Balancing Life as a Mom and Business Owner
March 6, 2024
Category: Personal
balancing life as a mom and biz owner
I thought balancing life while running a business as a passionate, ambitious enneagram 3 was hard. thennnnnn I became a mom.
Pre-baby, I admittedly spent most evenings during the week hopping back on my laptop to get things done that I didn’t accomplish during the day. It was never out of dread either, I genuinely enjoy working during the evening hours more than the morning, even if society tells me I should work from 8 am to 5 pm every day. I’m a slow riser and realized early on in my entrepreneurial journey that it’s okay if I don’t fall into the standards of working hours. However, all that changed when I became a mom.
Here are three takeaways I’ve learned while balancing motherhood and growing a business.
1 | time is precious
They say time moves fast when you have a baby, and boy does it. I don’t want to look back on this time in my life regretting how much time I spent glued to my laptop. I don’t want to be so busy chasing the next goal that I’m not even awake to life happening in front of me.
I’ve learned that I have to be super strategic about my time, which means a lot of boundaries are now set in place. While I love working in the evenings, I’ve found that I love being with my baby SO much more. If I ever get my laptop out, it’s after she’s in bed. I have my notifications set to ‘do not disturb’ during most of my work day and during our time together at night. I have an app that limits my social media usage and quite literally kicks me out of Instagram if I’ve spent too much time on it.
I continue to unfollow accounts that I no longer feel the need to keep up with. Absolutely NOTHING against them but if I only have 30 minutes set aside to connect with my community, I don’t want to suddenly fall down a rabbit hole of consuming other people’s content that I don’t NEED to see.
I’ve realized that I can’t make more time, I can only be more thoughtful with how I’m spending it.
2 | balance is a myth
There are going to be days when I have to work longer hours than I’d anticipated or times when my baby needs me and work has to be set aside. I think in our culture we feel this pressure as women to balance everything perfectly all the time. The truth is, something HAS to give.
Maybe your home life is great but you’re not spending as much time on your self-care. Maybe you’re hitting big business goals but you’re not spending as much time with your family. Maybe you’re eating super healthy and fueling your body well but your friendships and social life have been put on the back burner.
You can’t be everything and be everywhere all the time. It’s give-and-take. Balance to me, means prioritizing the things I want to prioritize and letting go of the pressure to excel at everything else.
In this season of life, I’m not in my best shape. I used to work out consistently 5-6 days a week. Now? I’m lucky if I make it to the gym three days a week. AND that’s OKAY! I know someday I’ll be more consistent but for now my sleep takes priority when I’m waking up with my baby in the night.
3 | it takes a village
I never understood the phrase “it takes a village!” until I became a mom. And now, I’m like holy crap, YES it does.
As we’ve established in points 1 and 2, our time is limited and we can’t be 100% at everything all of the time. I've learned that the greatest gift I can give myself, my baby, and my business is outsourcing.
Stop. Trying. To. Do. It. All. PERIOD!
I hate to be the one asking someone for help because I feel proud that I can do it all. But honestly? Just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD. I’ve found the mental load that comes with motherhood is harder than the actual raising of the baby. Getting help in any areas that I’m not the greatest at within my business or tasks that I don’t want to spend my free time doing is one of the best things I can do to continue to run a successful and sustainable business.
You have to protect your energy and the mental load of business and motherhood, which means you have to ask for help.
I’m far from having this “figured out” but these are just a few things I’ve gathered as my life and business have shifted over the past six months, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to unfold.
