How To Balance Childcare With Your Home Business


by John Pfeiffer - Date: 2006-12-22 - Word Count: 524 Share This!

I am constantly amazed with the number of people who come up to me and ask, "John, How do you do it? You operate a profitable home business while taking care of your kids! Can you share your secrets to being a successful entrepreneur while running your family's household?" Rather than explain it over and over again to people, I decided to share a couple of my "UnPublished Secrets" for how I achieve so much in my duo-role as parent/entrepreneur and thus, simplify my life in the process.

So here's how this stay-at-home father of three runs his booming home business and successful home life.

The Art of Self-Discovery in Children: As an active parent in my children's lives, I coach soccer, do the school pick-ups / drop-offs, prepare the meals, and intimately become engage in reading, homework, and play activities. Unfortunately, in today's society, I see two extremes. The parents who are absent or don't care and the parents who get OVERLY involved in their kids' lives. I believe this second parent, who continuously dotes around behind their children, lend themselves to developing children who have difficulties effectively adapting to future situations when "mommy or daddy" is not available. Whether its dispute resolution with another child or falling off the tri-cycle, I think that kids have an uncanny ability to achieve things without constant adult supervision. I find that a health mix of involvement and near-by observation (to make sure that no one gets hurt) enables both the parent and child to flourish. Your child gets to discover things on his/her own, while the parent get to take a needed break from the monotonous routine of childcare. By filling my mind with creativity, I get my million dollar ideas during this important downtime in my duo-role life.

Managing Client Expectations While Working With A Home Business Owner: When I first started my home business, I was horrified if my two year old would enter my office while I was on the phone with a prospect or client. What I found is that rather than lock the doors and keep my children away from me, I realized that I am more successful with my clients if I manage their expectations and share the importance of my family with them. Being with my family was why I got into a home business in the first place! It wasn't locking the doors so nobody could bother me (as some books suggest). By telling my clients that I work openly at home, keep regular hours (usually when the kids are napping or in the evening or early AM) and that interruptions from my children may occur, I find that my customers are more loyal, more honest, and more profitable. The ones who didn't like my operational structure were not a good fit for my services anyway.

At the end of the day, it's the work-life balance that we're all looking for. By taking charge of the situation rather than allowing others (clients or children) to control our actions, work hours, or family time, I find myself to be more productive with work and having more fun with my children than ever before.


Related Tags: home business, work from home, work at home, childcare, stay at home mom, stay at home dad

With over 20 years of direct marketing experience, John Pfeiffer helps small business owners and home business entrepreneurs find success through his "UnPublished Secrets", a series of marketing tips and articles which can be found on his blog. http://unpublishedsecrets.blogspot.com/ John is a graduate of Lehigh University and The University of San Francisco Graduate School Of Business. When he's not skiing or coaching his kids' soccer teams, John can sometimes be found working his home business (http://www.money-business.biz) from either San Francisco or Tahoe.

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