As an entrepreneur everyone wants to espouse the importance of balance. But is achieving balance even obtainable?
From claims to a 4 hour work week to “I make 6 figures and only work 20 years a week,” there is a lot in the industry sold as achievable and possible, but we want to challenge that idea.
Can you work only 20 hours and make 6 figures – maybe? On year 7 or with a team of people working for you….but right out of the gate – yeah – probably not.
Setting realistic expectations about your business and your priorities is essential about how you feel balanced in you life and your business. In this episode we dive into those ideas.
As two working moms, we really feel the pinch of feeling unbalanced as working moms, mompreneurs, and females in this space.
[BRACING OURSELVES FOR THE HATE MAIL]
A majority of the family responsibilities of housework, parenting, childcare, etc. often fall disproportionately on the shoulders of women.
In fact one of the reasons many women enter in the entrepreneurial space is to have more freedom and flexibility to take care of their children. But that often becomes a double edge sword.
Now that our schedules are more flexible, we are even more predisposed to have to take kids to appointments, take off when kids are sick, or take the calls needed for kids from school, etc because our spouses are working a more traditional 9 to 5.
The flexibility ends up biting some of us in the ass.
That’s why when we hear things like “work just a few hours a week and make 6 figures” and “let’s work a 4 hour workweek” really chap our ass. It’s the snake oil that lures a lot of women into the online business space, but when the rubber meets the road you start to feel more off balance than ever as the roles and responsibilities of motherhood and wife do not let up as you take on the role of entrepreneur.
It sets up unrealistic expectations about what it means to be an entrepreneur. The fact is that most entrepreneurs are not instantly profitable in their first year of business. It takes a lot of hustle in the early days to get a business off the ground. Likely, you will work at least 40 hours to get your business off the ground, and will do so for little or no money.
So for many of us, you have to decide: What is your priority in this minute? Is it your family? Is it your business and career? If it’s the former (family) then you will have to accept that it will take longer for your business and career to take off. If it’s the latter (and by the way there is NO wrong answer to which you prioritize) then you will have to accept that you will have less time with your family while you nurture your career/business.
Whichever is the priority, part of balance in your life is accepting that things will never be perfectly balanced. It is about holding up the thing you prioritize a little higher without completely dropping the scale on the other side. It’s by no means 50/50. It is; however, life as us entrepreneurs know it.
Continue the conversation in our Rebel on the Go Facebook Group. If you are interesting in working with Wendy & Krystal to help figure out how to pace in your business reach out at hello@serendipitousrebel.com
