Will starting your own business help you achieve more life balance?

As American women, we’ve been told that we can have it all. Family, career, fashion, friends, fun – but in reality, when that first baby comes screaming into your arms, even the most dedicated career woman is stopped in her tracks, and wonders, how can I possibly manage all this!

Sure, you love your career – or at least you think you do. Right now you are so tired from rocking a colicky baby all night and trying to get your toddler to eat his Cheerios before rushing him off to preschool, that you can’t remember what you were so passionate about in the first place.

If you are reading this blog entry, I’m going to assume that you are highly skilled and talented in your industry and have the drive it takes to successfully start your own consulting practice in your field.

In all fairness, many parents with steady jobs consider the idea of branching out and starting their own business irresponsible, scary, and more stressful than their current work situation.  These same working parents admit to finding the structure and consistency of working for someone else easier than trying to branch out on their own. However for these working parents, their time will never be there own. And when you are not in control of your own time and work pace, that is when you can be most easily thrown off balance.

On the flip side, if you are used to a fast paced corporate lifestyle, you may be tempted to bring that same pace of work to your consulting practice. When you first start working for yourself, it is easy to over work. Now that you are in charge of your own pay checks, marketing, sales, business development, accounting and everything else that comes with business ownership, there is always more that can be done.  There will always be more business to be won, networking events to attend or marketing materials to update.

However, if your American Dream includes being able to spend more quality time with your family and to be able to set your own flexible schedule then starting your own consulting business may be the right choice for you.

Another good indicator that its time to leave the fast-paced corporate job is to take a good look at the people holding positions ahead of you. After all, if you keep up the pace of work, I assume your goal is to have a higher position with more pay. Are those people in those higher paid positions happy? Are those the shoes you really want to fill? Do they have the same American Dream you have?

Before I started my own business,  I worked for a high-end interactive agency in downtown San Diego. Fortunately, this was before I had children, as the work pace and expectations put on the employees were almost impossible to maintain at a long term level. I remember coming to office before 7am, eating lunch at my desk, and leaving well after 7pm only to see all of those who held positions above me putting in many more hours per day than that. I thought I wanted to be just like them–the corner office, the fancy title on my business card, the respect of the industry—until I realized the cost it took to have those positions. I looked up and realized that all of the people above me in the company were either divorced, never been married or never had children. Even at that time, I knew part of my American Dream included having and enjoying a family, and I knew I wouldn’t’ be able to have that if I continued up the career ladder at that particular company.

What does your upper-management look like? Is it family friendly? Do you have on-site daycare or flex days? As more women become CEOs, we have seen a shift to more family friendly work environments. However for the most part, trying to maintain the fast-paced corporate lifestyle you had before children is an impossibility – unless of course you truly are “superwoman”.

In my next few blog posts, I will be outlining tips and steps to starting your own consulting business. And how to set up a business that is both profitable and will work around your family schedule.  Stay tuned for my next post. And in the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts and comments. I’d love to hear from you!

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