Let me tell you something… when you have a full house, getting any sort of privacy is just not going to happen, and I have come to accept it.
While I was married to my ex husband for 9 years, we had 7 children together. When we first started dating, our kids were between one and nine years old.
Go ahead… picture the state of my poor house at this point with 7 children that age. On top of that, when you have a home based business in a 3 bedroom home… good luck finding a quiet space! Let me paint a picture for you. 🎨
When my kids were really little, I did not have a fancy laptop. We set up my office in the unfinished basement. Man that was cold on my feet! 🥶.
But I could only work when the kids were asleep since they were so busy when they were awake and therefore could not be unsupervised. Obviously lol.
I needed to figure out a way to work while they were awake too if I was going to build my home based business.
I decided that I needed to bring my computer upstairs somehow. I finally got a laptop and… you guessed it… I put the laptop on my lap.
So although I could now work on the couch when the kids were playing, this was not conducive to productive work!
Next I splurged and bought a desk and put it in our family room as seen in this picture.
Now I was in the middle of the action / chaos and could supervise the kids (somewhat) while answering emails, but again there were constant interruptions and chaos at all times. It was super loud all the time, and things went missing off my desk constantly with all of
So what do I recommend?
Get a laptop you can take with you, get a desk, and most importantly – get a room with a door that closes shut!
You need some quiet time. You need to escape the chaos. You need some breaks from the children and I wish I asked for more help while I was growing my business at a rapid pace.
For my ADHD brain, it was nearly impossible for me to concentrate when there was noise. I need quiet in order to process things or else I get distracted. I try to process everyone’s conversations at once while reading an email while taking a bite of my sandwich and listening to the tv show in the background, and I get nowhere fast.
Are you like this too? Do you need quiet or are you one of the lucky ones that can block out noise?
I realized that I do my best work when the kids were asleep, or early in the morning before they were awake.
As I mentioned, now I am in the basement with a door which blocks out most of the noise. The kids are older and I can work a solid hour without an interruption anymore.
But it was not always so bittersweet – trust me!
I certainly remember those days and can relate to what young moms are going through right now.
My only advice is to schedule some time for someone to watch the kids for you. Work early in the morning, after they go to bed, or during naps.
And do your best to be present with them when they are awake. If you are like me and are very career focused and are very driven, it is hard to pause and be in the moment because your mind is constantly going. It is always thinking about the next big idea you want to implement for your business.
On a side note… isn’t that why most of us work from home when the kids are little? To have a career AND spend time with them at the same time?
Make it happen – having that work life balance seems impossible when they are young, but trust me mommas – it does get better.
Oh and one more thing… don’t feel guilty for throwing on a movie or allowing them some extra gaming time – momma needs to pay the bills and momma needs her sanity!
As long as you do your best, that is all you can do.
Go get a lock for that door while you are at it.
