WAHM? Mom Enterepreneur? Why do you have business? Your reason will help with your priorities.

WAHM, Work at Home Mom, Mompreneur, Mom Entrepreneur, Mother Entrepreneur?

Why do you have a business & what does your business money go towards?
1. Fun/Hobby
2. Some of Your Own Spending Money
3. Contribute to your Household Bills

I recently spoke to a group of mom business owners and brought up this topic. We were discussing priorities and how much time to spend on our businesses and family balance.

I suggested that we start with the questions "Why do you have a business?" and "Where does that money go?". I block off from 4pm-10pm as strictly "no business, no computers, no phone calls"on school nights. However, recently I have had some client deadlines that were unavoidable during this time and my family was a wreck. So, I was questioning whether I could have put off that client work.

I met with my family and discussed that while it is my goal not work on school night between 4pm-10pm, there will be times that it is unavoidable. The reason is that this money started as my spending fun money and it moved to providing our family with extras like family vacations and weekend trips and paying for birthday and christmas presents.

My husband is a teacher and I am a stay at home and work at home mom and we have 3 kids. Our budget is tight, but can cover the bills. Our budget does not cover extras like dance lessons, swimming lessons, summer swim pass to pools around town, birthday parties, etc. So, now we have come to rely on this money to enhance our lives and this sometimes means that I have to conduct business after school.

I will do better and letting them know in advance if I can when this happens. I also have been trading babysitting with a like minded work at home mom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We both have active toddlers that are 17 months old and only 1 week apart in age so I can get things done during the daylight hours, instead of late night hours like now (1:53am).

So, knowing the reasons why you are making this money helps decide if you can re-schedule that work or client call and how to make decisions about family balance. If you are dependent on your paycheck then sometimes family will have to come 2nd. I know we always want family to come first and that is a great goal to strive for, however, sometimes reality alters that !