This blog post’s a bit more of a personal one than usual. And written through bloodshot eyes after three hour’s sleep. But enough of that, I have some really, really good news…
I’m a daddy! Baby Barnes arrived on Saturday 26 September and is a beautiful little boy who we’ve decided to call Benjamin Nicholas. I did consider calling him ‘Xero Barnes’ but my much more clear-headed wife vetoed that one.
So we’re both immensely proud and relieved that Benjamin has come into the world safe and sound. And it started me thinking about how life-changing becoming a parent can be.
Being a parent really does turn everything in life upside down. And if you’re also trying to run a business at the same time, things can get complicated, stressful and unproductive for everyone involved.
So, this is a little blog about how to make things easier (at least I hope so… I’ll let you know if it works in a couple of months!)
Balance business and family
Balancing business time and family time can be tricky, especially if you’re a parent and have responsibilities outside of work.
I’m still on paternity leave at the moment, so I’ve not experienced this first-hand yet. But I know enough successful business people who are mums and dads to know the challenges.
Businesses and kids are very similar in many ways:
- They both require lots of care and attention
- They both take up a LOT of time
- They can both be a pain sometimes
- But, ultimately, you love them dearly
- And you’d do anything for them!
Be more flexible
The key to getting the business/family balance right is flexibility – flexibility in when you work, how you work and where you work. And as a cloud business owner myself, I’m already starting to see how working online has a whole host of benefits for busy parents.
The mobile access and flexibility of cloud software means you can manage your time more easily to fit around those competing responsibilities of business/family.
If you’re business systems are all in the cloud you can:
- Work early (if the kids wake you up at 5am)
- Work late (if the little darlings are finally in bed and you still have work to do).
- Work from a coffee shop while you wait outside ballet for your little princess/prince.
- Work anywhere (when you can find a few moments between parenting jobs).
- Managing time efficiently (and having more time at home)
Having this flexibility in when and where you work is a real godsend for parents. And if you use cloud project management tools, you get a great handle on the time you’re spending (and which projects are taking up more of your time).
You can measure the time you and the team spend on jobs and projects with software like WorkFlow Max or Affinity Live. And with this overview of the workload you can make sure everyone is doing their fair share and your customers are getting a great service still (even though you’re covered in baby’s apple puree and haven’t slept for two days).
Talk to us about being a cloud parent
So, I’m still at the very beginning of this big journey called parenting. I hope I’m going to be as good a dad as I am a business owner (thanks to our amazing clients for their support in that!). I hope I’ll be thoughtful, understanding, motivating, supportive and firm when I need to be…and will only using the ‘naughty step’ when really needed.
But if you’re already a mum or dad who’s struggling with the dual responsibilities of being a boss and a parent, why not check out how the cloud could make your life so much easier.
Talk to us about creating a cloud system that works – both for your agency and for your personal home life.
Now, where did I put that dummy…
