Managing an online business is difficult enough even when you have all the time in the world. Bring kids into the equation, and it can sometimes feel impossible. How do you juggle spending enough time with your little ones while ensuring your business is thriving? Luckily, you don’t have to sacrifice your online business’s growth to raise your kids right. If you’re the owner of an online business as well as a parent, read on to learn how to manage.
Set a Schedule
One of the most important parts of running a business as a parent is ensuring you stick to a schedule. Not every day will look the same – sometimes, you’ll have to pick your kids up from school early. Other times, you will need to work late and rely on your partner/support network to look after the children. Despite that, you must always set a schedule and stick to it. There are plenty of calendar and organization apps that will help you manage this.
Outsource Tasks
As an online business owner, it’s important to understand you don’t have to do everything yourself. Even if you are not ready to hire a whole team yet, you can still outsource some of the more time-consuming or challenging tasks. Branding, for example, takes a lot of work alongside particular knowledge. If you want your business to appeal to your target audience, you can use digital design agencies to help you achieve the perfect brand image. There are other jobs you can outsource, too, such as accounting and IT management.
Learn How to Prioritise
If you are so busy that you struggle to get every task done, whether that’s replying to all emails or managing your inventory, you must be able to prioritise. It’s better to get the important tasks done than feel overwhelmed and end up with nothing completed.
Don’t Try to Multitask
You might think the best way to manage your business as a parent is by doing both at once. While sometimes you will inevitably be working on your laptop while your little one is next to you, you shouldn’t plan for this. Instead, you must try to separate your work from your home life. Otherwise, neither will get the attention it requires.
Set Up a Separate Work Space
To separate your work from parenting, you must set up a separate workspace. If the business is small or in the early days and you don’t have an office, either work on renting one or set up an area at home that is a child-free zone. That way, when you are working on your business, you will feel like you are at work and away from home-life obligations.
Lean on Your Support Network
It’s said that it takes a village to raise a kid, and it’s true. While you can’t always rely on other people, you should still build a support network to rely on during challenging times. That could include your parents, siblings, friends, and neighbours.
Set Goals
Running a business as a parent is impressive, but you should also work on growth. That’s where setting goals come in. By setting high but achievable goals, you will be more focused on reaching them. Your goals could include receiving a certain number of orders within a month or building a great business relationship with a client.
Schedule Posts
As the owner of an online business, you might have a blog or social media accounts to keep your customers engaged. It can be hard to manage if you are doing it alone, so to make it easier on yourself, schedule posts. It means that you can create a bulk of content when you have the time and then schedule it to be posted over a certain number of days or weeks.
Make the Most of Energy Bursts
The chances are you will be tired a lot of the time. It is understandable – you have a lot on your plate. To make sure you get more work done, though, you must make the most of your energy bursts. If you find that at 7 am you feel enlightened and ready to get on with a bunch of work – do it! These are the times you’ll get more work done.
Always Be Present
Whether you are spending time with your kids or sifting through a bunch of emails, you must be present. As a business owner who is also a busy parent, every minute of your time counts, so you can’t only be half-concentrating. By making sure you are always present, you will make better memories with your kids, and your business tasks will be completed much quicker.
Being a parent and an online business owner is a challenge. With the right motivation and organization skills, you will manage it.
