Growing a business and a family isn’t for the weak! Seriously – it’s tough stuff. Still, I wouldn’t change it for the world. One of my biggest goals with this blog is to give you guys a glimpse into my real life. I don’t want to sugarcoat anything because I want you to see both the good and bad. In other words, I want to be real!

One of the most common questions I get from people is, “What is it like to have three kids and be growing a business at the same time?” I love that question. Why? Because it’s so personal to me; it is my everyday life. It also helps others see that, if I can do it, so can you! So, if you’re one of the people wondering…Here you go!

What’s My Life Really Like?

It’s like complete and utter chaos most of the time. See? No sugarcoating from me!

Here’s a story to illustrate: One glorious day, I had a new prospect call for my Facebook ads agency business. I was in my office, prepared to do the call but I had forgotten to put the dogs in their crate. One of my dogs is a Beagle and she lives to be near us (and food, but whatever).

So, as soon as I started the call, she starts yapping every 20 seconds or so. It was making me sweat, so I decided I would go into the garage and take the call in my car – in peace (or so I thought).

Well, my 3-year-old, Sawyer, knows that if I’m “on a call,” he has to hang with his older brothers and be quiet. Just as I breathed a sigh of relief in my car, thinking, “Okay, I’ve got this,” the door to the house opens and here comes my 3-year-old. He heard me exit my office and just figured I was off the phone.

So, he’s outside my car door beckoning to get in with me. Not knowing what else to do, I open the door and he climbs in. He proceeds to continue to push the tailgate button on my Tahoe, which is repeatedly raising and lowering and banging into the closed garage door – I have no idea what it’s doing to my car but I just needed to get through the call. And then – because enough is never enough when you’re a mom business owner – Sawyer left the door open to the house, and here comes the Beagle.

Now she’s outside the car yapping. Again. So, I open the door and in she hops. And there we sat, on a sales call. Me, my toddler and a Beagle, in the car, parked in the garage, with the tailgate crashing into the garage door every few minutes. That pretty much sums up what much of what my entrepreneurial life looks like.

I did land the client, sooooo there’s that.

What Do I Do to Make It Through?

Let me just say that, no, not every day is like that. But there are always hiccups and some sort of obstacles I need to get through, just like most professionals do. It’s just that working mostly at home with kids and dogs adds a whole new level of crazy to the equation.

To make it a little easier, I basically work whenever I can. Or, to be more specific, I work when it makes the most sense. I have arranged to have uninterrupted blocks of time about three days each week and the rest of the time I’m working with my kids, at night and sometimes on the weekend to make sure everything gets done.

I know that doesn’t sound ideal to some people, but it’s what allows me to take my kids to school and pick them up every day. It’s what allows me to be excited (and not feel dread) when they have a snow day because there is no boss to call and I don’t have to feel like I’m letting people down. It’s what allows me to vacation all over the world with my family. And I love it.

Being both mom and entrepreneur means that I have to stay flexible, always. I have to block out some focus time, though, too, because if I don’t, I’ll have way more days of kid + dog + car + business phone call = stressful disaster than I’d care to have.

And I have to remember when I’m working at midnight, it’s because I had the day off to go to the park or on a field trip or to Target, which is beyond worth the tired eyes I’ll inevitably have in the morning.  

Business mamas: Tell me your stories of chaos! It feels good to know we aren’t alone, so share away. Also, what’s your biggest mom entrepreneur struggle? What’s your biggest mom entrepreneur win?

xoxo,