The Short Commute

Jul 232013
 

Balancing business and family can be fun

For the past several years I’ve had the opportunity to work with lots of women in direct sales and I love it.  As part of a four-generation direct-selling family, the challenges in this type of work make sense to me.  And it doesn’t hurt that I admire people who achieve success in what can be a very difficult type of work.

Many people choose to work from home so they can earn money while creating a better work-life balance.  I’ve noticed  they sometimes struggle with creating the right boundaries: How do you figure out what’s flexible enough for “home” but professional enough for business?

Too many people apologize for their home-based business, talking to others in a way that lacks confidence.    Did you know that home-based business contribute more than $500 billion a year to the US economy?  Why anyone apologize for being part of that?  And, you started a business for reasons that were important to you, right?  To set your own schedule, to make more money, to have more freedom?  But when things don’t ‘work’ as quickly as we’d like solo-preneurs sometimes abandon about those reasons.

And when being near the kids is a high priority, setting limits about office hours can really push that “guilty parent button.”

As you can see from the picture (my friend Lisa Wilber and her daughter) growing up in a family business can be a great way for kids to learn about  confidence, creativity, keeping  positive attitude and problem-solving. Direct sellers who take what they do seriously enough to get the support they need — and run the business like a business — pass along those lessons every single day.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
 Older Entries