Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP16 - 5 Ways Parents Can Balance Running a Business and the Summer Holidays

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EP16 - 5 Ways Parents Can Balance Running a Business and the Summer Holidays · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:04
  Hi there business owner. Do you want a better
• 0:06
  understanding of business finance, what your numbers
• 0:09
  actually mean and stories of the highs and lows of business where
• 0:12
  I'll be sharing my tips and tricks every week?
• 0:15
  Then you're in the right place. Welcome to the 3B's podcast,
• 0:18
  Miss Stephanie. Hello.
• 0:25
  Welcome back to another episode of the Three B's podcast.
• 0:28
  I'm Stephanie, your host, and this week I want to talk about
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  the summer holidays. Now, as of my own business, the
• 0:36
  summer holidays gives me that extra level of panic is probably
• 0:42
  the best word to describe it. Anxiety of there's just extra
• 0:47
  planning involved. There's extra time needed to be
• 0:52
  taken out of the business in order to have the children, and
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  I wrote an article for The Parenting Daily about my top
• 1:00
  tips on how I survived this summer as a mom, juggling
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  childcare, looking after the children and running a business.
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  So I thought I'd share them with you.
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  And I also have something really exciting to share with you,
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  which is coming up over the next six weeks over the summer
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  holiday, which links really nicely to this week's episode.
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  So stay tuned and I will share more at the end.
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  So as we all know the summer holidays are fast approaching.
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  In fact I think some have already broken up and they bring
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  joy and excitement to children across the UKI mean every child
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  looks forward to their summer holidays.
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  But for parents that run their own businesses it can be very
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  stressful trying to juggle both your business and work
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  commitments as well as spending time with the family and making
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  memories. We want to make it really
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  excitable and positive for the children.
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  We don't want them to be stuck in indoors the whole summer,
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  although weather dependent in the UK varies massively on what
• 2:00
  we get to do in the summer. But it's really important that
• 2:05
  you try not to get burnt out. I'm a mom of two and I will
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  probably say mom more than I say dad or parent or carer in this
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  podcast. But Please note when I say that
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  mom, I am referring to dad's step parents, carers, grandmas,
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  anyone who is balancing running a business and childcare duties
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  throughout the summer. This podcast is for you to to
• 2:27
  share my tips on how I get through the summer holidays or
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  in fact any school holidays. The summer holidays are a long
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  one, which is why I've chosen now to share the tips that I
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  used to make it work. I should also probably note that
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  both of my children have additional needs, which means
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  they need some extra support than other children of their
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  age. So I used to really dread school
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  holidays inset days, even the last couple of weeks of term,
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  because my children really struggle when they're out of
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  that structure and routine. But I'm going to share five
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  things with you that you can prevent that school holiday
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  burnout and actually enjoy it and have a great balance.
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  My first tip for managing the juggle of the summer holiday and
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  running a business is to plan ahead and set clear boundaries.
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  The key to a balanced summer break lies in planning, and I
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  always start by getting a calendar.
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  I have calendars all over offices, phones, home with white
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  balls at home as well. But I get the calendar or a
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  piece of paper if you don't have a calendar and write down all
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  the non negotiable family commitments.
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  So you'll have weddings, you'll have maybe a holiday that you've
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  booked and you're going away, but also non negotiable business
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  commitments. You may have work deadlines or
• 3:55
  client meetings. So for me, I'm an accountant and
• 3:58
  a bookkeeper, so payroll has to be done at a certain point in
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  the month. Same VAT returns.
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  They are deadlines that are non negotiable and I have to plan my
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  school holidays or summer holidays around that and take
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  those into consideration. And by doing that you can
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  effectively manage expectations on yourself, on your children
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  and with your clients. That just reduces the extra
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  level of stress and pressure, and you can communicate your
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  availability to your clients, your employees, your suppliers.
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  Just make sure everyone understands your work hours and
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  dedicate family time and differentiate them.
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  Separate them as best you can. Secondly, this tip was probably
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  the hardest one for me to take my own advice and actually
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  implement. But it did make a huge
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  difference to managing the summer holidays, and that's to
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  delegate and outsource. As a business owner, you don't
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  have to shoulder every single responsibility alone, and even
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  if you are a entrepreneur or a sole price, you're the only
• 5:02
  person that works in your business.
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  You're still not alone. And it's very easy to hold all
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  that responsibility when actually you could consider
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  delegating tasks and responsibilities to reliable
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  freelancers. So you could outsource your
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  marketing. You could outsource your
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  finances. You could outsource Ava could
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  answer the phone and and e-mail inbox management for the summer
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  for you. There's lots of different
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  elements to your business that could be delegated.
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  If you have employees, you can delegate things to employees.
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  If not, it is important to consider freelancers because it
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  will not only ease your workload, provide you with more
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  time to make memories with your children during the summer.
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  It's not easy to release control from your business.
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  As I said, that is the thing I found really difficult and it's
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  like having an extra child. My my business is my baby, it's
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  my third child. And by exploring outsourcing and
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  delegation options during the holidays, you'll gain confidence
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  in outsourcing or delegating more business functions long
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  term, which will free up more of your time when they're back at
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  school and ultimately make you more profitable and give you a
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  bigger business or better work life balance depending what your
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  goals are. By doing it just for the summer,
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  maybe even two or three weeks of the summer, four weeks of the
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  summer, all of the summer, you know, a limited time contract
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  just to start the ball rolling on delegation and outsourcing
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  could be really beneficial for you in the long term.
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  So although this is for the summer, this is something that
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  you could look at long term to give you a better work life
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  balance even when the children are back at school.
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  My third tip to managing the summer holidays and running a
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  business at the same time is to utilize technology and embrace
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  flexible work arrangements. Technology is a superpower and
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  the schedule button can save you a lot of time and stress during
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  working hours depending on the ages of your children,
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  especially if they're younger. I do a lot of my e-mail
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  responses in an evening, which is not ideal and I tell my
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  clients not to work in an evening.
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  But for me, if I want to spend the day with my children at the
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  beach, then I will work that evening for a couple of hours
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  and I will schedule my emails to go out the next morning during
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  my usual working hours when the children are not on holidays so
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  that they can. The clients or the people I'm
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  responding to will get the emails in a normal working time,
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  so they won't expect me to respond late at night.
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  But I can get the work done, plan ahead, get it scheduled,
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  and it's an absolute game changer for me.
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  Remote working is so much more possible now, so depending on
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  what business you run, it's easier than ever to stay
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  connected with your business while enjoying quarter time with
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  your children. Now, I don't want you to blur
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  the lines unless you really have to.
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  I know it's not easy and some businesses you will not be able
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  to work remotely. Some businesses will not be able
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  to work from home. But you can embrace video
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  conferencing, cloud storage, and project management tools to
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  manage your work remotely during not only the school holidays,
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  but long term flexible work arrangements.
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  Adjusting your working hours to maximize your availability for
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  family activities could really improve the experience that you
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  and your children experience over the summer.
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  I use a software called Click Up which is a fantastic management
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  tool. I use that for all my workflows,
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  my diary management, my automation.
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  Emails that go out to my clients have deadlines.
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  It is a fantastic piece of software and it has lots of
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  integrations as well, which is great.
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  So I will put the link to that in the show notes of this
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  podcast. If you have any questions, do
• 9:00
  just drop me an e-mail. It's info INFO at abcsuk.co.uk
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  and I can. I can help you get set up or I
• 9:10
  can help you further if you want to anymore.
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  I click up. I am a verified click expert, so
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  it's something I really, really enjoy and I've learned all the
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  ins and outs of. So yeah, and embrace technology
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  and flexible working hours and arrangements to help you this
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  summer. And I think Tip 4 is the one
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  that most parents need to hear, and that is to plan engaging
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  activities for your children. Now there's two sides to this To
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  make the most of your summer holidays, you need to plan
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  exciting and engaging activities in advance for your children to
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  ease the stress of your of your balance in your time.
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  If you can, research local attractions, summer camps, or
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  workshops tailored to their interests.
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  So my daughter loves performing arts and dancing, so she does.
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  She's got a Matilda, the musical workshop this summer, and
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  there's a Little Mermaid one on as well.
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  She's done quite a few of those. She did in Canto last summer.
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  She really loves them and it's a day away from me.
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  As much as they're at home and they want to spend time with us
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  and we want to spend time with them, they probably don't want
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  to spend every single day for six weeks with us.
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  They probably want to break from us too.
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  If nothing else, it gives them something to discuss with you at
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  the dinner table of what they've done that day.
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  So I do think it's important if if there's something that they
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  really enjoy, then there is something available.
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  It is maybe asking them if they want to do it, if they're old
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  enough, or booking them into ones you know they will enjoy.
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  But it's something that you should do long before the summer
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  starts. So start looking now as to
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  what's available. There was a cooking workshop
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  that I tried to put my daughter on and it was already full of
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  books and I did all my organization at the end of June
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  ready for the summer holidays. So it's very easy to.
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  They get booked up very quickly so it's good to get them done
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  before the summer starts. It could just be a day, a week,
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  it could be the whole holiday. And also, if you do need to put
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  your childcare children into childcare in the summer, please
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  do not feel guilty, do not feel mum guilt, do not feel parent
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  guilt, whether that's childcare with family members, whether
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  it's actual full time childcare or just the old day of the
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  summer camp. Like do not feel guilty.
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  You have to do what's right for you.
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  In my experience, the days my children attend summer camp,
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  they have the best time. They get to have water fights on
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  the field which would not be happening in my house.
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  They get to play with foam and slime again, not happening in my
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  house. So they have lots of new
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  information stories they're bursting to share.
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  They have the best time and lots of experiences.
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  They meet new people, so it's great for their social skills.
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  I really advocate for putting them in some sort of childcare
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  or you know, trips that are on that they can go on.
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  I think it's really great to build them as people as well and
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  while they're at these things, it can give you uninterrupted
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  468 hours of work so that you can be there and be present with
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  them when they're not in childcare.
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  So it's definitely one to look out for.
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  And my 5th and final tip for managing running a business as a
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  parent or carer is to prioritize self-care and quality time with
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  yourself. The words the word self-care is
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  everywhere these days and with the demands of running a
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  business and caring for your children, it's easy to put
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  self-care to the bottom of the pile.
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  I am the first person that throws self-care out the window
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  when I'm busy. Take regular breaks from work.
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  If you do get those eight hours. If you put them into child care
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  as per you know, tip 4, don't work the 8 hours straight.
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  There has been so many times, especially my first year of
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  owning a business where I would work 9:30 till 2:30 and I
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  wouldn't stop. I wouldn't take a break, I
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  wouldn't eat. It's not good.
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  It made, it actually made me hit burnout and I was quite poorly
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  with it. So do not advise in the
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  slightest. Do take regular breaks, engage
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  in activities that fill you with joy.
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  If you like going to get your nails done, then go and get your
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  nails done. If you enjoy knitting or sewing
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  in your free time, then in the evening, once the children have
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  gone to bed, instead of sitting in front of the TV and watching
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  whatever on Netflix or whatever, then knit something, create
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  something, paint something, do something That brings you joy
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  and schedule dedicated alone time as well.
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  It's essential for your own mental health and you often see
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  on social media if you're a parent of the trying to go to
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  the bathroom alone when you have young children, probably earlier
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  than school age. But very young children seem to
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  know the second you are trying to take a break and they
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  suddenly need you all day. Empty the pseudo creme pot all
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  over themselves Or it just always happens.
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  So please schedule some time for you, whether it's a walk,
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  whether it's going to the gym, whether it's sitting on your own
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  and eating an ice cream, whatever it may be.
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  Prioritize your own well-being, because then you'll be better
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  equipped to handle the juggle between work and family life.
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  During the summer holidays, you'll be less likely to get
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  frustrated. You'll have a slightly better
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  temper. I find when I'm burnt out and
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  I'm tired and I'm very stressed with work, I can get more
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  frustrated with my children. Much easier and much quicker
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  than I would if I'd had decent sleep, decent rest and wasn't
• 15:01
  feeling so overwhelmed or busy. So I think that's they say you
• 15:06
  can't pull from empty cup and it's so true.
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  But sometimes it's very hard to find time to fill the coat back
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  up. So please do make time for
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  yourself this summer. If you take anything from this
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  podcast, please do that. I think it's really important.
• 15:26
  And that brings us to the end of another week of the Three B's
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  podcast with Stephanie. Thank you so much for listening.
• 15:33
  I'd really appreciate it if you could like, subscribe, rate and
• 15:36
  reviews, podcast wherever you are listening to it so that I
• 15:39
  can reach more business owners and help them build better
• 15:42
  businesses. See you next week for the next
• 15:44
  episode. I'm over 15 minutes already so
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  I'm not going to keep you any longer.
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  Firstly, thank you so much for listening.
• 15:57
  I really hope that helps you manage the juggle of the summer.
• 16:00
  If you have any tips that I've missed out, please do let me
• 16:04
  know. I'll add them to the show notes
• 16:08
  or add them for future reference because they're we all.
• 16:12
  It's a trial and error process and it's you have to embrace
• 16:16
  flexibility and remain adaptable because what works this summer
• 16:21
  may not work next summer. As the children get older then
• 16:24
  their needs and priorities change.
• 16:27
  It just remain adaptable. But I can't leave you this week
• 16:30
  without sharing what's coming up because I'm so excited.
• 16:34
  Starting next week we're going to be having some guests on the
• 16:38
  podcast. I'm so excited.
• 16:41
  I have some fantastic business owners who are coming to discuss
• 16:46
  their business. They're going to share their
• 16:47
  businesses with you, tell you all about them and how they go
• 16:49
  into business and answer my 5, four or five question interview
• 16:54
  so you can learn on about other people's businesses as well.
• 16:58
  So part of my summer strategy is to get the podcast recorded in
• 17:04
  advance and by doing having guests on, we can get them done
• 17:07
  and get them scheduled to go out to you over the summer.
• 17:10
  So you get your weekly fix of the Three B's podcast, which I'm
• 17:14
  so grateful that you listen in. And I like to keep them short
• 17:18
  and sweet so they're going to be 15 minutes or less again.
• 17:20
  They're not going to be very long.
• 17:21
  This one is an exception to the rule, but I'm hoping you'll get
• 17:26
  lots from them and I can schedule them ahead of time.
• 17:28
  Which means on Thursdays at 6:00 AM, I am not posting podcasts.
• 17:34
  They'll all be done and scheduled so I'll be able to
• 17:36
  spend time with my children, connect with me on social media.
• 17:40
  I'd love to hear from you all. I'm on threads now too.
• 17:44
  I'm actually really loving threads, so please do pop over
• 17:46
  onto threads@abcs.uk. I'm also on Instagram, Facebook,
• 17:51
  Twitter, although I don't use Twitter as much now we have
• 17:54
  threads, LinkedIn, Stephanie Marshall, come and see me.
• 17:58
  Come and connect with me. Let's have the best summer.