Special Guest Writer- Tisha Berg Of Biz Mommy

by Tanya on October 16, 2010

in Special Posts,career

Today I am so pleased to bring you Ignite Your’s first guest writer. She is Tisha Berg of     Biz Mommy. Tisha has an amazing website filled with great ideas and inspiration for anyone, but especially entrepreneurial moms. Tisha among other things hosts an online blog radio show called, “Find Your Spark” where she interviews successful women business owners. I highly encourage you to visit her site, you will not be disappointed. Tisha has a wealth of information and she is graciously sharing some of that with us today. So please help me give a warm welcome to her as she highlights the topic of:

Running A Home-Based Business And Raising A  Family… Artfully

There are many things and ideas I’ve given up over the last several years that have nothing to do with the real picture of what parenthood is. Before I had kids there was an elaborate fantasy I harbored of a perfectly ordered and idealized situation where I would avoid all the mistakes, bad judgments and general lack of focus that I saw my older siblings and friends experience as they raised their kids. “Poor them”, I naively thought, “They just don’t have the right formula”! Well…as it turns out, neither do I.

What I do have, along with many other conscious parents, is the desire to bring out the best in my kids, partly by showing them the best in me.

I used to think that I was sacrificing so much as a parent until I realized how much the challenges were teaching me about adaptability, resilience, unconditional love and developing a huge reserve of patience. And of course, these are extremely valuable tools that will serve any entrepreneur well as they take the baby steps to grow their business.

So where in the day does herding kids end…and tending to business start? Is there a creative way for the two things to co-exist without leaving us feeling like we’re giving short shrift to either?

Well, yes. And no. Yes because, as busy moms, we’re nothing if not creative when it comes to time management! And no, because no matter how many times we set up a schedule and a plan for ourselves, something is going to come along that will require us to “change up”. It’s the nature of the beast.

To help you achieve optimal balance between your business and family activities, here are some tips that I find are really useful for staying in the “zone” where work and home-life seamlessly flow into a beautiful order (well, on most days, anyway):

Whenever possible, include the kids in your work.

My kids are still pretty young (6 and 4), so there’s not a lot they can do, but I love the look on their little faces when I’ve asked them to reload the printer with more paper or help me sort the mail; they’re just so filled with pride that they have contributed something to mommy’s work. When your kids are older, they can understand a bit more about what you do and why you do it, so there’s lots more opportunities to talk about your work with them and find ways to make them a working part of the “family business”. I interviewed YA science fiction author L.M Preston a few months ago and she had some great examples of how her kids are actively involved in her business and book writing process. You can find the interview here.

Set a schedule and stick to it.

I know I talked earlier about how things often have to get re-arranged, but it’s extremely important to have a clear separation between work hours and family time. I have struggled with this quite a bit over the years and let me tell you, trying to fit it all into a “let’s just see what happens today” kind of routine does NOT work. Yes, of course there will be things that sometimes come along to cause a last-minute re-arrangement of the schedule but for the majority of time there should be an order to the day and your family should always be aware of what to expect. Working from home, especially if you spend a lot of time at online, can be very time-consuming, so even if you need to set a timer be sure to have a definite stop time to your work activities. In this way, when you’re with your family you can give them 100 of your attention.

Understand that there will ALWAYS be a million things to do – but you don’t have to do all of them.

I know, I know, we’re moms and we’re multi-taskers and we often have this superwoman image that we think we have to live up to.  But that’s an exhausting way to live isn’t it? On my blog, I talk a lot about living in the moment and taking time out to just breathe. Simple things, yes, but so essential to recognizing that letting your To-Do list run your life is a definite dead-end. It may seem that some moms have the things in their lives working so perfectly and everything is always under control, but trust me, if you look long enough, you’ll begin to see the cracks. Something always has to give.

We are not work-horses and there will never be an end to the list. It’s important to really understand that fact and instead of obsessing about the next thing, begin to enjoy the journey, the flow, of our daily lives…no matter how crazy busy it might get sometimes. Give yourself tiny “detox” moments throughout the day to remind yourself to notice the small moments of beauty and to tell yourself that the “stuff” doesn’t matter. It could be a 5-minute breather in the bathroom or the laundry room, even in the car (when you’re not driving, of course!), but just focus on deep breaths and listening to your inner wisdom. I guarantee it will more often than not tell you to chill out, go hug your kids and your spouse or partner…the list will always be there for you to work on tomorrow.

Tagged as: Biz Mommy, Tisha Berg

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