A Guest Post by Fiona Sim
Starting a business as a stay at home mum can often feel like an impossible dream. Between toddler tantrums, playgroups and mountains of washing that could compete with Everest, finding even a few spare minutes in the day can feel daunting. With all the responsibilities that come with being a stay at home mum, it’s no wonder that so many mums hesitate to take the first steps towards starting their own business.
As a stay at home parent of two young children, I know how overwhelming it can be to feel like there’s never enough time. I’ve been there. But here’s the truth: starting a business while raising a family is possible.
You don’t need hours of uninterrupted time or a perfect plan, you simply need smart strategies, and time to take small intentional steps towards your goal. In this post, I’ll share practical methods I use in my day to day life as a stay at home mum, running a business, to help you find the time to begin your business journey.
We’ll cover simplifying your schedule, encouraging independent play for your children and how an overhaul of your to-do list, and exchanging time with your children can help you create space in your day to turn your business dreams into reality.
The Biggest Challenges Stay at Home Mums Face When Starting a Business
Starting a business as a stay at home mum comes with its own unique set of challenges. While you may have all the drive and passion to build a business of your own, finding the time and energy to make it happen is often where people get stuck. Here are some of the common struggles facing stay at home mums who want to start their own business:
- Limited uninterrupted time – With most stay at home mums finding it hard to even go to the toilet in peace, finding a quiet moment to focus on business tasks can seem almost impossible.
- Overwhelm from a never-ending to-do list – With children, meal prep and household responsibilities all competing for attention, it’s easy to feel paralysed by the sheer volume of things you need to get done, without adding a business to the list too.
- Constant interruptions – Even when you do manage to find the time to get things done, interruptions are inevitable. Children need attention, mess needs cleaning up, or that dreaded washing pile starts calling to you, making the time you need to build a business feel out of reach.
- Mum guilt – Balancing the want to start your own business with the responsibilities of raising children can leave you feeling guilty. Mums often feel torn between wanting to spend time with their children and needing to work on their business ideas, and end up feeling like they’re falling short in both areas.
Despite these challenges, it’s important to remember that starting a business as a stay at home mum is not impossible. With the right strategies and tools, you can navigate the struggles and create a business that works for you and your family. In the next sections, I’ll share the practical, actionable solutions that have made starting my own business possible.
Encouraging Independent Play
Independent play is a valuable skill for children and a lifesaver for busy mums. Personally, it has been the thing that has made the biggest difference in our house. It gives your children the chance to explore their creativity while also giving you some more time to work on starting your new business.
Here’s some ideas to get you started:
- Start small: Encourage 5-10 minutes of play while you complete a quick task and gradually increase the time as they get used to it.
- Stay nearby: Sit close by, but focus on your own work. This helps your children feel secure while learning to entertain themselves.
- Create open-ended opportunities: Provide toys, materials, or activities that allow your child to use their imagination – blocks, colouring supplies, or even a cardboard box can lead to endless fun.
- Set the scene: Instead of giving them specific activities to do, set up a space where they can choose what they do. For example, leave a few toys or books around to catch their attention.
- Switch it up a bit: Keep their toys on a rotation so they aren’t playing with the same things all the time, switch them around each week to keep them interested.
Independent play not only gives you valuable time to focus on your work, it also encourages creativity, problem-solving, and confidence in your child. It’s a win for everyone, and there’s no need for strict rules – let your child lead the way.
Streamlining Your Schedule
As stay at home mums, it’s easy to fill our schedules with endless activities – swimming lessons, sports classes, playdates, day trips, and more. But overscheduling can leave both you and your children tired out, grumpy and unmotivated. Sometimes, the best way to make time is to do less.
When I first started my business I made the decision to cut back our commitments. I removed 65% of our organised activities from our schedule, which made our life simpler and calmer. It gave us more time to spend at home, giving the children more time for independent play and me more opportunities to work during the day.
How to Cut Back:
- Evaluate your current schedule: Ask yourself questions like, “Does this activity truly add value to our lives right now?” or “Do we ALL enjoy this activity?” or “Would we miss it if we didn’t do it?”
- Prioritise the activities you enjoy most: Keep only the activities that bring the most joy to you and your family.
- Learn to say no: Don’t be afraid to turn down new commitments to protect your time.
By reducing what’s on your schedule, and being intentional about things you add to it, you can create more time to work on starting your own business.
The 10-Minute To-Do List
We all know that life as a stay at home mum doesn’t allow long, uninterrupted stretches of time, but it doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of the smaller chunks of time you have. Putting the 10-minute to-do list into action will make it much easier to get productive in the 5/10 minute ‘breaks’ you have throughout the day.
How it works:
Firstly, you need to split your to-do list into two columns.
- Under 10 Minutes: Quick, actionable tasks you can do in less than 10 minutes.
- Over 10 Minutes: Larger tasks that need more focused time to complete.
Then you need to split the tasks on your list into one of these columns. The idea is that when you find a small chunk of time in the day, when the children are otherwise distracted, you can go straight to the ‘Under 10 Minutes’ column of your to-do list and complete one of the tasks.
By slotting in the smaller, more manageable tasks throughout the day, you’ll suddenly start seeing that perhaps you have more time than you thought.
The Time Exchange Strategy
Children love attention, and finding a balance between their needs and your desire to start a business is key if you’re going to find more time to get things done during the day. The time exchange strategy creates a win-win scenario for you all, by exchanging focussed work time for quality time with your children.
How it works:
- Set a timer (we use a sand timer for the visual element) for 10 minutes and use this time to focus on business tasks while your children play.
- When the timer ends, put your work down and spend the next 10 minutes doing an activity with your children (e.g. reading a book, building a tower, colouring together, etc).
- You can then reset the timer and go back to business tasks.
My children love doing this and often ask for a timer. They are quite happy to play while I work because they know their ‘turn’ is coming soon.
You Can Start a Business as a Stay at Home Mum
Starting a business as a stay at home mum is no easy task, but with the right strategies it’s absolutely possible to find the time you need to make your business dreams a reality. By encouraging independent play, simplifying your schedule and using the 10-minute to-do list and time exchange strategy to balance business and family life, you’ll soon be on the way to building a business you love – even amidst the chaos of raising young children.
It’s important to remember that progress doesn’t have to happen all at once. Every small, intentional step you take will move you closer to your goal. Give yourself grace, embrace the flexibility of being a stay at home mum, and celebrate the wins, no matter how small they may seem.
If you’re ready to dive deeper into building a business that works for you and your family, visit my website https://site.fionasim.withtbsc.com. There, you’ll find free resources and information designed to help stay at home mums like you get started on their business journey.
You’ve got this!
Fiona Sim is a Business and Productivity Strategist who helps stay at home mums with the basics of online business, so they can start their own business to support their travel plans.
Fiona lives in the Scottish Borders with her husband and two daughters. When she gets the chance, she enjoys eating a whole plate of food to herself, walking at a normal adult pace without stopping, swimming in the cold Scottish rivers and sea and baking chocolate-related cake items without any helpers.
Website link: https://site.fionasim.withtbsc.com
