Leverage isn't just for business! Leverage must be used within your daily life. As mompreneurs, we try to do it all, be it all, see it all. Then we suffer from "SuperMom Fatigue" trying to juggle it all!
We have all heard about leveraging your business. Automate, delegate, or delete. Yet we forget that the same can hold true for leveraging your family life too. Think about it - most everything in our life is run by a team. The farmer decides what to plant, but he will hire a team to plant the seeds, harvest the crops and get it to market to ultimately sell it to you! Why then, do we feel we need to be SuperMom and do it all-100%. - all of the time!
It has been discussed in many books I have read and teleseminars I have attended, to hire a team to help you run your business successfully. Hire someone to create the website, hire an accountant to handle your billing, hire a VA to run your shopping cart. Why not use that same principle and take that to the family level.. Hire a personal assistant to help with the errands like picking up the dry cleaning, order your groceries on line to be delivered to your door, hire someone to help clean the house, hire a bookkeeper to pay the bills-and the list goes on. You may say "but I like going to the grocery store". Great, then do that and hire someone to help clean the house.
I have someone who helps me clean the house and once a month, I go to Dream Dinners where I am able to assemble 12 dinners in under 2 hours to be used throughout the month (and more recently, I have even paid the extra $25 for them to assemble them for me!). And if you have older kids, there is no reason why they can't get in the game. My kids are now responsible for helping with the laundry each week and starting dinner if I am out. Once they get a drivers license, send them to the grocery store with a list. If they are young, tell them mommy is picking up her room (office), you pick up your toys and we'll see who is the fastest! Of course carpooling is another great way to share the load. If your kids are involved in a lot of afterschool activities, using a carpool so that you are only driving one way, or only a few times a week, is a huge help. Get creative - you aren't the only mom trying to juggle it all!
Then of course there is automate, delegate or delete. Automate by ordering gifts and clothes online, setting up reminders, and having the family calendar online so everyone can access it. There is even a card company where you can put in birthdays and special occasions for the whole year - and it will automatically send out a personal card! Delegate by hiring a housekeeper, a bookkeeper, a babysitter or an assistant. Delete it if there are too many things you aren't using and are just slowing you down-all those magazine subscriptions pilled by the bed, the "inbox" filled with junk, and the clothes you think you will fit back into.....someday. It is a relief to clear away the clutter! It is time to review and see what really is and isn't necessary.
Leveraging your life isn't just an option - it is a necessity. As mompreneurs, we are constantly juggling everyone and everything. And there are other moms doing the same. Reach out to one another - they could probably use a little leverage as well!
