Parentrepreneur life: How on earth do you thrive?!
My babies & me
I’m on a mission. And that mission is all about helping parentrepreneurs thrive in business and in life.
I’m still not sure if I like the term ‘parentrepreneurs’. And it turns out it’s not in the English dictionary, so technically it isn’t really a word. But for the purpose of this it means someone who has kids to look after (a parent) and also runs a business (an entrepreneur). That business could be anything from an at home side hustle, to a multi million pound business with multiple employees. To me that doesn’t matter. My mission is about helping families love their lives and thrive together.
A lot of parenting life is a rollercoaster… And you may be thinking ‘how on EARTH can we thrive during this time?? Isn’t it all about survival?!’ Well I want to challenge this thinking. I truly think it is possibly to thrive in life, even if you are in the depths of a crazy home life, kids that have plenty of demands, and running your own business.
But I don’t claim to have all the answers. I am in fact on a mission to find all the answers and that is my next project. And also the theme of the book I am writing - here is the working title (I’d love your feedback on this…)
‘Parentrepreneur life: Strategies to survive, ideas to thrive’
I’m writing this blog post having just got through my eldest starting school, and getting chicken pox 2 days in (yes, she’s potentially the super spreader!). Plus my baby deciding he will no longer sleep in his cot during the day or night, despite being quite happy to last week. Last night involved us moving our bedroom around (again) so that I could co sleep (or co not sleep) with my baby boy and subsequently meant my husband was relegated to the sofa. My husband has now gone away for a week with his buddies (its actually 6 days, but I feel like it may as well be a week!) so I cannot wait to solo parent whilst running on empty.
My question is, how are we meant to operate as our best selves when we are so sleep deprived? When we are always putting our children first? How are we meant to put our relationship first? And where on earth do we find the time for ‘self care’ (again, another slightly annoying word but you know what I mean)?
As a business coach, I’m sitting at my desk and meant to be ‘working’. I’m relaunching my business after taking some time off since having the babe, although the reality of this is that I’ve never actually stopped working as I had a special client that wanted me (and I couldn’t say no and love working with them - they know who they are) and I also run The Village, a collaborative of Essex business owners that love to network and support each other.
Trying to work and do my best stuff today is tough, as I would much rather just go back to bed. I’ve also just realised I’ve double booked myself this afternoon (baby brain is still a thing) and I haven’t even eaten a proper breakfast (it’s almost 11am).
So how can you be part of this? Well I want to hear your stories of par entrepreneur life. I want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. I want to hear from you if you think you’ve nailed it (or even get it right sometimes) and what secrets you swear by. I have a podcast The Jen Lister Podcast which I want to make the subject of this too. So please do get in touch with me if you have something interesting to share.
As you can hopefully tell, my passion is through the roof for this topic. How do we support each other and our families to find joy in our family lives and businesses, without feeling that crazy burnout and exhaustion all the time? How do we have brilliant relationships with the partner we love and fell in love with way back when? How do we make sure we are the best version of ourselves for our kids and make amazing memories? And possibly most importantly, how do we make time for US?
Answers on a postcard please ;) Jokes, please DM me on insta or LinkedIn @jenlistercoaching.
Or fill out my contact form here.
