You love your kids deeply and love being a mom. You’ve also got deep passions, desires, and talents that you want to pursue. Maybe you want to work from home part-time while the kids nap or start your own business. You might be intrigued by freelance writing, customer service roles, or working as a travel agent. Maybe you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant, social media manager or one of the other many types of remote jobs out there. Whatever your dream or desire may be, you can become a successful work-from-home mom. These 5 steps will help you balance your family responsibilities with whatever type of work from home jobs you decide to take on.
You can be the mom who volunteers in her kiddo’s classroom, keeps home life in balance and still finds time to pour into herself, her work, passion project, or side hustle.
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
My Work-From-Home Mom Journey
I haven’t always been a work-from-home mom. As with most things in life, it has been a journey. I went to college to become a sign-language interpreter. I loved that work and did it for over 15 years. Before that, I spent 8 years learning and perfecting my skill. I invested so much of my heart, soul, time and money into my career.
When I had my daughter, in a single-income household, it was my career that supported my baby and I. It helped me survive being a single mom and provide everything we wanted and needed. Now that I have a new husband and another child, I have the option to stay home and not work 40 hours a week in exchange for a paycheck.
Being able to spend time with my beautiful girls each day confirms for me that this what I want. I don’t want to be gone all the time. I want to be with my children.
At the same time, for many stay at home moms, giving up the career you worked hard for to “just be a mom” can also feel hard. Working from home gives me the best of both worlds—time to use my talents and time for my kids.
5 Steps to Become a Successful Work-From-Home Mom
Your journey of understanding that you are home for your children and your choice to work from home will look different from mine. That is OK. It is your journey and you can do this. I have 5 steps for you to implement that will help you to do what you love with those children that you love at home.
Step 1: Know Your Priorities
Before you can decide what you want your ideal situation to look like, you have to decide what matters most to you. What is most meaningful in your life? What is foundational to you becoming the woman that you were designed to be?
There have been so many times when my priorities were misaligned. When I was running an event design and floral design company, I was out of the house a lot. When I had free time at home, I had the backend operations: emails, social media and invoicing, to do every single week. My work life overlapped with my time with my kids. I needed more flexible hours so I could work when the kids didn’t need me.
Instead, there were people who were constantly depending on me. There were the clients that needed me to deliver the service I’d promised. They were also the paying customers providing the income that I was trying to create. At the same time, I was supposed to be there for my kids, who mean everything to me.
Work Around Your Family Life
When we are pulled in too many directions, we push off our kids. We say, “you can wait five more minutes”. Or, “here’s another episode of your favorite cartoon”. We convince ourselves that it’s fine. But is that really what you want to be doing?
I know so many moms who say, “no, it’s not…but I have to”. No, you don’t.
“If you know what your priorities are, you can wake up every day knowing exactly where you are headed and what you are working toward.”
I sat down and figured out what my priorities are. I determined what was lacking and what I needed to do more of to live with purpose, gratitude, and true meaning. Take the time to look at how you are operating your life right now and what you want it to look like instead.
Step 2: Take Care Of Yourself
Taking care of yourself is absolutely something that you’re going to have to prioritize to become a successful work-from-home mom. When we align our priorities and we start moving full blast toward what we want, it’s easy to forget about ourselves.
Take Care Of Yourself First
You need to operate with the understanding that taking care of yourself is a necessity. If you don’t take care of yourself, your business is going to crumble. You’re not going to be able to care for your children because you’re going to be a broken-down mess. There’s no possible way to be a gracious, loving wife if you are feeling burnt out and overworked.
It’s not possible to take care of everyone, all the responsibilities at home, and a job on top of that, without keeping yourself somewhere on that to-do list. You have to take care of yourself. Make sure you build in time for you each day.
A Sample Self-Care Plan For Work From Home Moms
What that looks like will be different for everyone. For me, it means I spend time in the morning going through my morning routine. I get up, do a Bible study, drink my hot tea, sit, and spend some time with myself.
Taking care of ourselves also means having good personal hygiene. Take the time to shower, get around in the morning and get dressed. It is a small gesture that will change the way you feel and how you go about your day.
Take the time to figure out what you are already doing to care for yourself and what is lacking. You can even use my free Fundamental Needs Workbook to figure out what you should be prioritizing in your schedule to take good care of yourself. If you struggle to find time for self-care, be sure to listen to: Self-Care: What Is It And How Do We Make It Happen.
Step 3: Create Systems
Quite possibly the hardest part of managing your own schedule is the strong organizational skills stay-at-home moms need to get it all done. You can manage all the things on your plate and the small business you feel called to start but you are going to need a plan. And while you’re at it, probably a good paper planner.
You need to have a plan every single day. It’s the mindless, aimless wandering around every day that ends up killing progress. We have thoughts and feelings about we want to be doing in the back of our minds but until we get it to put down on paper and turn it into a plan, nothing’s ever going to come of those ideas.
You don’t have to plan out the whole thing from start to finish. Just plan out this week, or even just today. Just start.
Planning Your Systems and Routines
If you have no idea where to start, do a brain dump. Get everything that’s swirling around in your brain, all those thoughts, and ideas and write them down. Once you have it all out of your head, prioritize what needs to get done first and start on the most urgent or most impactful tasks.
Then, look at your schedule and figure out when you are going to get those things done. If you can, set up a daily routine or flow for your day so that you know what you need to be doing at any given moment.
The daily routine that you put in place does not have to be perfect. It also does not have to be long-term. Your plan does not have to be so drawn out that you know exactly what you’re doing next month, next year, three years from now, etc. That’s not the point. Make a plan for this week and then adjust as you go.
Go to Episode 2: How To Use A Brain Dump To Increase Your Productivity for a more in-depth explanation of how a brain dump can help you organize your thoughts.
Step 4: Establish Boundaries
I know, this is a hard one. If you’re like me, you want to help everyone. One reason you can’t find time to take care of yourself and focus on the things you are passionate about is because you are running around doing everything for everyone else. You have to have to set boundaries with your husband, children, family members and people in your community. That is the only way you will have time for the work you feel called to do.
Having boundaries is not selfish, Mama. You are allowed to create lines in the sand where you say, “no, I’m not doing that for you this week”. Instead, look at your plan and your calendar and let them know when you can be there for them. Then you get down to business on the items in your plan to make your work from home mom dreams a reality.
Stop Wasting Time
You also need boundaries around the things that divide and distract you from your plan. This may be social media, Netflix, hanging out with friends, or texting friends all day long. We do so many things during our day and are pulled in so many directions that you’re going to have to intentionally put boundaries on your time.
To find time for all the work you want to do, some other things are going to have to come off your plate. For example, I no longer watch Netflix. I’m not just sitting at the end of the day, exhausted, scrolling mindlessly because the day has been long or hard.
I may watch a movie with my husband as part of a date night at home, but it is done with the intention to serve one of my fundamental needs: time and connection with the man I married. Decide what is meaningful and fulfilling to you and what actions are just wasting your time. Do less of the time-wasters and prioritize more meaning.
Know Your Limits
For many of us, there are people in our lives that draw upon us in unhealthy ways. Setting boundaries with those people need to be the first ones that you put into place. Sometimes that means placing boundaries with our children, spouses, best friends or our parents. Look at your relationships and put the boundaries you know that you need in place.
When people are not treating us with mutual respect and understanding, boundaries need to be set up and enforced. Without establishing boundaries, there is no way that you are going to be able to become a successful work-from-home mom. Without boundaries, you will get walked all over. You will give up the time set aside for your business to other people if you do not establish solid boundaries first.
Boundaries Will Help Make Your Dreams A Reality
Sit down and look at the things that you’re wanting to accomplish—whether that is remote work, opening an online store, or starting a small business. Draw boundaries between yourself and the people or things that are keeping you from achieving that goal.
When you start putting new boundaries in place, it’s super uncomfortable. It may feel like you’re doing something wrong. You feel like you’re being rude and mean. You may think, oh my gosh, if I tell my husband I can’t do the dishes today, he’s going to be mad at me. That’s just not the case. Having open lines of communication with the people in our lives helps them see your passions and support you.
They’re going to respect your boundaries once you put them in place and work through those fears and the guilt. Once you get over that hurdle, and teach them to respect your boundaries, it is smooth sailing from there. I promise, it gets so much easier. You just have to take the first step to put your boundaries in place.
Step 5: Strive For Progress, Not Perfection
When we are starting something new, we sometimes find ourselves paralyzed by the idea that we don’t know how to move forward because it’s not “perfect”.
On this journey of podcasting, creating a website for the podcast, writing blog posts and learning how to make money from my passions, there were times when it was tough for me to just start before I felt ready. I came to find that the greatest improvements come from me starting before it’s perfect.
I have to work through that because I can become consumed with wanting things to be ideal before we move forward. That mindset unfortunately keeps us from making progress. We all want to make progress and become successful work-from-home moms. Whether success means growing the business that we started, making more money in the MLM that we have invested in or any other work from home jobs. Whatever it is that you are doing from home, you want to be better at it.
Mistakes Help You Lean
You really have to be gracious with yourself and just keep moving forward. You’re going to make mistakes but you will also learn from them. Don’t let the fear of being knocked down derail you. As soon as put your creation or work out there, you’re going to eventually find the answers that you sat and tried to look for weeks and months on end. If you just get up and do the darn thing, you’re going to find your answer way quicker than if you would have stalled, trying to figure it out in your head. You just have to move through the actions. Put one foot in front of the other. That’s the only way to make true progress.
I wanted the podcast to be so ideal when I started it because that’s my nature. It’s been awesome. It’s been great, but I’m already finding that things are shifting. Things are changing. The women that I’m talking to and what I’m talking to them about, those things are flowing back and forward. It’s this fluid, gradual progression that we’re all going to experience. So please take this last tip to heart. Know that in order for you to make progress, you can’t wait until everything is perfect. You have to start taking action and learning as you go.
Support For Work-From-Home Moms
If you’d like even more help and support on your journey toward becoming a successful work-from-home mom, join my coaching program, Systemize To Scale. My team and I will be there to support you, and other busy moms, as you learn to balance all your mom jobs, remote work, and still show up for yourself. I will teach you all the systems I use to run my own home and business. The best jobs are the ones that let us show up for both our work and families as our best selves. Get the support you need to live the work-from-home mom life you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I adjust my schedule to help plan for myself?
I have so many resources for managing your schedule to make your goals a priority! The best place to start is my FREE Time Blocking Workbook. In the Time Blocking workbook, you can learn the basics of time blocking for work-from-home moms, build the right time blocks for your schedule, and practice your first try at time blocking on paper! Stay strong mama, we’re all rooting for you!
Which paper planner do you recommend?
I use the Dream Planner from Horacio Printing. (By using my affiliate link you can even get a discount on your order!) I love the Dream Planner’s beautiful design. It’s also full of lots of blank space so I can customize my planner however I need to as life shifts. Using this with my time blocking system has truly been a game changer for me.
