If you have a family and your own business, how do you do it all? I have been asked this question a lot and the simple answer is, it is not possible, but you can get very close…

 

My husband will not mind me saying that he loves his sleep – so over the last 5 years when we have added little people to our family, he has been getting less and less. Can you tell where I am going with this?

 

I even got him a Grumpasauraus T-shirt for Christmas a couple of years ago as his chirpy happy demeanour abates like smoke if the boys are up before 6 am. Our boys, as they take after me, have a 5 am internal alarm button which as you can imagine goes down like a lead balloon with the sleep loving Grumpasaurus.

 

In order to preserve peace and some sort of tranquillity at home I have been trying out different things to make the work/family dynamic work better as we will be working from home for the foreseeable future and sleep is required for a happy household…

 

7 Things that I have done to help me balance everything;

 

1. I work some evenings in order to keep on top of client work which I am happy to do – to keep me really productive I use FocusMate sessions to do this. This is a great way to feel accountable with someone else and they are available any time of day as it is an international organisation.
2. I have my own VA. Yes, you are reading this correctly; as my team is expanding I have support now with my own business admin to get things done. Have you thought about what you can delegate? (I can help with that so book a call here if you want to discuss)
3. I have hired a cleaner – this has been a godsend; I now know that everything will be cleaned weekly and I just have to do the top-ups as and when.
4. We have Gousto deliveries for half of our monthly dinners, so I am not being asked constantly: what’s for dinner? And with such detailed instructions and all ingredients supplied, I am not the only one that can cook them!
5. We also have a family planner on the wall, so everyone knows what is happening and when, this includes a column for dinner; again, saving me from the constant questions of what’s for dinner.
6. Family support – we have a close family who are very supportive, so we have the opportunity for them to have the kids from time to time to allow me to work on-site (pre-Covid)
7. I use ClickUp for my family reminders and tasks (as well as running Latchgate) – it is a great project management tool for business and for personal use. I have introduced it to 4 clients now and they have fallen in love with this system! 

Let me know in the comments what you have done differently to make work and family work for you; I am always willing to try new things.