Juggling Motherhood With Becoming Self Employed.

[AD] Becoming self employed has been THE BEST decision for my & my family. It's been a long time coming & comes with great benefits however it’s not without its difficulties. Being self employed and being a parent are two really difficult things to do! When you juggle them together it's pretty much like your brain is being constantly fried. It’s a never ending juggle of responsibilities which can so often leave you feeling like you’re failing at either one of your two jobs. Work too much and you’re struck with mum guilt. Parent too much and you’re struck with a loss of earnings. It’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

I chose to quit my ‘regular job’ and have at becoming a full time blogger because childcare costs are just out of this world. I was essentially working to pay someone else to look after my child. Make it make sense! It’s why a lot of women find themselves turning to freelancing after having children.

Becoming self employed I’m still able to make a decent wage whilst seeing my children grow up. It sounds ideal, it sounds like I’m a mum boss (eugh) but it’s HARD!

Let me share my tips for juggling parenthood with being self employed.

_{[Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash]}

Juggling motherhood & being self employed.

Money, money, money.

As terrible as it sounds, we rely on money. I wish we didn’t. In fact I wish we lived in a world where money wasn’t even a thing and we were all equals. But money matters & it especially matters being a self employed person.

Being completely honest I could never do what I’m doing now without the financial stability of my husband. I’m privileged to be in a position where if things did go tits up, we could get by. We'd struggle, but we'd get by.

Before making the leap to becoming self employed I’d built up money from maternity leave as well as going back to work for a year in between. I knew I was going to make the jump, I just didn’t know when. Planning in advance has been massively beneficial for me especially when I was first starting off and cash flow was a little slow.

Childcare.

I work around my children the majority of the time however once a week I get an afternoon's childcare. This time is SO precious! As hard as I work around my children (working around nap times, night feeds and bedtime) nothing beats knowing I have a solid couple of hours each week to properly get my head into the game. Being able to switch my mind from mum-Claire to work-Claire is highly beneficial.

If you can, I'd really recommend looking into some form of child or toddler care in Woodstock, MD (or elsewhere more relevant for you!) even if it’s just a few hours a week. The self employed person I am with childcare compared to without are two totally different people. With two totally different work outcomes. Not only this, but having your children get that support can make a big difference in their development and help them later in life.

For times where I don't have childcare (weirdly, this week for some reason) I'll often find myself working late into the night. Which when you have a baby who still wakes multiple times during the night, isn't ideal. This isn't the work / life balance I imagined when I made the plunge in becoming self employed, but sometimes you've just got to go with it. All I'll say is that I'm eternally grateful for the few hours of childcare I usually get each week!

Hot desk.

I’m a mother at home & I work from home. It’s quite difficult to differentiate the two lifestyles.

When I first became self employed I’d work downstairs at a little desk in the living room. What I’d found is that I’d constantly see jobs that needed doing around the house. I’d be working, but I’d also be doing the washing or unloading the dishwasher. My work time was getting invaded by the mundane house jobs I can (sort of) manage to do around the children.

Hot desking and mixing things up has been really beneficial for my motivation. Some days I'll work in the conservatory, others will be the office and others I'll work from the comfort of my bed. I'll choose my hot desk depending on my mood and my to do list.

I’d also recommend taking yourself off to a nice coffee shop to get work done. Treat yourself to a latte and a cake and sit down at your laptop. I bet you’ll be surprised at how much you can get done. I always thought I’d be too busy people watching, but it’s nice to get totally in the zone of working.

Understand you'll never be able to do it all, all of the time.

Nailing a work life balance isn’t easy. In fact, even now eighteen months into being self employed, I'm not sure if it's possible. I’ve accepted the fact I’m not going to be able to do it all.

As much as I want to work 37.5 hours a week like the average person does, it’s just not feasible for me. Some days I can cram in five hours of uninterrupted work, others I’m lucky if I have half an hour to myself. Juggling being self employed with parenting you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and understand that as much as you’d like to, you can’t do everything.

Are you self employed? How do you manage the juggle?