examples of boundaries to consider are:
- Setting blocks of uninterrupted hours you can devote to your business
- Being able to leave your work at the end of your day
- A system that enables you to answer your phone without a screaming noise in
the background
- Having your business role and your mother role be fully respected by those
around you
5. Baby's first steps
When all's said and done, one of the main tips to building a great business
is just to get it going. Yes, we need time for research and planning, but
sooner or later we need to set sail, catch the wind and see where it takes
us.
Running your own business can be hugely enjoyable and rewarding. Add to that
the joys of parenting and you've got a life-work-style beyond comparison.
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