By Jason Eisenberg
Mother's Day is coming up and by the time you finish reading this, you might stash the macaroni necklace and spend a little more time on your gift to mom : the boss of all bosses.
The adage, being a mom is the equivalent to having a full-time job, isn't true. A full-time mom is always on the clock, which equates to well over 40-50 hours per week. But adding a full-time job or running your own business essentially doubles your labor hours. According to Working Mother, the average working mom works approximately 98 hours a week That's 98 hours out of 168 hours per week.
Factor the hours it takes to start and run your own business, and you're easily over 100 hours per week. Inc. found through a UK study that small business owners work an average of 52 hours per week – 63 percent longer than the average worker. So how does mom find the time to be a boss at home and at her business?
Managing Time
If you're a mom, all this information is no surprise, but it can help map out where you're allocating most of your time and energy. For mom, time is arguably the most valuable resource since many small business owners get very little to themselves in the first place. Consider logging everything you do in a week and noting how long it takes (yes, it sounds excruciating but it's worth it). Then you can go down the list of actions that took way too long, figure out why and fix it.
- Did you have to research and learn how to complete a task for your business (ie; video editing, Payroll, design, email and digital marketing)?
- Did you pretty much do everything yourself (mothers tend to like being in control)?
- Were you spending time monitoring competitors and what they're doing on social media?
This process can help prioritize your strengths and weaknesses, which can give you a better understanding of where you could use some help and not waste time, energy and at the end of the day – money. The more successful business owners you meet, the more you should notice these people don't handle all facets of their business day-to-day – they have professionals or staff they trust handling their personal blind spots.
Resources
Just like time, small business owners often find themselves bound to limited resources. Be it capital, workspace issues or passionate employees who know what they're doing, it's rare to be loaded up on all fronts for your business. But what if you were comfortable with leaving your business to take the kids to the park after school one day. Or – dare we say – take a well-deserved nap! Having the right resources in place will directly affect how much time you're either burning or saving.
Support
If you are a mom and have a business of your own, you might already put this into practice out of sheer necessity. You got kids - let them take out the trash or wash the dishes! If mom and dad are in the mix, there should be equal footing when it comes to taking care of house and children duties. If not, you probably aren't running your business as well as you'd like either.
Take the same principle as you would with your successful small business, right? As CEO of your business, you shouldn't be doing everything and that goes the same for your household. You need backup and you deserve support, so why try and do it all both at home and at work?
All content provided herein is for educational purposes only. It is provided “as is,” and neither the author nor Office Depot warrants the accuracy of the information provided, nor do they assume any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.
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