We all know that it can be difficult enough to manage a business, even more so in this current climate. Now add to that mix raising young children while doing just that, and many people would raise their hands in despair and want to pull their hair out! In this post I hope to dispel the myth of the Supermum and explain why so many mothers should quit chasing the fairytale.
Yet that is exactly what a lot of mothers are doing – often from home. Each one is doing it to be there while her children are small and still need their Mum, along with a variety of other reasons;
- Because she has a great idea or product that there is a demand for
- Because she has been made redundant form her paid employment
- Because it is not financially feasible to keep on working with childcare costs so high
- Because she has always wanted to set up and run her own business
- Because she still wants to contribute financially to the family income.
I’m sure that there are other reasons too, if you have one that I’ve not mentioned let me know in the comments below. As a mum how often have you been sold the idea that you can have it all? That you should want to have it all?
Getting the balance right
Yet the biggest struggle for any working mum is getting the balance right. We are often bombarded with the Super-mum; the mum who seems to get the balance just right.
- She seems to always look perfectly turned out with make-up and hair just right,
- she is slim and fit,
- her children always seem to be happy and well behaved,
- she appears to have a perfect relationship,
- have lovely supportive friends
- and to cap it all she also runs a successful business.
It is a lot to live up to:
- Be a successful Mum
- Be a successful business owner (or employee)
- Be a successful housekeeper
- Be a successful wife
- Be a successful friend
…And that if you can’t manage all that that there is something that you are doing wrong. It is enough to make us mere mortals want to curl up and admit defeat.
Related: What Do Women Need to Start A Business?
It Just Doesn’t Add Up
However, most women today don’t believe that we can be and have all of those things, usually after giving it a go and failing miserably. Many a business mum stops trying when she finds she is constantly struggling and something gives, in some capacity, leaving her feeling guilty and a failure because she can’t get the balance right. Of course she doesn’t because she has been sold an impossible dream;
- 100% – successful mum
- 100% – successful business owner or employee
- 100% – successful housekeeper
- 100% – successful wife/partner
- 100% – successful social life
- 100% – ME time
- 100% – successful friend
When you add it all up it just doesn’t add up to 100% because it is more, much more than one person can achieve on their own. We’ve been sold a fairytale, a 21st century fairytale, an impossible dream where happy-ever-after is somewhere in the future, just out of reach, if you keep pushing yourself beyond reality. It is little wonder that many mum business owners feel under so much pressure and a often a failure in some area of their life.
Related: Do You Have A Healthy Work/Life Balance?
You CAN be a successful Mum business owner
You can have all those other things you aspire to as well. All it takes is tweaking the chart so that it is more realistic. After all no matter what you do you are only 100% you, so divide up that 100% into chunks that work for you instead of trying to be 100% of everything;
- 25% – successful Mum
- 32% – successful business owner or employee
- 5% – successful housekeeper
- 15% – successful wife
- 10% – successful friend
- 8% – successful ME-time
- 5% – successful hobby-time
We all get the same one hundred and sixty eight hours per week, it is simply a matter of deciding how you want to allocate them. When you know what way you want to divide up your time you can then sort into orderly time slots that work for you. You can then let go of the impossible dream and grab hold of a successful future.
Related: The Success Story Of Entrepreneur Kate Hyde With Henparty.ie
How do you divide up your time so that it works for you?
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Image: “Super businesswoman flying over London city/Shutterstock“
