Being a mother is a job in itself but when you add entrepreneurship into the equation, most would consider you to be insane trying to run a business and raise your children! Sure, there are obstacles you’re going to face while being a mompreneur but that doesn’t mean that the idea of being a mother and achieving entrepreneurial success is such a far-fetched goal to reach.

So, how can you manage to do “it all?”

Well, it definitely takes patience, time management, determination, and coming to grips with the fact that it’s okay to ask for help when you need it. You no longer have to wait until your kids grow up to live your dream, you can live your dream and incorporate your kids in your dream, regardless of how big or how old they are.

The world of e-commerce is the industry that has allowed mothers all over the world to ditch their 9 to 5 jobs and lead a thriving and successful career as a mompreneur, right from the comfort of home.

Not to get things confused or misconstrued, running an e-commerce store as a busy mom is no walk in the park, by any means, but it’s not an impossible feat. There are successful mompreneurs all over the world enjoying the successes from their thriving business and, believe it or not, they’re still alive to tell about it!

You too can have your own success stories to share with other hopeful mompreneurs, but in order to tell your story, you have to start it. Take a deep look at some helpful tips to build a successful e-commerce business from home… with your kids!

Tips to Building a Successful E-Commerce Business With Kids

Ask for help when you need it

Earlier, it was mentioned how do mompreneurs manage to do “it all”… well, they can do it all because they’re not doing it all… they’re asking for help when they need it. Needing help isn’t something that will make you less of an entrepreneur, in fact, asking for help is one of the smartest business moves you could ever make for your business.

Help can come in all forms too. Maybe two days out of the week you hire a nanny for a few hours just so you can get uninterrupted work done to handle meetings with clients or conference calls.

Help can also come in the form of hiring freelancers to help you build or promote your website. Whether you’re hip to the world of e-commerce or not, it’s still a fairly new concept. So instead of attempting a business task that you know nothing about, the smarter business move to make would be to hire industry experts…

In fact, a great resource for freelance experts in any industry is through the Shopify site. The website is actually a website builder but you can use their marketplace to find Shopify experts to assist with building and promoting your store. In all honesty, you can find freelancers there to assist you with practically any part of your online store.

Plan ahead and give yourself a schedule

Giving yourself a schedule is actually something that’s dependent on whether you’re a “morning person” or a “night owl.” Typically, you’re going to be more productive if you can plan your schedule ahead.

A great way to do this is to wake up early and schedule meetings and respond to emails; this is when it’s most quiet, and you can get all of this done before the baby wakes or right before dropping the kids off to school. You can then use the end of the day to plan the next day based on everything you accomplished during your day.

Get inspiration from your children’s experiences

It’s your responsibility to help your child find their purpose but sometimes, in helping them find their purpose, they unknowingly give you inspiration as to what you want your business to be about or even the type of products you want to sell.

Starting a business and keeping up with the competition is never easy but sometimes that warm hug from your little one is the very thing you needed to get your creative juices flowing!

Connect with other moms and mompreneurs alike

You’ve heard people say “it takes a village?” Well, it really does. Juggling parenthood and entrepreneurship can get overwhelming and stressful, and it helps to be able to talk to other moms and mompreneurs for words of encouragement. Everyone needs a support system… even the moms doing “it all.” There are online communities you can connect with.

Set boundaries

How many times have you heard people say that they wished they could work from home? A lot of people think that working from home is like a dream come true. Well, for some people, it is, but for others, it can be an everyday struggle, especially when you have kids at home.

That reason alone is why it’s so important to set boundaries for when you’re working at home. Inhersight.com recommends creating a designated workspace and setting daily work hours. But when you set those work hours, don’t forget to tell your household those daily hours so they’ll know not to disturb you unless it’s important.

Delegate tasks

Delegating tasks is another form of not doing “it all” but more so from a household chores perspective. While you’re working from home, delegate certain household chores to other members of your family to keep the house clean… for certain people, it’s hard to work and be productive in a dirty work environment.

So if your designated office space is in the kitchen, and there are dirty dishes everywhere, you can just hang the day up because you’re not going to be able to get any work done. Let your family help with dishes and laundry. Tell your kids to keep their rooms clean every week.

This type of help can be used during your scheduled work hours and outside of them!

Make the most out of your free time

You indeed can have the best of both worlds but you also have to make sure you get in some time to yourself too… Before you became a mother, you were yourself without kids, so find time to get back to her from time to time and do the things she used to enjoy doing.

Takeaway

If you hadn’t noticed, the commonality between all seven tips is the challenge of juggling motherhood and entrepreneurship. Is the road going to get rough? Of course. But is it a reason to give up? Absolutely not. Motherhood isn’t something that should put your dreams of entrepreneurship on hold, it should push you to become the mompreneur you aim to be, not only for your children but for yourself as well!