Being a stay-at-home mom is satisfying in so many ways and a source of great pleasure by being available to your family almost all the time. However, you may have the perception that you have to sacrifice your career pursuits to make family your priority. Some sacrifice is necessary, worth it and totally expected in life. Moms who work outside the home are sacrificing something too and for many of them their sacrifice is worth it for them and their family.
For those who don’t feel right about spending so much time away from home then the right step is to transition to a stay-at-home-business mom where you’ll love your family life so much more when you’re running a home business that is fulfilling part of your purpose in life.
Whether you are already in the stay-at-home role or want to be, you can pursue your professional desires and work them around your full and fabulous family life.
Yes, you can have the best of both worlds. Even if you think you don’t have any extra time to fit in a business startup.
Maybe you’ve tried to get some business adventure going and let it dwindle away (been there, done that) or you’re currently trying to get a business going and are feeling overwhelmed trying to do business tasks consistently and still giving your top priority – family – the regular attention they need.
As a homeschooling mom, I’ve been through many struggles and emotions that have made me feel like I just can’t do both: be a devoted mom and wife AND be a successful entrepreneur. Yet, I’ve been able to, along with many other stay-at-home and homeschooling moms. My first step of getting over those struggles was to stop nurturing my doubts and always be nurturing my faith.
To take some lyrics, and title, from one of my regular praise playlist songs “Fear is a Liar” and you may want to take a reading break and play this just to get the real heart of what I mean here.
For me, I’d get caught up and brought down by my own insecurities and put too much focus on all the wrong things! Slowly, I was able to shift my perspective and only focus on the passion of my business and the purpose of my life. That doesn’t take away all the challenges, it just makes it so those challenges aren’t all that important.
What is important is that we work from passion and purpose. When you want to start and run a business in an already busy life you need to be doing something that stirs you up on the inside just thinking about it!!
If your heart isn’t in your business, if it doesn’t have meaning to you any deeper than just making some extra money from home, you won’t be able to give the time and energy required to be successful. You’ll also find it quite difficult to convince potential customers that what you have to offer them is worth their time and money.
My top advice for mom’s who want to have it all – a rich family life and fulfilling career – is to live from your purpose. Undoubtedly, nurturing your family full-time is part of your purpose.
There is more to you though.
You have been created with a vision for your life that is a glorious passion and drive for a home-based business. If you’re not clear about what God’s vision is for your life, I’ve created a short free course, “Uncover Your Vision and Purpose” to give you some guidance in that area. There is a home business that is right for you.
If you already have a good idea for a business that you can be passionate about then your next step is to get savvy about motivation and management so you can be consistently moving forward.
I’ve got a bit to share with you here, but for more specific direction geared especially to you, book in a free Discovery Coaching Session. I’ll listen and guide you to get clear and take action.
Maintaining Motivation and Managing for Business Growth
Even though we’ve got things we REALLY want to do, it’s not easy to actually do them, is it. Especially in a life that is already full of high-priority activities. The truth is that we always find time for the stuff that matters most. Although, sometimes we may need to convince that subconscious part of ourselves what is really important.
I find with many people, from all walks of life, changing our routine is not as simple as desiring a change. This complex brain of ours needs a little training to get thinking in a new way. So, without knowing the details of what challenges you may be dealing with, I can give you this general advice:
get a morning routine that will help you make the changes you want to see in your life.
3 Morning Super Habits
Start your day with these brain trainings to discover, uncover and focus on the right stuff.
1. Build up a Thankful List
Think of all things great and small that you can be grateful for. Get a book to write these things down so you can have a go-to source of your positive thoughts if doubt and worry are overwhelming you or you just want to bask in the greatness of your life.
A few gems from my lengthy Thankful List:
- Family
- God’s word
- Morning coffee
- Rejuvenating sunshine
- Our woodstove
- Business at home
- Sharing the educational life with my boys
- My husband’s hugs
Come up With 10 Ideas About Anything
This is a super brainstorming exercise that gives you a book full of usable action items for future use and conditions your brain to be an idea machine – which is a good skill to have for a variety of reasons. Your 10 ideas can be about anything, but really push yourself to come up with the full 10 for each topic. Don’t be constrained by small thinking either. This is an opportunity to think outside the box and get creative.
Some of my 10 ideas lists have been about:
- Blog post topics
- Family activities
- Video ideas
- Fun learning games
- Family business ideas
- Catchy business sayings/slogans
Write Down the Plan for Your Day.
So much time can be lost when you don’t have a clear vision for what you’ll do in your day. I’ve never been a fan of scheduling my life, but this is one habit that has dramatically improved my effectiveness in my home life and business. You could just write a short to-do list of what you’d like to get done for the day or use one of the many apps available for your phone.
I do a mix of both:
- I enter in tasks I want to get done in an app (currently using Do It Now, but have also enjoyed using Do it Tomorrow). I put in tasks that I want to get done soon and ones I want to do daily.
- I also print out a monthly goals list in different areas of my work, which I break down into weekly goals and tasks. I keep this general overview of what I want to achieve each month right at my desk that I review each day and write notes and other future tasks for my next month list.
These are just some of the things you can do to start each day in the right way. Mindset is the number one factor in reaching success in anything you do. When you get your head thinking in the right way first thing in the morning, you’ll find that you have a great source of good things going through your head in a day that doubt, fears, insecurities, or bad habits seem to have a harder time breaking through.
When staying at home is your priority, you don’t have to give up on the other gifts you have to offer the world. You can beautifully mesh your home and business life. Pursue all the different roles you’re meant to fill and discover the most abundant life that brings out the better you.
Written by Steph Morrison
Steph has been building businesses, mostly from home, for over 10 years, motivated by her strong determination that her two youngest boys would be educated at home. Pursuing her calling to help parents enjoy the responsibility of educating their children, she works in the marketing department of The Old Schoolhouse®, and coaches and trains entrepreneurs to start and grow their business from home. Her and her family are perfectly placed in the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada. She loves being a homebody and building up her permaculture property. Learn more about Steph at the About Steph page.
