Home-based Business and Kids
How to Balance Parenting with Business Demands
Is it possible to have it all? Can work-at-home parents run a successful business and raise healthy kids? In one word...YES.
Parents of young children who own a home-based or small business are faced with the juggling challenge. The TV image of the at-home mom or dad handling clients over the phone with one hand, cooking dinner with the other while balancing a baby propped on the hip, is great for selling commercial products, but is unrealistic and impractical in daily life.
A real business owner who works out of the house quickly understands that having it all means diligent planning. Without aforethought, things can quickly get out of hand and both the business and family will suffer. Here are a few things for home-based parents to consider when juggling business and family:
Type of Business and Client Interaction
It goes without saying that a business with a high amount of customer interaction will be more challenging to manage with children than one that is solitary. For example, a Virtual Administrative Assistant must be available by phone to meet client needs. Crying children and barking dogs in the background present an unprofessional image and may cause an individual to lose clients. A freelance writer, on the other hand, has much less client interaction, therefore making a right impression is relegated to the quality of work and not so much the professional silence in the office.
Stage of Child Development
Newborns are generally easier for a work-at-home parent to manage and keep up with work demands. Let's face it, infants mainly eat, sleep and poop. Unless the baby has special needs and requires constant attention, one can pretty much carry out business demands with an infant in a snuggly strapped to the parent's chest. The biggest challenge for parents of newborns is making sure the parent is getting enough sleep to be able to handle business demands (2 AM feedings are known to disrupt the soundest of sleep).
Unlike infants, toddlers are a handful and require much looking after. Their activity level and exponential mental development makes it all but impossible for them to sit still. Toddlers will interrupt the business workflow and put a damper on productivity. As a result, it's best to schedule work around naptime, arrange play dates or hire a caregiver.
It gets a little easier once children reach school age. The work-at-home parent can schedule client interaction to coincide with the child's school hours. After-school activities help to prolong a business owner's workday. However, children who are involved in sports weak havoc on a business owner's schedule. Games, practices, team dinners, and the flurry of unplanned sports-related activity may force the parent to rearrange the work schedule on the fly.
Junior high and high school students can be an asset to a home-based business. Self-employed business owners can hire their kids and benefit from a tax break on self-employment taxes. Visit the IRS website for more information on how to claim the tax benefit. In addition to providing a potential tax break, teenaged students can help by babysitting younger siblings.
Take Advantage of Technology
Modern technology has made it much easier for home-based and small businesses to keep up with family demands. Be sure to have the right equipment. Gadgets such as videoconferencing, e-mail, text messaging, cell phones and PDAs assist the home worker in keeping in contact with clients. They can prove to be a double-edged sword, however. 24/7 business accessibility is not conducive to raising a healthy family. Remember, it's up to the business owner to manage the technology, not the other way around.
