The number one question I get from moms who want to add an extra stream of income to their home is how to balance working from home and homeschooling. At first, it can seem overwhelming, but I have some practical tips and suggestions you can implement immediately to start having smoother work and homeschooling days.
How to Balance Working from Home and Homeschooling
Have a talk with your family.
This is one of the most important things you could ever do beforehand if you are planning on working from home. Oftentimes, moms take side gigs or aim to grow thriving businesses in network marketing or direct sales, yet never have a conversation with their family.
What ends up happening is mom gets started with her new job. Nothing else in the home changes and now she has added even more to her plate. Ultimately, this leads to burnout quicker than anything else.
Having the mom-is-going-to-start-working-from-home conversation is easy. Set up a family meeting or choose to speak with your husband alone first. Be sure to cover the following:
- What kind of work you’ll be doing.
- The expectations or requirements of your job/business.
- What others in the family can do to make the transition easier.
- Clearly communicate goals and needs.
Now, everyone can be on the same page.
Write your business plan.
Whether you are starting a business from scratch or doing something that already has a system in place, you should write a business plan. This business plan should include:
- goals (short term and long term)
- vision
- work hours
- monthly costs/investments
- other important info as it pertains to your specific job/business
Keep your business plan on hand and update it when necessary.
Create your work schedule and be consistent.
This is another area that ends up taking the back seat, but it shouldn’t. Having a set schedule and staying consistent will help you have much smoother days. Not every mom has older siblings that can help with the younger ones, their hubby at home, or able to hire help. So, it’s important to understand and operate with your family’s unique dynamic.
Many years ago when I got serious about working from home, Bryan was still working outside the home. This meant that I needed to create a schedule that accommodated him being gone for majority of the day. I would do most of my work while the children were napping and after they went to bed.
If (and when) I deviated from this, my days were overwhelming.
Keep the main thing the main thing.
It’s easy to become fixated on your new gig, job, or business. You’ll want to spend all your time doing what needs to be done, but you have to remember to keep the main thing the main thing. In most cases, the main things in your life are marriage, parenting, and homeschooling – then business. And that’s okay!
When you keep the main things in order, everything else can fall into place. Over time, you will find ways to work more on your business and it will pay off.
Bring in some help.
Help doesn’t necessarily have to come in the form of hiring someone to come in to help watch or homeschool the children. This is an area where you can think outside the box. If you have older children, they can help with the littles. You can also utilize online help such as YouTube University (as I like to call it) or virtual classes and courses.
There has been an increase of these types of resources, and with just a little planning, you can easily incorporate this into your lesson plans and easily give yourself an additional hour (or more) in the day for working on your business.
Let your children work with you.
In the type of business Bryan and I do, there is always an opportunity for the children to help. I have taught our oldest three how to do a variety of tasks that not only free up time for me, but also teaches them valuable life skills and work ethic. If you can make your business a family business, do it!
Your children will learn amazing lessons (yay for extra curricular homeschooling) and you’ll be building memories at the same time.
Business Planners for the Work from Home Mom
Content Planner & Guide
Regardless of what line of work you do, you’ve probably figured out that tapping into the social media world (for business) is a gamechanger. Just a few years ago, the focus was on building an email list. Today, the focus is on growing your social media. Having built an online presence across several social media platforms of over 127K and growing, I can 100% say that it pays to focus on what works.
Creating content doesn’t come easy or natural to everyone, and that’s okay. That’s why I created a content planner and guide so you could take another step forward and be comfortable with launching your business, brand, and niche online! And it costs less than 2 cups of Starbucks coffee!
The Epic Blog & Business Planner
This planner is for the blogger that’s involved in all things blogging, collaborating, selling resources, do online events, affiliate marketing, etc. Having spent almost 6 years in this arena, I needed a planner that could help keep everything organized. The highlights of this planner are:
- it can be used year after year (because of it’s printable format)
- multiple calendar layouts
- trackers for goals, products, services, etc.
- master lists
- content planning pages
- and more!
This will be one of the last planners you’ll need for your blog business!
Grow Your Business Planner
If you are in the Network Marketing, Direct Sales, or MLM industries, you NEED this planner! It was made with these businesses in mind and will give you everything you need to grow your business successfully. There are 15 printables pages that include mapping to your next status, mindset, vision, monthly business plan and goal trackers, monthly and weekly layouts, weekly accountability review, and more!
Work from Home Opportunity
Over the past couple of years, I have grown a successful marketing business using social media. Being in the top 2% of a company is an accomplishment that’s still taking a bit to sink in; however, while it does, I’m still on the same mission to enhance the lives of those I touch by helping people reach their goals.
I was the stay-at-home, homeschooling mom that wanted to help alleviate some of the financial burden that fell on my husband’s shoulders. I knew I had more to do than just being a homeschooling mom. And once I caught the vision of a store I started shopping at for all of me and my family’s everyday essentials, the rest is history.
Now, I’m able to confidently share world-class products that are healthy and actually work. Additionally, I’m also able to help others build a lucrative business and become leaders and change the trajectory of their family’s lives. Together, we rinse and repeat. And I’d love to do that with you!
If you’re interested, comment below, send an email, or connect with me on Facebook or Instagram!
I’d love to hear from you!
Are you currently working from home and homeschooling? What are some of your best tips and advice for juggling the two? Let me know in the comments below!