Mompreneur Need Home Office

It’s always a challenge for a Mompreneur when comes to balancing work and family. When working at home, moms always get distracted by common problems like stop working to wash dishes, watch daytime television show, start some laundy or play with the kids. As a Mompreneur, you really need a space that just for work and allows you to separate business from family.

Ideally you should have a separate room dedicated to your home office, but if you don’t have a spare room, you can still set up your work area at a corner or half of another room. It’s really depending on the type of your business and you need more space if you need to store your physical inventories. You may not need lots of space if you are running online business. The advantage to have your own home office room is you can always shut the door and concentrate on your work.

Chinese normally believe in Feng Shui and you can apply some basic principles of Feng Shui when setting up your home office. Many people believe that by choosing the right office location at your house and position your desk correctly do help to boost your business.

It’s a good idea to lay down the home office rules especially to let your family members know that you are at work and when you can and cannot be interrupted. Moms easily be interrupted by kids and set the rules at home to let your kids understand that even though you are home, you’re not always accessible to others.

My daughter – Baby Moon sometimes like to stick to me and asks me to accompany her when I’m working at home. I will always make her to understand that I’m working or if I’m studying. Sometimes I just invite her to sit besides me and I share screen with her.

Updates your progress to your spouse and children so that they know you have a real job and they will respect your working space and time. They should only interrupt you when emergencies but not ask for help when they can’t find something at home.

Of course it’s always easier said than done when come to work-at-home for moms. Here are some ideas for you to be more efficient when working at home.

Moms with babies

• Babies tend to sleep a lot and make use of your baby’s naptime to get your work done.
• You could bring your baby to your home office and set a corner for your baby to have fun with toys and snacks.
• Don’t fix your working hours but break up your work time to few slots in the morning, evening or after your baby’s bedtime.

Moms with toddlers

• Toddlers need your accompany often. Talk to them and make them understand you are at work.
• Let your toddler watch educational programming while you at work.
• Teach your toddler about modeling by letting them to have their own toy computer and let him or her “type like Mommy”.
• Encourage them to read or do some drawing or hand crafts. Tell them you will be back to check their work later and don’t worry about the mess.

Moms with older children

• You can work when they are at school and work together with them after school time for homework.
• Plan some activities that they can do themselves to keep them occupied.
• If you still have younger kids, let the older takes care of the younger so that you have more time to work and also it helps to develop confidence on the older child.
• Let your kids help you with some light work such as packing or filing.

Do allow yourself to have family time with your family members. Let your spouse and children know that you are off from your work and still there for them.

Practice make perfect. The process of integrating and separating work and family will become easier and you have more time with your family when your business is on the right track.