15-11-2007
How to be mum and boss at the same time
by Karen Baldwin for Simply Business
There is no doubt that having a child changes your whole life. Priorities are suddenly turned on their head, family finances can take a hit and life becomes much more of a juggle as women search for that highly sought after, but often elusive, work / life balance.
The benefits and joy that come from children certainly outweigh the downsides and sacrifices, but more often than not, many women find themselves having to make considerable changes, particularly in their working lives.
After having a child, many women may feel less driven or focused on their career but still want to have something that is their own. A career can mean different things to different women, but often it is important in terms of keeping your own sense of independence, being challenged mentally and getting the kind of stimulation that only comes from paid work.
Women can choose to have both
It is very common for a woman to want to maintain her career after having had a child but work less hours and in a way that suits her family.
Those who do want to combine motherhood with their career – whether that is a very similar career path to the one they enjoyed before they had children or an opportunity to take their work in a completely different direction – are generally looking for a flexible environment in which to work.
One of the more effective ways of managing your career and home life is to have a high level of autonomy in your working role. For many, this is achieved through running a business from home.
For the many women who don’t want to resume working full-time or who don’t feel their employer can offer the family-friendly workplace they need, starting a business can be an attractive proposition, enabling the flexibility that is required with a young family.
It is estimated that there are 3.5 million home working professionals in UK, with predictions that this number will rise to 5 million over the next few years. Many of these are working mums.
Choose the right home-based career for you and your family
The success of juggling a home-based business with a family may well depend on the type of work that you do, as some roles are more client-facing, involving meetings and time away from the office, and others more admin-heavy.
For example, professional services consulting can often be done from home, and this can include:
• Bookkeepers / accountants
• Management consultants / business advisors
• IT consultants
• Translation / publishing businesses
• Marketing type roles – marketing consultants, graphic designers or writers
• Architects
• Recruitment specialists.
If you are experienced and qualified in one of these areas, then those skills can easily be transferred from your previous job and done on a self-employed basis.
Make sure you and your job are flexible
Managing family and career is very much a personal situation and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. You need to adopt a structure that works for you, your children and partner and their needs at that time, as well as for your business and its clients or customers.
Whatever your profession or business, flexibility is the key to making it all work, as different stages of life may require different approaches to managing the situation.
You may find it easier to run your business from home when your baby is three-months-old and sleeping for a large portion of the day. It allows you to make phone calls, get on with your work, or complete time consuming admin tasks.
However, the arrangement may not work as well when your very active two-year-old no longer takes daytime naps, severely limiting your ability to do anything other than spending time with them.
While you may still be able to operate your home-based business as your children grow older, it may be that you require additional support with looking after them for some parts of the day or some days of the week. This might mean your partner taking a more hands-on role with care, support from family, or more formal arrangements such as childcare or a nanny.
Even if you don’t have children, working from home requires a considerable degree of self-discipline. It is very easy to be distracted by the events of the household, family and friends so it is important to establish some rules from the outset to ensure you can remain focused on work.
Those best suited to running their own business from home are those able to efficiently manage their own workload and time, resolve problems independently and operate efficiently with no external supervision.
Be prepared to put in extra hours on both sides
Doing so while raising a family usually means a “blurring” of your working hours where 9-to-5 is no longer the norm. If much of your day is taken up in looking after your children, chances are you are going to need to do much of your work in the evening when they go to bed or on weekends when your partner is home to help look after the children.
This can place pressure on your relationships at home, so it is important to set aside time for your husband or partner and to spend time with older children if you have them. If you have an office, or area of the house from where you run your business, it is important to lock the door or divide the area off from the rest of the house when you are not working. This will help you to relax and focus on your family.
While many people love the concept of owning their own business and being their own boss, it does mean taking on a lot of additional work in the form of business development / securing clients, book-keeping and invoicing, tax reporting etc.
These administrative tasks, which you don’t have to consider as an employee, can significantly add to the workload especially if they don’t come naturally. For example if you are very creative and your business is also creative, it can be difficult to motivate yourself to doing monthly accounts!
Don't forget the serious aspects of running a business
If you are serious about making a success of your business, you can’t treat it as a hobby. For the best chance at success, make sure you have the correct business structure in place, securing all the required permits, licences and registrations and having appropriate risk management measures in place for your business, particularly insurance.
As a home-based professional, you need to look for insurance for a home-office, which usually includes Public Liability cover and business-related contents cover. You should also check with your home insurance provider to see whether running your business from home would affect this cover.
If your business gives professional advice, or provides professional services to clients, then you may need Professional Indemnity Insurance to protect your business against the cost of defending a claim and any damages awarded to your client.
Juggling two very important roles – raising your family and running your own business from home – certainly isn’t easy, but as long as you plan ahead and are covered for the unexpected, the rewards and satisfaction make all the hard work worthwhile.
Simply Business offers a fast, easy way to compare business insurance quotes online. Over 300 trades covered including home-workers.