If you’re looking for tips on how to transition from working in an office to working from home with little ones (especially toddlers), then you’re in the right place.
Being a work at home mom seems like the ideal compromise for moms that love working but also really love being a mother and can’t bear the thought of your kids being in daycare all of the time being raised by someone else (I hear ya because this was me).
Working from home is the best of both worlds: you get to work and contribute financially, but you also get to spend so much time with your kids.
Plus, you’re in control of your own time again. No more having to worry about calling in sick or asking for time off just to run errands.
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But here’s the truth about being a work at home mom.
It’s mentally challenging, and the mindset transition from working the 9-5 job to working from home as my own boss is something I didn’t fully grasp until I did it myself.
Now, I’m not saying that it’s not awesome to be my own boss and see my son 20+ hours more a week than I did when I had a 9-5 job. It definitely is and I absolutely love what I do now.
But (and this is a big one), it was such a huge mindset shift for me in the beginning to where I almost gave up.
So much of what made me excited to work from home, a) wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and b) was the very thing that created the biggest struggle (like being with a toddler. All. day. long).
The mindset you have as a working mom at a 9-5 is very different than a work at home mom, and you have to figure out how to make that adjustment to be happy and successful.
I want to you to enjoy your transition to becoming a work at home mom, so to help make your it easier, I put together a list of things that I struggled with and had to overcome as I became a work at home mom.
My hope is that knowing about these potential mental hurdles ahead of time will allow you to be prepared with an action plan in place so you can be successful and keep moving toward your ideal life.
Work at Home Mom Tips / Insights
Here are the big things I had to work through so I could move forward as a work at home mom and run my online businesses successfully.
1. Constant interruptions from toddler and family become a staple.
If you have little ones at home, then you’ll quickly realize that you likely can’t get a lot of work done when they’re around. I had this vision that everyday, I’d be able to sit at my computer while my son played quietly beside of me with his little toys cars and I could just get my work done during this independent play period.
Wrong. So so wrong.
Your toddler has this special radar that goes off when mom’s attention is diverted elsewhere (aka your business).
Suddenly, he’s thirsty and wants you to look at his cars and race his cars with him, etc.
Furthermore, your family, friends and spouse seem to think that since you’re “at home all the time” you can just talk on the phone all day or run errands.
It takes a while to get people on the same page about your business being legit.
♦ Related article: 5 Tips for Convincing Others Your Online Business is a Real Job
Just remember that they’ll only respect it as much as you do, so you’re going to have to (nicely) remind me them that you’re actually working and not free to just chit chat all day.
If you struggle with constant little interruptions while you’re trying to work, then you’ll need to come up with ways to combat this before you start working from home.
Consider getting childcare for a few hours a day. Adjust your work tasks to either be done when you’re kid free or divide your tasks up by which ones can be done when your kids are there vs which tasks really require uninterrupted work time.
Really be honest with yourself about this one because It’s HUGE when it comes to your productivity.
♦Related Article: 5 Reasons to Eliminate WAHM Guilt for Using Daycare
2. Your going to have really weird work hours.
This is likely directly related to the first tip. Because you have little ones at home, you might have to get creative with when your work hours are (and you should definitely set defined hours to establish a routine). It might be that you need to wake up early and/or stay up late to work. Or maybe you have a day school option near you a few days a week, and that’s when you get the bulk of your work done.
You have to be willing to work when the time is best for you (aka no kids around. Let’s be honest.)
This can be a big mindset adjustment coming from your 9-5 where you were given 8 hours a day to do the tasks that you needed to do. You were literally allotted dedicated, uninterrupted (minus the many pointless meetings they throw in there) work time to get stuff done.
Now, you own a business but you’re also a mom at home with her kids. That means your mind is used to working during the middle of the day, but now your days might be filled with what used to be weekend tasks (going to the park, shopping, etc), so you have to adjust and adapt.
Before you even start working from home, figure out which schedule you think will work best for you and when you’re going to be working and when you’re going to be spending time with your family.
If you’re not prepared for it, it’ll all blend together and cause a lot of stress on your part where you’ll end up trying to work all the time and be mom all the time. They both have their place and you want to be all in when you’re doing each of them. Otherwise, you’ll get overwhelmed.
Check out the rest of my work at home mom tips in this Youtube video.
Final Thoughts
Working from home is exciting but it also comes with a lot of mindset challenges, especially as a mom.
To ensure you’re successful working from home, prepare yourself by setting up a plan to deal with each of these potential pitfalls.
For the full list, check out my Youtube video (Don’t have time to watch it now, Pin it for later).
Let me know if you already thought of these things and if so, what’s your game plan? Did I leave any out?
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