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The Entrepreneurial Parent

The Entrepreneurial Parent

Archive of Past Articles

Balancing Business and Family

by Lisa M. Roberts

It’s no secret. Full-time employee positions in Corporate America do not include family-related responsibilities in the job description! Despite all thehoopla of "family-friendly" policies being instituted and supported by corporate human resources, only a tiny fraction of employees ever take advantage of them. Why? Office politics. From disgruntled co-workers to stressed-out managers, there simply isn’t time for family matters in the traditional workplace.

Enter the explosion of entrepreneurship in the 80’s and 90’s. Topping the list of reasons why workers are leaving corporate America in droves to start up their own businesses is the elusive work-family balance everyone’s looking for these days. Frazzled and exhausted from the relentless pressures of working full-time for a large employer while trying to meet the needs of their families, working parents all over the nation are turning to alternative work options. Self-employment — whether you run a small business outside your home or work in a home office, whether you have a staff of 50 or of 1, whether you call yourself an independent contract worker, a consultant or a freelancer — is in vogue. It has become the solution of choice for millions of working parents today.

Still, balancing your business and your family is no easy feat – even if you do have total reign over your time and myriad responsibilities. Entrepreneurship is a step in the right direction, but it’s merely one step. To keep on track, you need to map out a course that’s grounded in real-life situations. That means not only drawing a steady path, but taking into consideration a few upward climbs and steep declines along the way.

So whether you’re expecting your first child any day now or are a seasoned entrepreneurial parent, the following bird’s eye view of your Map to Work-Family Balance should come in handy:

A Steady Path

Setting Up A Work-Family Timetable. As an entrepreneurial parent, you may or may not have discovered yet that there’s a time to work, a time to work, and a time to play. The first time relates to your business, the second to family/household responsibilities, and the third to family, couple or individual "play" time. The sooner you set up a clear-cut weekly schedule that your clients, your children and your spouse can count on, the quicker you’ll embark on a steady work-family path.
Enlisting A Business-Family Support Team. As a business owner, you may already have in place a professional support team offering legal, financial, bookkeeping, marketing, advertising, computer, tax and other business-related advice for your business. As an entreprenurial parent, you’ll also need a family-related support team — a trustworthy pediatrician, dentist, supplemental childcare provider, housekeeper and carpooling neighbors. You’ll need both in place to maintain a steady course.
Celebrating Business Rewards with Your Family. There’s no simpler way to enlist your family’s support for your business – and to ensure a relatively smooth path to work-family success – than to share your business rewards with your children and spouse. Whether the rewards come in monetary or spiritual forms, let your family in on them! Such an ongoing celebratory attitude goes a long way in a healthy work-family life balance.

A Few Upward Climbs

Becoming a parent. If you’ve been an entrepreneur for years but are new to parenthood, the transition to becoming a Mom or Dad is probably the most exasperating upward climb you’ll face. While most of us have been educated and trained for years in our respective professions, few of us have a clue as to how to properly care for a newborn…or how to handle the conflicting intense, intimate emotions that well within us as "newborn parents." Fortunately, there are invaluable resources available to all of us — from the hospital medical staff, to experienced relatives and friends, to parenting books, magazines, videos, seminars et al., to the rich history of mankind! As long as you recognize this time in your life as a "climb" — albeit a wondrous one — you’re halfway up already.
Becoming an entrepreneur. If you’ve been a working parent all along and are just now making the transition into self-employment, this is your initial upward climb. Again, resources for entrepreneurs abound, with "Business By the Book" as a pertinent example! Today more than ever support for the new entrepreneur is plentiful – from books, web sites and periodicals to adult ed courses, associations and government agencies.
A Business That Takes Off. Sometimes your business grows by leaps and bounds – far ahead of your plans. This, of course, is good news for most, but can become overwhelming if not properly managed. Now’s the time for both your business and family support teams to take larger roles. Just keep in mind that if your business takes center stage at the expense of your family taking backstage, then "success" is not quite the word for what’s going on.

Some Steep Declines

A Sudden Illness. As any working parent is acutely aware, sick days befall children at a far more frequent rate than they do adults. Whether it’s a common cold or a severe asthma attack, entrepreneurial parents should have a back-up business plan and contacts to accommodate sudden family illnesses throughout the year.
Regression in a Child’s Behavior. If your child unexpectedly starts acting up in school or at home, it’s a red flag that he or she may not be getting enough attention. Sometimes all it takes is a simple conversation with your child to uncover the problem; other times you may need a major shift in focus from business to family for awhile. Again, having that business support team in place, alongside your family support team, will help you maintain balance during such a shift.
A Drop in Grades. Another sure sign that your work-family balance is temporarily off. This is not unusual, but it is a warning. A conference with the teacher and another with your child — and the sooner the better — can put you all back on course.

Now for the good news: when you are the President or CEO of your own company, you can put whatever you want in your job description! "Must lead company into the next millennium"? Of course. "Financial forecasting, develop a marketing campaign, delegate administrative tasks"? Naturally! "Drive Susie and friends to softball practice on Tuesdays, administer cough medicine during flu season and attend parent-teacher conferences three times a year"? You better believe it!! After all, when you’re the boss, "family-friendly" policies take on a whole new meaning…

Lisa Roberts is author of How to Raise A Family & A Career Under One Roof: A Parent’s Guide to Home Business(Bookhaven Press, 1997, 1-800-782-7424). Her web site, The Entrepreneurial Parent (www.en-parent.com), is a comprehensive work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs. She can be contacted at RobertsLMR@aol.com.

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