How I Run My Online Business with FIVE KIDS at Home
Between changing diapers, cleaning (again, and again, and again), reading stories, keeping the peace, and just keeping everyone fed, there's no question about it... parenting can be a full-time job.
How, then, as a mom of FIVE kids, do I find the time to run a business??
Sometimes I wonder that myself! 🤪
But, somehow, it all gets done. Laundry, filming YouTube videos, making lunch, answering emails, homeschooling, vacuuming, meetings, making dinner, bedtime, and so much more.
It's a lot.
But, honestly... it isn't hectic.
I mean, yes, the kids can get kind of rowdy... but our schedule? That's simple.
I sat down and thought it all out, and I've come up with six simple strategies we use to keep our lives peaceful and (relatively) calm. 🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♀️🤸♀️🤸♂️
Got 12 minutes? I explain all our strategies in this video. 👇
Work tends to fill however much time you have available for it, so here are 6 strategies I’ve found helpful in creating a work-life balance that works for me and my family.
1) essentialism
This strategy has to do with pairing things down to what really matters.
To do this effectively, you need to know what your goals, values, and priorities are.
For example, I homeschool our five kids, and my goal is NOT to replicate the traditional classroom. If I did that, I’d spend 6-plus hours a day buried in schoolwork.
But my goal is simple. I want to prepare my kids well for adult life. A priority for me is getting them to a high level of competency with reading, writing, and math — beyond that, I focus on teaching them how to learn.
Because I know what my goals are for my kids’ education, we get school done in roughly two hours a day.
Think about this for you. What are the big-picture goals you have for your own life?
Personally, my #1 goal is to raise my kids well, which means:
Spending quality time with them
Supporting them financially
Educating them
Taking care of their health
Here’s how I do this:
I spend about two hours a day homeschooling, two hours in the kitchen cooking healthy meals, and four hours a day working on my business. The rest of the time is spent building relationships, establishing good habits, and creating memories.
2) the naptime empire
If your kids still nap, you saw strategy #2 and went, “Halleluiah for naptime!” (am I right?!)
Typically, the younger a child is, the more sleep he needs. This is good news for mom and dad, especially if you’re an entrepreneur.
I want to prioritize my time with my kids, so early on in my business, I set up my schedule to work on business projects when my kids were sleeping.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but if you have young kids who nap (or maybe older ones who sleep in), take advantage of those times.
Are you an early riser? Choose to work before your kids wake up.
Are you a night owl? Choose to work after your kids go to bed.
And don’t forget to take advantage of any mid-day naps or downtime. You CAN find the time to work on your business if you intentionally look for it.
3) divide and conquer
Working at home with kids can be a challenge (believe me, I know!).
It’s hard to get your work done since your attention is so stop-and-go.
You feel too distracted by your kids and need to give them your attention, so work suffers.
You feel like you’re working all day long since you’ve had to piecemeal together the time you have to work.
I’ve felt all these same things, and I never wanted my kids to feel like a distraction or burden to me, so this is what I found: I keep work and home as separate as possible, even though I work from home.
I started with a table in the corner of my bedroom as my home office and nap time was prime work time. Now that we have some acreage out of town, we’ve set up my office in our shop.
The good news is that, if you’re faithful in the little, then it will expand. As your business grows and you’re making more money, you’ll have more choices for childcare or a separate office space.
4) get help
When we are able to get help or delegate tasks, it enables us to do more of the things that are working and also to have more free time for what we enjoy.
Personally, I have just a little help when it comes to childcare and housework, but I have a lot of help in my business.
Now, it’s tough when your business isn’t making much money upfront, and I want you to avoid a mindset that you have to get help in order to make money.
This is a flat out lie.
Actually, what I want you to do is to figure out how to get your business making money before you bring on help. Because, if you bring on help before you’re making money, then you’ll find yourself just doing a lot of what isn’t working, and paying a hefty price tag for it.
I’d rather see you figure out what works to make money, then hire people to do more of that.
Then, rather than it feeling like an expense, paying a team becomes an investment into scaling your company.
5) don’t take bank holidays
I know, I know… this is a tough one.
It’s easy to fall into cultural norms of working 40 hours a week and taking all “bank holidays” (like Memorial Day and Labor Day) off. But, hey, you went into business for yourself so that YOU can call the shots, right?
When you work for yourself, YOU get to make your own schedule and follow your own rules.
I’ve found that working on typical bank holidays actually helps fuel my business, it keeps me in routine, and then I have the opportunity to take other days off that feel more meaningful to me — like my anniversary or my kids’ birthdays.
6) build passive income systems
If your business depends on you actively working, hours for dollars, then you’re trading your time for money. If you’re not working, you’re not putting money in the bank, but if you’re working, then you’re trading your precious time to earn the money.
But… what if there were a way you could have your cake and eat it too?
I want to tell you about a third option: $100K Funnels.
This is a proven system that automatically sells my products so that my business makes money whether I’m working or not.
Typically, I work about 20 hours a week, but because of the $100K funnels I’ve put into place, I can take a vacation when I want to and not worry about my business. I can have a sick day or a mental health day whenever I need to, and my business won’t go into decline.
I’ll go as far as to say that this is a vital system to add to your business if you want to see consistent income day in and day out.
What I won’t tell you is that it’s easy peasy to put into place. It actually does take some elbow grease and time to put together, but what is 3-6 months to build your first funnel worth to you if you can scale it to $100K-plus income?
And to help you with this, I’ve created a 10-episode podcast series that includes in-depth training on the $100K Method. It teaches you how it works and steps to get started creating your own automated funnel.
If you're a "mompreneur" or "dadpreneur" yourself, then, more than anything... I want you to know that I SEE you.
What you're doing is hard!
Sometimes, it can even feel impossible.
But we are strong and we can do this!
I know you have it in you.
Here's to your success.❤️
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