More than 90 work-life balance tips from mom entrepreneurs

Are you like most mom entrepreneurs who try to do it all? I started my first full-time business (an eco-friendly t-shirt company called Tees for Change), a month before giving birth to my first baby, so I had to quickly learn how to balance it all. At first, I was only working when my son was napping, which was great when he slept most of the time! But as he got older and his nap time decreased (and then soon disappeared), I found myself scrambling to get work done.

I started reaching out to other mom entrepreneurs asking them to share their work-life balance tips with me and what I discovered was fascinating – there is no ONE WAY (that works for everyone) to balance it all and some mom entrepreneurs don't even believe that there is such a thing as work-life balance (and I tend to agree!). Sometimes we have to work more and sometimes we have to spend more time with our families – it's a give and take, but there are some things you can do to make it all a bit more manageable.

Here are some tips from mom entrepreneurs and I'd love to hear your tips as well. Read through the tips below and then leave a comment with YOUR tip for work-life balance.

More than 90 work-life balance tips from mom entrepreneurs

Work out a flexible schedule – I negotiated to have off Fridays so that I can have a free day home to work on the business and spend time with kids. Build a support team – my team includes a childcare provider who is flexible and my husband who watches the kids during the evenings while I am meeting at my clients or attending networking meetings for new clients. – Bethany Goldszer, Stand Out College Prep

The ONE tip I can passionately share with others about balancing motherhood while running your business is this: Understand and accept that Somethings gotta give. Sometimes the housework has to give. Sometimes the business has to give. Sometimes my marriage has to give. Sometimes the kids needs have to give. The only true goal to a balanced life should be to make sure that everything doesn't give at once. – Renee Wood, President, The Comfort Company

When possible, I include my children in business preparations by asking their opinions on ideas, materials, graphics, etc. This way, my children are excited right along with me as my business grows. – Sheri Gazitt, Teen Wise Seattle

Balance for me comes from hiring flexible people that I can trust to work hard even in my absence when I have to stay at home for a day to take care of a sick kid or something. And that flexibility extends to them as well. – Miri Offir, Milestone SEO

Close down the computer when your kids are around. This is VERY hard since women are multi-taskers, but children notice. When the computer is open, there is something else pulling your attention. – Tammy Dwyer, The Giving Tree Daycare + Preschool

Get Your Oxygen and then you can take care of everyone else around you including your business. Just like on the plane….when there is turbulence and the masks descend….you don’t take care of everybody else first….you also put the mask on yourself…get your oxygen and then take care of everyone else around you. the ONLY way to balance a healthy business and a happy home is to take care of yourself first so you have the energy to care for all the needs of clients and kids. – Tracy Fox, Having a Heart for God

I try and work from home a few days a week so that I can drive my daughter to school or play with my younger ones periodically throughout the day. This helps me feel present but still allows me to get work done. I adopted a mantra from an article I read once: If you're at work, believe that's exactly where you should be at that moment. If you're at home with your kids, believe that's exactly where you should be at that moment. No guilt! – Jennifer Kouzi, Kaminer Kouzi & Associates LLP

Never walk alone! I don't mean to say that you need a business partner. However, I am adamant you need someone who can relate to your experience, i.e., a mother who runs her own business and her family. With all the things that call for your attention, in my experience, it is best to have someone who is not your life partner who knows exactly what you're up against. – Barbara Budrich, Barbara Budrich

I find that keeping my family in the loop about the exciting things that went on that day with the business gets my kids interested and involved. My son actually asks me now when he gets home from school how my day was with RAINRAPS. Now when I have a business to deal with on their time, they understand. – Stacy Struminger and Rachel Teyssier, www.rainraps.com

Compartmentalize your time. Look at your family and business responsibilities and create a schedule you can realistically stick to. Let everyone know that your work hours are sacred. Don’t do the laundry on company time. Be fully in the moment when you are playing with the kids. Let work calls go to voicemail when you’re at the park. – Sarah Giller Nelson, Less is More

ALWAYS make sure that my child is the priority and that the computer is OFF when he's up. I'm able to set my own time and rates, which gives me the flexibility to show my child they are my most important job. They don't have to fight for my attention. – Carrie Aulenbacher, www.carrieaulenbacher.com

The best tip I can give is get up early (before the kids are up) to get some work in…like checking emails, social media etc. Then when the morning routine is done you can get right back to work. I feel that the early morning is when I am the most refreshed (after my coffee.) – Alison Podworski, Alison May Public Relations

Become conscious of your choices and make sure your choices line up with your life priorities. Maybe you don't need a page full of New Year's Resolutions you'll never complete. Maybe your time is better spent with activities and family that you claim are important. Real life is lived in small steps, mistakes, and more small steps. Be realistic with your expectations of yourself. – Darla Arni, Full Plate No Fork

When possible, include your kids in focus groups, product testing, and marketing. My children were young teens when I started developing my social matching app, SameGrain. Getting them involved on the sidelines made them better appreciate the hard work that goes along with being an entrepreneur and my company benefited from the feedback both they and their app savvy friends provided along the way. The app was just rolled out last month and they continue to be involved as brand ambassadors. – Anne A. Balduzzi, SameGrain, Inc. 

My tip is to be friendly and outgoing. You can't be afraid to talk to people and gain knowledge, wisdom and most importantly experience from even a the most unlikely person. As a result of my ability to chat (my children sometimes hate this) ‎I have been able to find a reputable factory in China, developed a wonderful relationship with a Brand Strategist and Graphic designer and most importantly my Premium Signature Set will be included in the Golden Globe Swag bags given to the nominees, presenters and media outlets covering the event. – Shelley Bair, Zipsessory

Prioritize! Ruthlessly guard your time and schedule every moment in advance. – Honoree Corder, The Successful Single Mom

Delegate responsibilities – Sometimes women feel like they are the only ones who can do things the right way. Instead of looking at a task as needing to be completed in a specific way, change your mind set. Delegate a task and think of it as a learning opportunity of someone else, as a chance for someone to gain self confidence, as a gift to you that someone else will do it for you and as an opportunity to show that you respect their abilities. You might even learn something new when you see the task completed by someone else. You can delegate at home or on the job to give yourself more time for the things that are really important. – Julie Stobbe, Mind over Clutter, Professional Organizing Services 

What I find works best for me in order to maintain a balance between my family and my business is scheduling. I have a calendar that I hang on my kitchen and I slot down times to do specific tasks. I put alerts on my iPhone as well and I make sure I stick to it. If I can't finish something within that time slot then I come back to it later. But I try to start every tasks at the time that I had set for it. Weekends I dedicate Saturday's to family time and on Sunday's I mostly work on my business while my daughter visits her grandmother. – Ismenia Mejia, The Trendy Box

Put as many automated systems in place as possible so I can focus on the exciting stuff during biz hours. When I feel like I've been productive on good stuff during the work day I find I can give family my attention at night. – Wendy Woods, THE REFINERY

The way I balance my business and home life is by limiting office hours. I ony take appointments between 11 and 3. That way I can take the kids to school in the morning, and pick them up after school, take them to their activities etc. – Julia McCurley, Try Something More

I try to spend the time to prepare for the expected/schedule out all tasks so that what then unexpected happens you have the room to handle it and can easily see where to fit it in quickly. Also, it really does take a village and knowing who to call for when and what is a lifesaver! – Durée Ross, Duree and Company

Develop your business processes and stick to them. Time is precious when you are balancing it all, but having processes in place keeps you focused, thus saving time. – Sherry Heyl, Concept Hub Inc. 

My Tip is to include your kids. My 14 year old daughter is co owner of our business and we get to spend time together working on growing the business. She loves when we go out of town and doing shows. – Christine Kutnick, Hemlets

Find out what you are ‘tolerating', and find a way to unload it, by delegating or just recognizing it no longer serves you and isn't in alignment with the vision you have created for a happy life. In other words, it is taking you farther from your vision…not closer to. – Jennifer Flynn, The Balance Maven

Before I go to bed each night I write down two lists: One list of tasks that I can complete within the two hours that my
daughter takes her morning nap, and one list of tasks that I can complete in one hour during my daughter's afternoon nap. I usually find myself in a race-against-time every nap period but I stick to my list and get things done. The evenings, after my daughter goes to bed, are reserved for writing and editing articles. – KristinHelms, Tribe Magazine

Making a schedule which is posted in a central location in our home is critical to keep our family organized. We make it a point to schedule family time for at least an hour every day so that we don't lose sight of what's really important! – Cara Koscinski, The Pocket Occupational Therapist

My tip is to delegate some of the responsibilities (work and home) to dependable, self sufficient assistant(s).  – Jocelyn Nager, Esq., Frank, Frank, Goldstein & Nager, P.C. 

Take stock of why you have both a business and family and treat the responsibilities accordingly. For example, if you started your business to pay the bills, then it gets pretty high priority and you know that any sacrifice you make about spending more time or doing more for your children or significant other is one that is made on their behalf. Or if you started your business to have a creative outlet or extra money, perhaps even more for you than your other family members, then you may have to be more selective about how you grow your business or accept business-related commitments. By keeping the part of your life that you value the most in perspective when devoting time and energy to it, it brings less confusion and guilt into your life. I recommend thinking about this evaluation activity anytime you have a commitment to make personally or professionally and any time you feel yourself becoming burned out. If you have the discipline, spend some quiet time thinking about it every month! – Wanda Anglin, SEO Buzz Internet Marketing

My tip is don't be afraid to outsource your work. You can either hire a person for just a project, part time, or full time. I hire people as a as-needed bases and it help free up my time tremendously so I can have time to spend with my family. – Louida Martin, Product Review Mom

My tip is: start something that is relevant to you and to your family. You will be still dedicating your time to the family, just in a different way. It will make you feel good and less guilty. – Grazia, Cook with Grazia

Isabella's tip is to stop work in the afternoons (when kids are home) and on the weekends. Keep those times for family no matter what. Further, she extends that same privilege to those that she hires. – Isabella Yosuico, Mighty Tykes

Set specific working hours; have someone else take care of your kids during your specified working hours and then have non-working hours where you focus on family and do NO work. It doesn't have to be full time – I started having my girls go to a neighbors just 2 mornings a week so I had focused time to work. – Tina Forsyth, TinaForsyth

My best tip for having a balanced life is single-tasking: when I am working, I am working and when I am with my family, I am with my family. My children don't want to see me on the phone when it's play time and my clients expect my undivided attention when we're working on their applications. – Kristen Senior, The Brass Ring Educational Consultants

It's important to draw a line between when one starts and the other ends. For example, I am dedicated to my kids for the two hours after school activities for bath, dinner, and bedtime, and for most of the day on weekends. Then, I go back to work. – Kaamna Bhojwani-Dhawan, Momaboard

Run a business that you can include your kids in. Making bracelets and sitting down with my 4 year old saved me at those busy moments. – Sandy Magura, Brave Bracelets

When I started Christmas Milk, my goal was to simply be happy at my job. If I owned the company, there was no reason why I shouldn't be able to make that happen. I define success by finding that balance between family and work. I make it a habit to wrap things up by 3:05pm daily, which sometimes means starting the day very early. I'm there for the kids when they get home from school which enables me to assist with homework. I can go to their soccer, hockey, football games etc. I can go to meet the teacher days. I don't use the phrase PTO anymore and I don't miss it! That is success! – Heidi Fausel, Christmas Milk

Scheduling is key! When I'm juggling family and business, I have to carve out separate time for each so I can be fully connected during those times. No, jumping back and forth between after-school tasks and reaching out to client, or I'm likely to make a mistake and miss out on some great bonding time with my daughter. Everyone suffers when my attention isn't focused on the task at hand! – Kelly Garrett, Ekcetera Productions, LLC. 

Create separate business work hours and home life hours. If you let them intersect, one will fail. – Deb Storrs, ChaChaFlare

The one tip I can share with others about balancing motherhood with running a business is that time-blocking is everything. I have a color-coded calendar (blue for kid stuff, orange for work stuff, etc.) When I block off specific times in my calendar to work my business vs. focus on my family it allows me to be 100% in the moment regardless of where I am—absolutely guilt-free. With time-blocking, I control my calendar and how I spend my time, rather than it controlling me. It’s a beautiful thing! – Stephanie Nivinskus, SizzleForce, Inc. 

Over the years, I've learned that balancing motherhood with running a business requires freedom to choose when and where you work. If you can't work for yourself, find an employer that trusts and empowers you with the option to work from home and after hours when needed. – Melanie Lundheim, Good Copy Fast 

Everything does not have to be perfect all of the time. The kids can watch some TV or have pizza for dinner when the business is busy. – Alison Emerick, Ease Living LLC 

I find the most authentic feeling of balance comes when I am present in the moment or task at hand. When I am with my children and family, I focus on them and try to turn off my mind churning over business. And when I am focused on my work, I try to let go of any distracting worries or guilt in regards to my family time. – Erin, erinpelicano

Establish great boundaries around your time so that you protect time with your children, time with your husband, and time to grow your business. Great boundaries around your time helps to prevent the tendency to worry about your biz when you are with your kids, or worry about your kids when you should be concentrating on your biz. – Anita Marchesani, Ph.D., Dr Anita

Make sure to be mindful and in the moment with each part of your life. For example: shut off work emails and phone when with kids. Be present when working. Try to avoid the multitasking it all at every moment . You wind up not doing either as well.  – Cara Maksimow , Maximize Wellness 

The biggest tip I can offer is organization and pre-planning. The night before I pack lunches, lay out uniforms, breakfast, have the coffee pot ready etc so I don't need to think in the morning. It gives us all the best start to the day possible! – Sherri French, spbang

My ultimate tip for mom entrepreneurs is to reduce time for daily home routine, specially for cooking. My personal lifehack – partially pre-cooked dinners for the entire working week. On Sundays I plan a weekly menu and do all possible preparations: cook and freeze grains/ beans/broth; prepare sauces; slice vegetables and pack them in portions; roast or boil meat; mix spices etc. It helps to save a lot of time on cooking after the work to spend it with my husband and daughter. – Ksenija Rostova, inselly.com 

Exercise the flexibility you are afforded as an entrepreneur and let go of conventional thinking around when and where to work.  That might mean putting in a few hours after the kids go to bed or rising early on a weekend morning to get a few things done. I take advantage of any and all downtime during sports activities, doctors appointments and errand runs.. I've also been known to park myself in a coffee shop with my laptop while my daughter finishes up a movie night with friends. – Terri Holley, Holley Creative

I am lucky enough to work from home, so one of my most important tips for those in similar situations is to block out at least a half hour when my son comes home from school to connect with him. I may still have work I need to do, but setting aside that time to give him a hug and hear about his day and get him settled into doing homework helps reassure him about his place in my life. This also benefits me because he then allows me to go back to my work without feeling as much of a need to poke at me and get my attention. – Rachel S. Heslin 

Planning and having everything ready for the family especially meals is important for us. – Niru, MobileArq

Make time to stop and just be a mom. Often with cell phones dinging with a new email every few minutes, we react like Pavlov's dogs, constantly checking our emails and messages. Give your full self to your family. Set aside a few hours every day that is only for family time, shut of the phones and computer and just be a mom. It's easy to get distracted when your running your business, but you and your family will be much happier if you just set aside the time. that email can wait while you bake cookies or read that story with your kids. – Stacee Magee, Boingo Baby

My one tip would be to make sure you carve out time for yourself. Whether it's Pilates (my favorite), a date night, coffee with a friend, whatever it is that energizes and rejuvenates you. My day starts early and if I'm not taking care if myself, I can't be the best mom, wife and entrepreneur I want to be. – Amanda Hudye, SleepWell Baby. 

My tip for balancing and managing my time is prioritizing the day and using a good color coded calendar. That way I can choose when it is family time and when its work time. Then I block the time on the calendar and stick to the plan.  – Liz Taylor , Taylor Organizing Inc. 

Let go of trying to make it perfect. If you obsess like I did on making a perfect 50/50 balaced life of business and home, you will fail at both – or just have a mental breakdown! Once I came to terms with the fact that things wouldn't be totally even and kid events would happen during work and while at work my children may need me, I found my ‘balance'. Now I try and plan ahead to avoid schedule conflicts, but as things arise I deal with them one by one and them move on. – Nellie Akalp, CorpNet

Invest in Yourself. When you learn and grow, you increase your capacity and resourcefulness at work and at home. Your development is as important as your kids' development. – Sherlyn Pang Luedtke, Present Parent Training

Plan in quality time every day to spend with your child/children. As an entrepreneur you can literally work all day and never
finish everything that you need to do. In order to avoid burnout and feeling like a neglectful parent, schedule time with your kiddos as well as the business! – Erin Schurtz, Mommi

You don't have to do it all to have it all! What I mean by this is delegate and seek help. Think about what's the highest best use of your time right now. Is it taking my son to art class and delegating the laundry? Yes! Also I would say systematize what you can. So if getting groceries delivered will save you a 2 hour grocery trip then the extra charge is worth it. – Grace Lanuza, Grace Lanuza Consulting 

My best advise to managing your business and family is to hold a family gathering every Sunday. If you are too busy to have a weekly gathering a monthly meeting will suffice. In the family meetings we would deal with all of the administrative issues like holidays, family vacations and other to-do items. By having a weekly schedule this frees up my limited time as a mom entrepreneur to spend with my family. – Lisa Chu, Black N Bianco

 This might sound silly, but I think ordering in food or picking up dinner from the Whole Foods hot food bar really saves time and helps me balance running my business. It takes so long to plan meals, and then you are stuck in the kitchen preparing dinner instead of spending quality time with your children. In general I just try to be present with them and do the best I can. – Kathleen Jennings, www.beautynowapp.com 

My one tip for all working moms is to take some time out of your day and turn the phone off for 90 minutes and give that attention to your child. This is a great way to balance, life, work and family. Thank you for your consideration. – Karina, Hang-O-Matic

If you work from home like I do, create a designated workspace so that your home and work life do not constantly overlap. If you're lucky enough to have a spare room or even an extra nook or closet when work is done, close the door and leave it behind, the way you would if you left an office. If your office is the kitchen table, only bring out your work during working hours; don't leave piles of paperwork on the same table you have meals with her family.. By creating a separate distinction between your work time and your family time it will be easier to be mindful and present and allow you to be the best business owner, parent and significant other you can be. – Jenny Powers Running With Heels LLC

The one tip that has saved me, is dedicating specific tasks to certain days of the week. For example, Mondays I plan out all of our social media, PR and contesting for the week. An array of unexpected items pop up with children, but by having identified certain items to get accomplished on specific days, I know I need to find the time to make sure it all gets done, even if it's at 7p once the kids are in bed! – Monica Jacquay, Sweet Cheeks

Focus on sharing with your kids more quality than quantity time. I used to feel guilty for putting so much effort into my business because I thought that I was taking away from my kids; but the truth is that what my kids cherish is my attention—not split between answering emails, text or phone calls—but focused on them. – Marilu Holmes, Downloads of Wisdom

If you stay on top of non-critical things both at home and in the field, it seems to lessen the stress when a time sensitive issue does arise. To accomplish this means I often am multi-tasking. If I watch television, I'm also folding clothes and keeping  an eye on incoming emails. While cooking dinner, I'm also running laundry and emptying the dishwasher. I try to not multi-task my time with my family, focusing only on them when we are having together time. – Erica Harriss, Saving Grace Hair

Be organized and flexible in your daily scheduling. Sometimes I'm returning emails from the park or during my daughter's nap time  I take all the quick moments I can to stay on top of all my responsibilities, whether they are for family or business. – KristinRae, Inspire Travel Luggage

Don't ignore your kids when they need you, but think of all the time you're with them that can be considered dead-time – waiting to pick them up from school, sitting through a gymnastics lesson, brushing hair. All of that time can be used to think about your business with no detriment to them. Then, when they're gone, you can put it into practice. – Alina Adams, Alina Adams

Set clear boundaries with yourself, your kids, your friends and your spouse. Even if you can't have completely set hours you can have a sign that you stick on the door that says, Mommy's Working Please Do Not Disturb. That means unless it's an emergency don't bother me. Don't come and ask me where the peanut butter is or where your mittens are. – Autumn Leopold, Windfall Organizing

My tip for managing my business and family is meal planning and online grocery shopping. This saves me at least an hour a week that I can put toward my business or family – whichever needs it more that week. Lots of give and take! – Dawn Kasper Gibel, Inspired by Dawn

My tip to balancing my family schedules and run and manage my business is calendars. I have one in every room including the bathrooms. I have all our schedules on them. I could not keep track of everything without my calendars. Keeps me sane. – Eula M. Guest, Griot's Roll Film Production & Services Inc

One tip I would have for other moms is that if you can educate your kids about why you are spending so much time doing something for work they actually respect your time away from them more. My kids have been unhappy with me for needing to work at times but they also have been so proud when they saw my efforts come to fruition. – Arielle Levitan, Vous Vitamin

Set aside fixed days/times to spend time with my family. That way we know that business doesn't interfere at that time! – Jill Bong, Chicken Armor Hen Saddles/Aprons

Find the other moms in your life and sit them down or have a quick call to see how you can HELP EACH OTHER! They take my son to school on the mornings I need to work with clients and because I am not busy at the 2-3:00 pm hours I pick up their kids. I do a trade of time with other moms so they can go do things as well. – Christine Kuhrl, ChristineKhuri.com

My tip for balancing motherhood with work is to outsource certain chores. I joined a group with my friends to get weekly frozen home-cooked meals delivered. I use a concierge service such as Fancy Hands to outsource reservations and basic research. Though this does require a financial investment – and I know that I'm lucky to be able to do this – I know that outsourcing helps me to be more effective at my job, really spend time with my kids vs trying to juggle it all. – Christine Chan, Glow Recipe

Do what only you can do and hire out what can be by others. For example, if you are a writer, spend your time writing as that is income generating and hire house cleaners to keep your space spotless. – CarolynWilman, ContestQueen.com

Running a business and running a family are not entirely different. Both require our time, love and attention to continue to grow. My tip to balance motherhood with running a business is to not forget about ourselves in the mix. As women, it is very easy to put our family's needs and even our business needs before our own. However, we have to make time to take care of ourselves in order to be our best and find balance.  – Stephanie Merchant, The Nutrition Mom, LLC

If you're a mum running your business from home, keep the children out of your office or workspace. Set boundaries that when you are in that space you are not to be disturbed. You will need to be tough about this because when you're home, children will always want full access to you. Yet they need to know early, that even though you may work from home, that doesn't make your work any less important then say Daddy's who may work from a city offfice. – VanessaTalbot, Extraordinary Beings 

The one tip that I can share with others about balancing motherhood with running my business is that I plan out my work week so that I do not mix work days with the days that are devoted to family. For me Monday and Friday are my clean the house and “hang out” days while Tuesday through Thursday I work while my kids are in school and daycare. This allows me to completely focus on the task at hand and keeps me from going crazy trying to do it all each day. – Dawn Klevesahl, Freelance Bookkeeping LLC

So for me it pays to be organized and plan my weekly family meals. I know it sounds a bit geeky but if I can cook delicious sauces for pasta or curry all packed full with vegetables (they will never know) and decant them into pots for the freezer then it saves me time and gives then something healthy to eat. I plan two meals in the week that I can cook a little extra of so I have something good for the children to eat the next day. So even when I am out, working late or finalising the look of my curry kits I know the children are eating good nutritious food and getting what they need and deserve. – Hari Ghotra, Hari Ghotra

Always be on the lookout for better, more efficient ways of doing things. If it feels like there must be a better way, there probably is! – Chrissy Farrier, Uzeeum

If you work from home like many mom entrepreneur do, you need to divide your time into hours you are working and hours you are mom. Separate your day into hours you are at work and hours you are home being mom. Do not do mom related tasks when you are at work and do not do work related tasks when you are on mom hours. Staying focused like this will make you more productive in both areas. I pretend I have a time clock that I punch in and out of during the day. – Amy Olson, Kuhfs

Mom entrepreneurs should schedule a weekly date with each child — just like they would with important clients. Turn off the cell, tablet, computer, TV/radio and all other distractions and just be with them. In the larger scheme of things, taking this time away from your business is not going to make a difference, but it will make a huge difference with each child knowing they are a priority with a one-on-one to make sure weeks don't go by where you are just doing the morning and dinner routine (which is usually really rushed and a little chaotic, at least in our household of 3 little boys) without really spending quality time one on one with each child. – Carrie McKeegan, Greenback Expat Tax Services

Embrace help wherever you can get it as a mother AND as an entrepreneur. There are no trophies for doing it all yourself. If you are run ragged from doing everything, you cannot be your best, happiest, most successful self for your kids or your business. – Stephanie, Please and Carrots

Here's my tip – get your kids involved! They can help and offer innovative insight like no one else. The result is additional help for your business and a great learning experience for your kids. My 7 year-old daughter has been involved in all phases of Tabbeez from design concept to marketing to copy-writing (story for the new unicorn) to fulfillment. She's great help and has wonderful insight.– Tasha Barnes, Tabbeez

Make a list of what is most important and what is not. Its impossible to do everything. For example for me I decided I could focus on work and kids but I was OK with missing some me time. I would give up stress of getting to gym or seeing friends or missing an event for a certain outlined amount of time. Kids are only young once so therefore you know you will get back the time to do whatever else you need later. Also let go of perfect if you hate cooking, dont get fancy do a bought roast chicken and veggies. Who cares if the house is messy. Your motto has to be this is OK because I am balancing so
much and later down the road when kids are older and easier house will be clear, I will serve more complex meals or I will get more me time. – Tammy Gold, Gold Parent Coaching

When your kids walk in the door, it can be challenging to switch off ‘biz mind' and be present with your child. Before the kids are due home, or due to wake up, take a few minutes to mentally transition to family time. STEP BACK, and remember what this is all for. Would you want a multi-million dollar business but at the expense of a child who only remembers her parent being flustered, busy, distracted? Set a few minutes aside to transition. PS – always have notepads with you for jotting down ideas while carpooling, etc!  – Leanne Southall, Bonnet Friend

Never complain about being busy in front of your kids. Be present with them, work will always be there, your kids grow and change and eventually leave to have their own lives. – Ianthe Mauro, Objects With Purpose

Have a separate work smartphone. This will help you not check work emails when you are with your children.  – Sarah Gershman, Green Room Speakers

My tip for women is to be assertive and to ask for help when you need it. Seek direction from successful businesspeople you admire and don't be afraid to speak up. – Stephanie Ciccarelli, Voices.com

Have fun with kids doing some household chores, primarily cooking. It's important to teach children to cook healthy and tasty food and at certain age they really enjoy working together with your on your grown-up's duties. – Eugenia Panasova, Octodon

My one tip for balancing motherhood while running a business is to be flexible and expect and accept interruptions.
Finding a balance between motherhood/family and business is challenging. The benefit is your schedule is flexible and you choose when you work. This means that I can visit the kids at school for school activities and parties as well as chaperone class trips. The trade off is when I have a tight deadline, I stay up until the wee hours finishing my work. – Amy Marks-McGee, Trendincite LLC

Make a list of what you'd be willing to receive RIGHT NOW if it showed up in front of you. The power of this list means that you're allowing your desires to be heard or at the very least, acknowledged. Becoming aware of your own needs will support you to have space and time to meet the demands of both motherhood and being a business owner. This also prepares you for another important part of balance, delegating. – Star Staubach, Ignite Radiance

What has worked for you when it comes to work-life balance? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!