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Balancing Business
& Family
Balancing your business
and your family is no easy feat -- even if you do have total
reign over your time and responsibilities. To keep on track,
you need to map out a course that's grounded in real-life situations.
© 1997,
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 the hoopla 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 following a steady
path, but also 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!
- © 1997 Lisa M. Roberts, all rights reserved. The above article
is an excerpt from How
to Raise A Family & A Career Under One Roof: A Parent's Guide
to Home Business, a title highly recommended by La Leche
League, Home Office Computing and the Family Christian
Bookclub. Order
your own copy today!
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