Search the internet and you will find many articles full of tips and advice for mothers who want to start a business but the only thing is that the majority of them are aimed at stay at home mums.
What about the working mum who is working full time, hates her job but because of her commitments, is unable to give up the financial stability working full time brings? By the time she gets home from work, sorts out the kids and everything else, she is so shattered that all she wants to do is flake out in front of the TV or go to bed.
If you are a working mum who is unhappy at work, fed up in your career and want to start your own business, here are 10 tips to help you free up time to get your business started.
1. Reduce your hours at work
This may not be practical for everyone as it means giving up part of your income, but can you reduce to 4 days a week instead of 5? This will give you 1 whole day a week, without interruptions to work on your business.
What will be the impact of losing a day’s pay each week? Can you identify unnecessary expenditure that you can cut back on? Are you prepared to temporarily focus on just the things that you need as opposed to the things that you want?
What is your survival budget, the bare minimum that you need to live on? Are you prepared to live this way whilst you achieve your dream?
2. Compress your hours
Whilst this does not give you back extra hours as you will still be working the same amount of hours, what it does is organise your working hours over fewer days. Compressing your hours over 4 days gives you 1 day a week to work on your business. If compressing your weekly hours in to 4 days is too much for you, how about working a 9 day fortnight? This gives you 1 day a fortnight to work on the business and is better than nothing.
3. Cut out the unnecessary
Do a complete review of everything that you do when you are not at work. Write everything down on Post It notes and stick them on a wall. Go through the Post It notes removing all those that are not necessary and stop doing these things.
Where there are things that still need to be done, what would be a more time effective way of doing them? For example, doing an online shop can save hours on being stuck in traffic and walking round the supermarket at weekends.
Do you really need to iron absolutely everything? Are you ironing things that don’t need to be ironed because that was the way you’re mother did it? What else do you do that is not necessary but because you’re mother did it that way, you do it too?
4. Cut out the TV
As much as you may love your favourite soaps, if you really want this business and are committed to getting it going, watching TV may have to stop. The average UK household spends 4 hours a day watching TV, that’s 4 hours a day that could go towards starting and growing your business.
5. Get a cleaner
What takes you hours a week to do could take someone who is just focused on that one thing far less time. This would free up your time to work on the business. And whilst you’re at it, you could get them to help out with other things such as doing the laundry and even cooking meals and freezing them.
Although this is an additional expense, if it frees up your time to generate income from your business and to grow it, it could be an expense well spent.
6. Is everyone pulling their weight?
If you can’t afford to get someone in to help with the housework and the cooking, make sure that everyone in the household is making a fair contribution to what needs to be done.
Can the kids do more to help out to free up your time? Is your husband/partner doing enough around the house? Allocate jobs to everyone so that you are not doing everything, giving you more time to work on your business.
7. Commit to 2 hours a day
Commit to spending 2 hours a day working solely on your business once the kids have gone to bed. Or if you are more of a morning person, wake up 2 hours earlier. Be clear about what you want to achieve in those 2 hours and set a timer if necessary. Focus on doing exactly what you said you will do. It is surprising just how much you can achieve in 2 hours when you focus on one thing without any distractions.
Yes, it will be tiring and there may be days when you get home from work and don’t feel like doing it. If that is the case, don’t beat yourself up about it if you are unable to do it that day.
Remind yourself that this is only temporary and that there will come a time when you can give up the job you hate so much and work on your business full time.
8. Maximise the kids' activity time
Use the time the kids spend at their after school and weekend activities to work on your business. If you normally wait for them whilst they are taking part, instead of chatting to the other mums, carry your laptop, tablet or Smartphone and do work instead.
Let the other mums know why you’re doing this so that you don’t appear anti social. You never know they may also have tips for you as well.
9. You are not superwoman
As much as we women like to be proud of the fact we can multi task, you are not superwoman. Besides, multi tasking is not very effective in any event and it is better to focus on one thing at a time and do it properly.
You cannot have it all, well not at the same time anyway. Trying to do it all without letting something give will only lead to you feeling overtired, overworked, stressed and heading for burn out.
Accept that sacrifices will have to be made. Decide what is important to you and what your priorities are and be comfortable and confident with the choices that you make.
10. How much do you really want this?
Why do you want to start a business? What does it mean to you? How much do you really want it?
What will life be like in 1 year, 2 years, even 5 years from now if you continue doing a job you hate? How will you feel in 10, 20 years time, knowing that you had this business idea burning away inside you but you did nothing to make it happen?
If you want it badly enough, what are you prepared to do to make it happen?
Create your vision of what you want. Looking at where you are now, work out a plan as to how you will achieve it and when the going gets tough, remind yourself of why you are doing this.
Starting a business as a mum who is working full time is no easy feat but it is possible. It takes passion, hard work, determination, good planning and organisation, plus endurance.
Creating your own business can be fulfilling, rewarding and give you a great sense of accomplishment, making the sacrifices and hard work worthwhile.
Are you a working mum who wants to start a business and eventually give up your job, if so, what are the challenges you face? If you have started a business as a mum who is working full time, what tips or advice to you have to add to this list?
Originally Published on LinkedIn