Alpha WAHM Blueprint: It’s Time for Work-at-Home Moms to Have It All

Last month, I launched a new series on answering common business startup questions, and one very common question is “How? How can I manage a business and my family? How can I do it all?”

Well, I recently received a complimentary copy of Karri Flatla’s new book, “Alpha WAHM Blueprint: An Empowerment Guide for Work-at-Home Moms,” and was asked to have the Work-at-Home Mom section on Type-A Mom be a stop on her book tour. And it’s perfect timing…this is a great fit into the new series and I know will be a useful resource for many of our readers. Plus, I had the unique opportunity to ask Karri some questions and she shed some light on the elusive question of “How?”

For more infomation on Karri and her book, visit: AlphaWAHMBook.com.

How do you ensure clients take you seriously when you’re open with them about working from home and having children?

There are really only two instances that your WAHM status need ever come up with a client. First, talking about “the kids” is a great icebreaker and relationship-builder, but generally only if your prospect or client has children too. People want to do business with people they can relate to. Parenting is a great common ground.

Second, sometimes stuff just comes up with the kids that will interfere with work, and there is no practical way around it. That’s okay; just don’t pull your client into longwinded explanations about your personal life. It’s a turnoff and may actually hurt your working relationship. 

The key is to understand the distinction between personable with your clients or prospective clients and using your personal life as an excuse for being unprofessional or not delivering on a value promise. Unless you’re in the business of helping other moms in some way, the fact that you work from home with children is probably not relevant to what the client wants from you, whatever your deliverable may be.

Bottom line? Don’t distract the people in your pipeline with mommy stuff unless it truly adds value and/or rapport to the conversation.

How do you manage the unique stresses of being a work at home mom?

Building a business while raising children is a lifestyle choice more than it’s a career choice. The two will become intimately intertwined, and that’s okay! Motherhood will inform your decisions as a businesswoman, and entrepreneurship will inform your decisions as a mother.

Building on that principle then, you’re not necessarily seeking ways to “balance” or separate work and motherhood (though many experts will tell you this). Instead, to reduce stress and not feel pulled in a zillion directions at once, you want to create pockets of support and nurturing in your environment.

Some ways to do this include:

1. Communicate with your partner openly and honestly. Your spouse can’t support you in the way you need most if he doesn’t understand what you do all day! If hubby yawns when you start talking about your business, gently remind him that this is your life work and his support and shared interest in your professional aspirations would mean a great deal to you and your success.
2. Don’t be a martyr. It’s easy as a work-at-home mom to get into “me” mode. Being alone—or surrounded by children and no adults—for much of your day can be isolating and lead to feelings of anger and resentment. To avoid this, try to view your family as a team working toward a common goal. The more you love and support one another at an individual level, the more successful the entire team will be.
3. Take care of YOU. Without self-care, you cannot be your best self for the people that matter to you. From children to spouses to your best clients, if you aren’t getting enough sleep or down time or whatever it is that recharges you, you will constantly feel overwhelmed and unappreciated. You know what YOU need better than anyone. Ask for help when you need it. Take the time to figure out what recharges your batteries. Then make it priority one to take care of you.

For readers who WANT to work from home so they can better balance their children and family, but don’t have a business started yet, where should they start?

Before tackling the nuts and bolts of a business, tackle the nuts and bolts of what matters most to YOU as a wife, mother and career woman. There is no point planning out a business that doesn’t speak to your deepest truth, your most urgent desires, and your BIG vision for the future. If you do not take the time to look at these things up close, you’ll end up running a business that drains you emotionally and spiritually.

The Alpha WAHM Blueprint helps in precisely the manner required! It’s for women who want a work-at-home lifestyle that is more than a job. When you design your life around the who and what of your being, you can do nothing but succeed!

For more infomation on Karri and her book, visit: AlphaWAHMBook.com.

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