Hope summer is going well for you! Being back from maternity leave is going great, but I couldn't help to add another guest post from the lovely Megan Flatt who is going to discuss running your business like a mama! Right up my alley 😉

If there is one thing I have learned from working with Amber McCue, it is the importance of a CEO mindset for even the smallest of business owners.  Even in the sometimes-wild-west space of the online world, treating your business like it is on the Fortune 500 is the way to growth.

That is sometimes hard to do when you share your co-work space with people who still throw food and business meetings get interrupted so the CEO can wipe someone else’s bottom (true story.)

But, does that mean mom-run business should be or act any less than our boardroom counterparts?

No, it is still all about mindset.

The Mama CEO Mindset.

Here are my steps to help you get there.

Have a Plan, And Be Flexible

If you spend longer than about 3 minutes with me, you will know I love a plan.  For me, a plan is essential when you are trying to raise a family and grow a business at the same time. (Really, I think it is essential for either of those separately, but together…an absolute necessity.)

Many people say their life or business is not conducive to a plan.  As soon as they plan to get something done, their child wakes up from a nap or that their business relies on waves of creative inspiration and that can’t be scheduled.

But, I’d like to argue that having plan actually allows you more flexibility.

When you don’t have a solid plan, your to-do list becomes daunting.  While trying to figure out where to start, social media browsing and laundry eat up your kid-free work time.

How many times have you sat down to a 2 hour block of work time (like a baby’s nap or an afterschool soccer practice) and thought, I’ll get these 14 things off my to do list done. Then, when the time is over, you have maybe completed 1 or 2 things and you feel disappointed, and guilty for not working harder or not being more productive.

The truth is you didn’t have a realistic plan to start.

You need to know exactly what you need to do, how long that task will take and how much time you have available.

If you break down your list into the smaller, individual components of a task, then decide how long each task will take and then compare that to what you have available, you’re much more likely to accomplish what you set out to accomplish.

If you know you have four 30-minute projects to work on during that two hour window, if the baby does wake up sooner, you can just shift that last 30 minute task into the next 30 minutes of available time.  You still have a clear picture of what needs to get done.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Mommy Guilt. This is a tough one for working moms of all kinds.  Working moms often feel like they are always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When they are working, they feel like they should be spending more time with their kids (or their kids are spending too much time on the ipad while mom finishes a blog post.)  But then when they are with their kids, they can’t stop thinking about what is not getting done in the business.

This is where my first tip comes back into play.  I have found that the more I can schedule my work time (and what I need to do in that work time) the less mommy guilt that crops up.

If I know I have 3 projects that need to get done and they will add up to 3 hours of time needed.  I can structure my day to focus hard on those tasks (must.stay.off.facebook.)  Then when I am done, I can put work away and focus on family.

I also find I have less mommy guilt when I can explain the plan to my kids.  This morning, when I left the house to finish up a few work projects before we leave on a family camping trip, my son was upset I was missing morning cartoon time with him.  But I reminded him (and me) that once I finished my work, we would have the next 3 days to hang out, ride bikes, roast marshmallows and snuggle. And although my son might have been a little disappointed this morning, I also feel confident that he will appreciate having my focus later today while we run around the creek and campground, more than sitting with him during morning cartoons.

Although my kids are the world to me, my work is very important to my personal fulfillment as well. By having a plan in place, I feel like I have time to focus on both.

Get Support

The very nature of entrepreneurship, or even more so – the newer term solopreneur- makes us feel like we have to do this crazy life completely by ourselves.  Especially if we are just starting out and bootstrapping our business, we take on the roll of the CEO, CFO, web designer, the content strategist, customer service rep, the administrative assistant, the janitor and usually the daycare employee as well.

I am the queen of DIY, I love getting my hands dirty and knowing the behind-the-scenes how to do every aspect of my business.  But I will tell you first hand, your business will grow when you stop doing it all yourself. This is the CEO Mindset.

Start by outsourcing the tasks that you hate the most (hello, bookkeeping!) or the ones that are the easiest to take off your plate.  Often with places like odesk, or elance, you can find someone to handle some of those little tasks you would spend precious hours doing yourself.

But when I talk about getting support, I am actually talking more about support for YOU, the Mama CEO.   You need a circle of people that totally ‘get’ you and what you are doing.

If you spend all your day behind computer or if you are the only entrepreneur in your circle of friends, finding other business owners to connect with is key to your growth, not to mention your sanity.  Find a Facebook community (you can join my Mama CEO Club facebook group here), join a mastermind group (like Amber’s amazing Fresh Forward/Implemented), or hire a coach that specializes in entrepreneurs.

Having a support network of Mama CEOs will help you truly step into the mindset.

The Mama CEO Mindset is all about remembering that our kids can be our greatest accomplishment, but they don’t have to be our only one.  You have amazing things to offer this world, your family and yourself.  And your kids are watching.

Now excuse me while I go wipe a bottom.

Megan Flatt is a business consultant and time management strategist for busy moms who are ready to build their own dream business while being actively present in the day-to-day lives of their kids and families. She has devoted most of her life to the pursuit of the perfect to-do list and the perfect vanilla latte.  You can learn more about her and her services at meganflatt.com