When you really boil it down, the reasons why business mothers experience guilt and a sense of overwhelm fall into two categories: lack of resources (mainly time and money) OR out of control minds causing you stress.
But who has the time—when you’re building a business and raising kids—to find a step-by-step approach to untangle your live enough to reclaim the life you want?
That’s what we’ve done—and are still doing. Here’s how. Insert photo of us.
We’ve identified the areas that business mothers typically struggle and found experts from around the world to offer solutions. They offer insights into ways we can actually do things smarter whether in business or other parts of our lives.
But every business mother will have a different size business, at a different stage and with different home needs. So how can this program work?
- The information presented is adaptable to you. Some weeks will be more relevant than others but each will offer you new actions to give you more time or money in your life.
- We focus on saving you time and money so you can be freer to devote yourself to what is important to you each day.
- We address the guilt issue so it no longer holds you back.
Here are the nine Critical Steps experts have identified as being integral to your success as a business mother:
Step One: What’s eating your time?
It sounds basic but it’s vital. See where you are now. How do you use your time? Here we mean business and home time, and on you. Do a thorough exercise to really see where you spend time in good ways and in less important ways. Break your day into small parts and chart what you are doing with the hours. Then look at what you really don’t want to be spending quite that much time on—again, in all categories of your life. Then look at where you get the best results for the least time and list these. Keep this going for a few weeks and reassess how you plan your week.
Step Two: Examine the state of your relationships
Take one evening to examine how your relationships, both business and personal, are working. They usually show patterns or raise issues we need to address in ourselves. You know that old saying about the person we don’t like is really in our life to show a flaw we need to address in ourselves? Relationship coaches often find that if you fix the mother, the problem with the kids seem to disappear.
Make a list in different categories—business colleagues, clients, suppliers, your personal partner, kids, friends and family. Mark out of 10 the state of these relationships and what needs fixing. Start by understand who needs to know why you are focusing your attention away from them at certain times and get their buy-in to the bigger picture so they feel part of it. For example, give kids a choice of spending time with you in a couple of ways that suit you. Then when they choose, clear your calendar and make it happen.
Step Three: Look at quick ways to see business improvements through no or low cost marketing
Marketing is such a key part of getting and keeping customers that it needs to be specifically marked on your calendar each week. It’s part of that valuable ‘on’ your business time that Michael Gerber (The E-Myth series) talks about.
There’s a multitude of ways to no- or low-cost market and one will be right for you. The internet has made it easy. PR campaigns (ensure they are newsworthy topics), speaking to groups (make it informative and not a sales pitch) and networking (a great one for most women!). The key here is not to do it all at once! Get one under your belt and working before starting on the next. Do you have your 30-second business pitch polished and ready to say even when you’re under water? What are the benefits you offer?
Step Four: Ensure your goals are serving you at this time and that you’ve organized your day with these in mind so you get results fast
Do you write down your goals and review them regularly? Are you committed to being as organized as possible in your business and at home? These two strategies are fundamental to your success. It’s a good time now to update short and long term goals in the various areas of your life. As Goethe said, there is one elementary truth when it comes to all acts of initiative or creation: ‘the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too’.
Once you’ve worked out goals—and most importantly, put a timeline beside them—there’s another step so many people miss. What are you doing that will help get you there? Hey, the ‘magic’ doesn’t happen without some activity on your part! Being organised is such a time saver in itself. Now that you’re a Free member of Guilt Free Business Mothers.com, we’ll ensure you’ll hear about and get access to tools that help.
Step Five: Analyse where you can get help and explore the process of outsourcing
Have you read the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris? If outsourcing wasn’t already the buzz word, didn’t that book make you think again!
Look back at the calendar you created in Step One and go back to the list you developed of jobs you’d like to spend less time on. What here can you start outsourcing? Some women we know started by swapping with friends who would trade each other’s skills. Others planned ahead to have staff and outsource from the start and ensured they had the capital—and cash flow—for it. Which is your model?
The first place to start is for things that cost less on an hourly basis than your time is worth. Often, that’s help in the home duties department. With outsourcing, it’s easy to find someone in any field. Some sites to start looking for administrative and technical support include: vadirectory.net, Elance.com and Odesk.com. We had mixed results when we first started but soon found a system that worked. Using virtual assistants and virtual contractors, you pay only for what you need. You can have various people filling the roles, and can have around the clock help without penalty rates. Take time to create the specification for the job as this will impact the final result.
Other places: often other mothers are looking for part-time or flexible work; check with local colleges or universities for students wanting to supplement their income and develop some ‘real world’ skills.
Step Six: Really scrutinise your role in your business, including what you see yourself doing in the future—and how you are paid
What is your vision for your business and your role in your business? Does your business provide you an alternative to a job, where you can set your own hours around family commitments, or are you passionate about turning your dream into a commercial success story. You need to be clear about what path you want to be on and ensure how you structure your business and your strategies are the right ones – otherwise you will be in conflict between what you want and what your business needs.
Step Seven: Really examine your own health levels and devise a plan to boost your energy levels and feel great, look right and eat well
If you are not looking after you, how are you going to help anyone else? When you are trying to free up time the one area you need to give first priority to are you and your health. You know about those airline oxygen masks and to put yours on first….
One of the simplest ways to increase your energy levels and improve your immune system is to breathe – deep breaths into your diaphragm to bring fresh oxygen into your body. Try it a few times a day over a week and note the difference. You should feel more energy and improved clarity of thinking. Also, take stock of your mental attitude. If you regularly feel overwhelmed and exhausted ask yourself what is your self talk. By increasing your positive self-talk you will take the first and fundamental step to improving your health and energy levels.
Step Eight: If the Internet is one of your main business channels, learn how to ensure that all you say there works for your business
Words are fundamental to our lives—and it’s amazing how their usage changes over the years. Smart people have spent a lot of time and money analyzing the best words that work for sales people, for counsellors, for teachers, and so one.
On the Web, you need words that work, too. The words you used on your website and the way you present them reflects to your potential customers your corporate culture and values. Badly written material can kill your credibility and cost you a client.
Website readers tend to scan content rather than read word-for-word. They are looking for answers quickly. You need to write your content and lay it out so it allows reads to pick up on your key messages.
Step Nine: Start dealing with guilt by examining its causes and how to help yourself
The whole topic of guilt can be approached from many angles—and we specifically do that because we are not saying there’s a one-step fix which always works! How you see life will affect many of your emotions and reactions, including guilt. One of the important things is to give yourself ‘reflection time’. For some this means sitting quietly alone. Others meditate, take long walks alone or paint to get themselves out of the ‘busy’ chatter of their brains. Then look for emotional patterns. What pushes your Guilt Buttons? Mark in your calendar all the things in a given week that set off the G-reaction. Look for patterns. Now comes the hard part. Why do you get those reactions? What are they doing for you? Do they serve a useful purpose?
The pattern will show what you have to do to stop the guilts—or where you need to spend time to have the life you want.
By doing the observation and self-assessment, you can then move into helping yourself by looking at the world differently.