Are you a stay-at-home or work-at-home mom?

"Working moms, stay at home moms, they're both extremely hard jobs." Hilary Rosen

My definition of a stay-at-home mom is a woman who stays home to manage her household and raise her children and my definition of a work-at-home mom is an entrepreneurial business woman who owns, organizes and operates a business from home that can be integrated with her parenting duties.

Trying to say you’re a stay-at-home mom when you’re actually a work-at-home mom can create unnecessary stress and a misconception of your responsibilities. It is natural to want to be all and do all.  As a woman, we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be a good mom, wife, housekeeper, friend, etc.  

Here are 3 things you can do to have it all and still be successful!

1. CUT YOURSELF SLACK - You must understand this is work. It is a job! Owning, organizing and operating a business is a BIG task. Cut yourself some slack. You are not going to be a master at cleaning the house, paying the bills and raising a house full of children as well as run a successful business. Give yourself permission to let go of some of the guilt! Give yourself permission to be a badass business woman!

2. TIME MANAGEMENT - Some chores may need to be delegated to your kiddos. Some errands may need to be combined. Some tasks may need to be pushed off. Some mommy time alone may need to be planned and understood by your children. Maybe you only clean on Saturday’s instead of everyday. Maybe you hire someone to clean your home once a month. Maybe send your children to a Mother’s Day Out program twice a week. Make necessary adjustments and build an integrated business schedule.

3. BE FLEXIBLE - Being extremely organized and using time management is helpful, but life will happen. Things won’t go as planned. Be prepared for that! In order to be successful, it will require flexibility. Roll with the punches. The kids will act up, things won’t go right and the house may feel like it’s going to wayside but it’s ok! Learn to be flexible with your time and efforts. This will allow you to be less stressed and less susceptible to overreacting or snapping. Everyone and everything deserves the best of you, so learn to let things go if they aren’t going the right way. PIVOT! Try again!!

As a work-at-home mom, you’re not only taking on parental and household duties but you are also operating a business. If you truly want to be successful with your business, you must learn to integrate work with family.  Cutting yourself some slack, using time management and learning to be flexible will help you reach success.  Shifting from stay-at-home to work-at-home mom may take some adjusting, but in the end, it’s worth it!   Have it all, girl!  You got this!

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