Real Life Real Faith Women Walking By Faith May/June 2016 | Page 6
Minding My Business
Toni Coleman Brown
"My Children Are
My Business"
Show me a mom who is running a business and I can
tell you without a shadow of a doubt that her children
are her biggest motivator.
There is just no way to separate family from business
when you’re a working mom. So the best thing to do
is to roll with it. Don’t try to find balance because it
doesn’t exist. Just try to find time to be present in the
lives of your children. So with this article I will give
you some of my favorite tips for building a business
while raising children.
1. Incorporate your children in your work. The best
way to do this is by letting your children help out from
time to time. Take them to your events and teach
them how to deal with people and handle customers.
These are skills that they will never learn in a
classroom.
2. Turn off the cell phone when you’re with your kids.
Make certain times of the day, no cell phone time
zones. Force your kids to be fully present with you
and force yourself to be fully present and engaged
with them.
3. Set a business goal that involves your family…like a
family trip. Let your family know that if you make your
sales target that you will be able to afford to take them
someplace that they’ve always wanted to go. By
doing this, you will find that your kids/family will
encourage you to work hard versus blaming you for
working hard.
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4. Schedule a Play Date with your kids. There
are so many activities that you can do with your
kids like rock climbing, zip lining, skating, and
bowling. Oftentimes you will schedule play
dates with other children and your kids, but not
with you and your kids. Stop denying yourself
some fun and start scheduling some fun
activities with your children.
Time goes by so fast, before you know it your
kids will be grown. Maybe they will run a
business of their own, or maybe they will take
over the family business. Either way the day will
come when you will wonder where did all the
time go. Just make sure that during some of
those days you were spending them making
memories with your kids. Because all the
business success in the world doesn’t
compensate for the successful growth and
development of your child.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mom’s out
there who are handling their business.
Toni Coleman Brown is Founder of the Network
for Women in Business and Creator of the Small
Business Boot Camp for Women. She is an
author, business consultant, speaker and social
media strategist and can be reached at
www.networkforwomeninbusiness.com or
[email protected]
www.realliferealfaithmagazine.com