Sustainable Mompreneurship Ep. 1: How I run my family of 7 in just 3 hours a week!

Why in the world would I choose to run a family of seven - AND operate a successful online business (not a side hustle) - plus homeschool - am I crazy?!

No, and I’m not actually as busy as that sounds.

Because I’m not actually doing all the housework and ALL the cleaning and teaching every single subject to every one of my kids on top of handling all of my marketing and lead gen and client serving and content activities by myself.

(That WOULD be crazy making!)

So here’s how I make everything happen....

You’ve got this!

Alyssa

Free up your time as a work-at-home mom: https://yourunbusylife.com/

And if you need the right answers (both for the kid side of your life AND your “what’s next” project list), I’ve got two intensive spots open this month - where I’ll help you free up 3 hours each day!

‘Cause there’s no need to hold onto every to-do + commitment in your life (when you’re sick of the calendar jenga game).

And right now you feel like you’re in conflict - with your clients, your kids, your partner, or even yourself (because of your own needs). You fear the next family season - the parenting issue that’s going to crop up - the marriage breakdown behind the scenes - the feast-and-famine cycle in your clients - the next issue with team that’s going to unexpectedly explode.

Which is where I come in to help you create win-win solutions for yourself + your family that support business growth, team scaling, & client operations without compromising any key part of your life.

Book your Free Up 3 Hours package when you’re ready to reclaim 3 hours every day: https://yourunbusylife.com/free-up-3-hours-pod/

🎧 New limited-time podcast series (only available through December): running a sustainable business when you’re wearing 2 hats: mom + CEO → TAP HERE

Transcript

This is the Unbusy Mom, and today we’re talking about how I run my family of 7 in just 3 hours a week!

So why in the world am I running a family of seven - seven, mind you! And choosing to operate a successful online business (that’s most definitely *not* in the side hustle realm) on top of it all - PLUS homeschooling? Am I crazy?!

Well, no, so let me explain how all this is happening. I’m not actually such a busy freak as that all sounds.

Because I’m not actually doing ALL the housework and ALL the cleaning and teaching EVERY single subject to EACH of my kids on top of handling all of my marketing and lead gen and client serving and content activities by myself.

(That would be crazy making!)

No, I’m relying very heavily on DELEGATION.

Remember, I layered one kid after another after another (and another, and another!) onto my home life FIRST, BEFORE I had a business. 

And then I kept moving each kid up and into my homeschool program (from the free wheeling toddler stage) as each one grew older - we’re not talking teaching five kids at once all of a sudden here.

Plus, I’d gotten my “run the home” chore routines set over a few years of practice and refining and “oops I’m pregnant” delegating - so again, I was fully cognizant of what I was handling day to day and knew *precisely* where my margin spots were.

And for most of this, I only had three kids in homeschool all at once. It wasn’t until recently that number four and number five were old enough to join the “need mommy help” crowd alongside my high schoolers. (And in just a couple of years, that total will go down to three again - because they’ll be off at college. Having 5 kids going at once is really just a temporary phase in my educator load.)

So, now that we’ve gotten THAT out of the way, here’s how I’m ACTUALLY doing it.

First, I’ve got all the junior high and high schoolers on independent study with minimal check-ins from me. And of course the really early elementary grades don’t need more than 30 minutes a day with me when all we’re doing is numbers and letters.

Middle school grading really doesn’t take too long - these kids can move quickly - and I’m still not putting a full high school subject load on them at this stage, so that’s a handful of subjects done, and then *I’m* done with my part.

Cleaning chores have already been distributed out amongst the 5 kids, so I’m only responsible for things like grabbing my “don’t go into the dryer” delicates and hanging them and making grocery lists and menus.

Cooking is probably only half done by me now - I’ve got 4 kids who can and do like to mess around in the kitchen - so I’ve gradually simplified our meals so that any one of them can be asked to “assist” each night and lighten my prep load considerably. And then the other few nights, someone else is doing everything; I just have to buy the ingredients. (Of course.)

And this is something you work up towards - it’s not an *essential* part of how I’m fitting both the business and the homeschooling and the child-rearing in - so don’t fuss about it if YOU haven’t got 3 cooks in training and aren’t likely to at any one time. You just need one or two kitchen helpers, and you can wait a couple years for that.

Now, as far as the “run the family” stuff and taking time out for kid cuddles, I’ve got margin time blocks in each one of my week days, plus the weekEND is kind of one giant margin block for overflow tasks. So if (er, when) somebody’s got no more hole-free jeans, I can spend that day’s margin block on looking up the best deals, demanding try ons of what he’s got at home, figuring out how to get free shipping, and ordering them.

And honestly? The kid cuddle time typically merges right in with my midday homeschooling block - because if one kid is waiting around for his lesson to be graded, he’s likely at loose ends and if he’s the cuddle type, then he’s hanging all over ME. (In fact, I usually have to make the little ones take turns!)

And of course, the teenagers get their own weekend and nighttime talking sessions with mom, to smooth through any course hassles that have come up or are looking *likely* to come up next week or academic semester. Because I keep them fully in the loop, in the decision seat on what they’re going to do.

So yeah, that’s about it! And don’t worry, I’ve still got my husband time and me time tucked away in there, too. (In fact, I’ve been known to vet my own “for fun” podcast episodes by clicking through every 4 minutes to quickly decide if it’s of value or not - because I’ve only got 40 minutes for my listen time today, and I don’t want to waste it on a “heard it all already” one!)

And you don’t have to blow through all YOUR podcast listens on 2x speed to be some super ninja business mom or whatever; you just have to know what YOUR un-delegate-ables are and get rid of the rest.

I’m serious. It’s as simple as that.

And if you need help doing that, come over to me and I’d LOVE to jam out with you on getting things off your plate (either business or home, or both) so that YOU can go back to enjoying your afternoon art sessions or fingerpainting with your kids.

That’s YOUR new reality, and I’m going to see that you get it.