Phew! It's hard isn't it? Just being a parent full stop is ALOT!! And then you go and throw a business on top and its basically like having another baby that requires time, attention and money! Argh!

Here are some quick tips to help you go from striving to thriving...

1 Include them. I know this sounds like a recipe for disaster but when mine were little I used to paint up one end of the table while they painted at the other end. Yes it was messy, yes they got bored after ten minutes but it gave me a few minutes to at least start something. And once I started a painting I was more motivated to finish it once they were in bed! If you can explain what you are doing, often they will want to be helpful. Mine love carefully putting stickers on my envelopes for me for example.

2 Set very small achievable goals. Literally aim for just one thing a day. Maybe you can post one pic on Instagram, do 20 minutes of painting instead of watching your usual Netflix show, watch a free training video online (Search Mai Pak on Youtube for some good ones!) literally try and do one thing a day towards your goal. Small, consistent steps are way more effective than trying to go all out and then crashing and burning! (Trust me I have made that mistake)

3 Outsourcing as much as you can, as in what can you delegate to others? The first print I ever sold, not knowing what I was doing, cost me loads in time and effort. I would get an order and get the bus down to town with my pushchair, go to the printer and wait for it to be printed, bring it home, pack it and then go back out to the Post Office. I never factored in the bus fair or the time I spent actually getting there and my prices were insanely low. Looking back it took hours! Madness! My husband suggested dropshipping and so I found my print supplier (Dstudio) who offer a printing service online. I email them the image and they print and ship straight to the customer. It is so much easier and frees up my time for the kids.

You can also look at automations (this just means computers doing it for you and doesn't need to be scary!) If you set up a Facebook business account you can start planning you social media posts. I sit down once a week and write a whole weeks posts, set them to go off at 7am each day and its done! It posts both to Instagram and Facebook at the same time. So much easier than trying to do it every single day, because lets face it life isn't like that. Just make sure that you do go back and reply to any comments and likes you get. Just a few minutes of engagement with people shows you care and are grateful for their support.

Finally don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back for even trying to do this. It is so hard at first not only navigating a whole new skill set but also the fear of putting yourself out there at all. Many times I felt like I was wasting my time or wondered why I don't just relax on my maternity leave and get a 9-5 again afterwards. But now, I don't regret a thing. On Monday I got to go to a Mothers day event at the school and I am always there for pick ups and sports days and whatever else. Choosing your own hours is the best part of being self employed and I hope they will look back and be proud that I at least tried to follow my passion.

As always hope this helps! Let me know in the comments if there is anything you would like me to cover next week, and don't forget to subscribe here if you want to keep up with the latest news from me!

Kat Xx