Balancing small business with having a baby: Part 3

newborn

It is challenging to manage the demands of having a baby with running a small business. This is the final article in a series of two articles Part 1 focused on working creatively and Part 2 on optimising your productivity addressing practical ways to balance early motherhood with business.  

Key #3: Plan for a slower pace 

If you are still producing goods or services in your business after having a baby, plan for everything to take longer. You just never know when you will have a bad night, a bad week, when baby will get sick, you’ll get sick, COVID hits… There’s so much that can happen in early motherhood that you can’t battle through like you used to. Plan for the unforeseen by creating cushioning for yourself in your production or waitlist time-frames.

For example, if you used to ship products within two days, extend this period. If you used to hand-produce a product within three to five days, extend this production period. If you’re offering a consulting service, rather than seeing someone within a week of contact, see them om two to three weeks. Communicate all of this information on your website, social media, emails, and other resources, so that everybody is aware up front and you’re not fielding unnecessary enquiries. Remind yourself that it is far better to exceed expectations and deliver early than to disappoint customers and delay what they are waiting for when the unexpected hits. 

Suppose your business is structured so that you have staff supplying the goods and services. In this case, you can also manage internal (staff) expectations of your availability to avoid unrealistic expectations or demands. For example, creating an email auto-responder indicating that you will reply to emails at set periods only; for anything urgent, to call you directly, is a simple step to manage staff expectations. 

Key #4: Increase your prices

If after having your baby, you are still supplying labour for goods or services, it will be far less than previously, making demand greater than supply. 

Or, if you have staff producing goods and services for you, your operating costs will have increased as your labour in the business will be less. Both of these scenarios create a rationale to raise your prices.

Women in business often struggle with pricing; however, you have a family to provide for and the financial pressures that come with this. Remind yourself that a few dollars’ increase is not a reason for backlash; this is the price of coffee that people happily purchase every day. These small increases can make a big difference to your business sustainability over time. 

Summary 

These articles have covered several keys that can help you survive both small business and early motherhood, as follows: (1) Work creatively and flexibly; (2) Delegate and outsource; (3) Plan for a slower pace; and (4) Increase your prices. And, remember to take care of yourself in amongst all of this; you are the lynchpin holding it all together, and so need to be in good shape.