Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexelsby Surbhi Bhatia
Let’s face it, it’s difficult enough to be an entrepreneur, and for women it can be even more challenging. Self-doubt, societal pressures, anxiety can all make us a hot mess from time to time. And if you are a mom, or have more responsibilities, it can be a tough ride. Juggling between sending that important email to rushing to the daycare, to picking up grocery on the way and then attending that important meeting on a phone call as you struggle to stop your baby from jumping on your laptop, it can get really perplexing.
So how do you keep your sanity while ensuring that your focus on being an entrepreneur is unwavering and drive your business with persistent focus? Can we have the best of all the worlds?
The truth is it’s possible. With a little bit of advanced planning, with some smart moves, with some discipline and compartmentalizing your life, you can keep that entrepreneurial spirit and forge ahead.
Let’s make it simpler.
1. Make a Checklist
You would have heard or read this a thousand times, but the truth doesn’t change. It is your holy grail. If you get in the habit of making a checklist everyday before you set out to work, it will make you so much more productive as you get through each and every item in your to-do-list. You will be able to focus on important tasks and see them to completion. One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is that you are your own boss, and there is nobody to review your work. You need to discipline yourself to ensure you are working at your most optimal level. Once you start doing this, you can go a step further, and allocate time to each item and also a priority.
2. Discretionary Use of Social Media
Social Media today is both a boon and a bane. It is a double edged sword. As an entrepreneur, it is indispensable, but as an individual, it can be highly distracting. Make sure the time spent on social media is purely for the business. You can understand customer perspectives, you can look at how your competitive do ads, you can read helpful blogs, but don’t get sucked into your phone for random scrolling, reading irrelevant tabloid and doing online shopping.
3. Believe in Yourself
Women easily get the Imposter Syndrome, they feel they are not good enough, they doubt their ideas and actions, they doubt their leadership and their capabilities. Never doubt yourself. Whenever you get such a doubt, always use this test- ‘Think of one person who would do this job better than you’. Chances are you will never be able to think of anyone who can drive what you do with as much passion as you do. If you do think of a person who may, think of how differently they would do the job, and try to work on that.
4. There is a solution to every problem
Entrepreneurship is more about fielding challenges than anything else. Every single day, you will be faced with a new challenge- Sales, Supply chain, Sourcing, Employee Churn, Expenses etc etc. but remember, every problem has a solution. Do not get worked up or lose your cool, quickly find the solution or next best thing to do if your plan A doesn’t work
5. Compartmentalize your Life
A lot of women make the mistake of doing everything together since they are such great multitaskers. They will be on the phone closing a deal while changing the baby’s diaper. They will be out grocery shopping, while mailing the deck to an investor. Don’t get into this habit. Not only will this be highly exhausting, it will also prevent you from giving your full focus to anything you do. Instead compartmentalize- take time out for your work out, for your family, for your work and for your reading/pursuing an interest. The mind space that you get away from work, will eventually help you put in far more focus, energy and interest when you get back to work.
I started out my entrepreneurial journey with The Mom Store a year ago, and abiding by these choices has helped me scale my business faster without losing too much sleep. I hope these help you too!
Surbhi Bhatia is an MBA Grad and the Founder and CEO of The Mom Store (www.themomstore.in) a leading Indian mother and baby products start up that aims to celebrate the motherhood journey from pregnancy to early motherhood. It also provides a platform to young mothers to share their experiences through blogs.
Her start-up is inspired from her own motherhood journey driven by a need for products and information she felt was missing. It has been one hell of a ride since then with thousands of mommies resonating with The Mom Store!
In her past life, Surbhi was a management consultant with a leading Big4, and was shuttling across the globe consulting clients in the telecom, media and tech domain. She decided to settle down when motherhood came calling, before starting off on her entrepreneurial journey.
