Episode 234: 3 Tips For Prioritizing Your Kids While Providing a Stable Income for Your Family as a Work at Home Mom

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Mama, I know that if you’re here listening to this podcast, you’re looking to become a virtual assistant and you also wanna find that balance between work and family. So in this episode, we’re gonna explore three tips to help you prioritize your kids while still working to provide a stable income for your family. So let’s go ahead and dive on in.

[00:00:21] Tip number one is to define your boundaries and set realistic expectations. As you embark on your own journey as a virtual assistant, it’s crucial to establish clear boundaries and set realistic expectations for both your clients and yourself. I know you understand that being a present mom is your top priority, and you want your business to support that. So the first thing you need to do is clearly define your working hours and communicate them to your clients. Let them know the specific times when you’re available to work and when you’re gonna be focused on your children. Setting these boundaries will help manage client expectations and ensure that you have dedicated time for your family.

[00:01:04] Second is to establish guidelines for your clients in terms of response times. Let them know when they can expect to hear back from you and how you’ll handle urgent situations. Communicating these expectations upfront will help avoid misunderstandings and prevent the feelings of being constantly on call and like you can’t give all of your focus to your kiddos. Tip number two is to automate and delegate. As a virtual assistant, you have the opportunity to automate and delegate tasks. This is gonna free up more time for you to spend with your family. So you wanna look for ways to streamline your business processes, such as scheduling tools, project management software, automating social media posts. These tools are gonna help you work efficiently and save precious, precious time. We have tons of episodes about streamlining your workflows, which you can totally go search in our podcast catalog at virtualassistantmama.com/catalog. That will take you to a spreadsheet. You can literally click Ctrl F, type in a term you’re looking for like time management, and it will show you all the episodes based on that. Okay, so check that out at virtualassistantmama.com/catalog.

[00:02:21] You can also think about delegating tasks in your household as well, doesn’t just have to be your business. If you need a little bit more time to focus on your business, so you can be present with your kiddos later, maybe you can have your spouse cook dinner two nights a week and make that a plan moving forward. Maybe you could. Take one day a month to have your spouse and your kids help you batch make meals that way on the weeks where you need to like be a little more focused on work, that meal’s already there and ready, that your spouse can just pop it in the oven and it’s good to go. That will save you time in the long run, and you’ll be more able to focus on your business when you need to and then step away and focus on the kiddos. In that time you wanna spend with them.

[00:03:13] All right. Tip number three is to create systems and routines. So creating systems and routines is gonna be your secret weapon and balancing your roles as a mom and a virtual assistant. Implementing effective systems is gonna help you stay organized, manage your time better, and reduce your stress. So you wanna start by setting up a schedule that includes dedicated time for your children, for your work, and your own personal time, your self-care, all of that. So you wanna create a routine that aligns with your family’s needs and allows you to be present for your kids during those important moments. For example, you could establish a morning routine that involves quality time with your children, followed by focused work sessions during their nap time or when they’re engaged in independent activities. You can also establish efficient workflows for your business tasks. You can develop templates for common client requests, standardize your processes, create checklists to ensure you’re consistently delivering the quality of work you really want to. These systems are gonna enable you to work more effectively and create a smoother balance between your business and your family. I talked about this really in depth in last Thursday’s episode, episode 233, so make sure you go check that out.

[00:04:30] So real quick, let me just recap these three tips for you. Tip number one is to define your boundaries and set realistic expectations with your clients. Tip number two is to automate and delegate whatever tasks you can both in your business and in your life. And then tip number three is to create systems and routines to help everything just flow smoothly and to get all of the 10 million tasks out of your head and into a solid routine that you don’t even have to think about.

[00:04:58] So I hope these tips help you on your journey to prioritizing your kids while still building a successful virtual assistant business. I also want to invite you that if you are still working on that virtual assistant business, or you’re still trying to even figure out if this is for you, come and join our free workshop, Thursday, September 28th at 6:00 PM where I’m gonna be covering the five Ps of becoming a profitable and successful virtual assistant. You’re gonna learn everything you need from where to find clients, how to set your rates, how to create your packages, the three top mistakes new virtual assistants make, literally all the things. So you can come and register for that at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop or find the link in the show notes. All right. Remember y’all with clear boundaries, automation, delegation, and well-designed systems, you can absolutely create the life you desire that allows you to focus on your business, that you really wanna grow it to the point that’ll allow you to quit your nine to five while still being the present mom you’ve always wanted to be. You’ve got this. I know you can do it. And I’ve got your back.