Today, I’m offering a guest post about being self-employed with young kids as part of the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Slightly Cosmopolitan about letting your light shine brightly.  Please welcome Hillary Boucher to My Super-Charged Life!

Do you dream about being self-employed, but feel that it’s impossible with a young family?

We knew from the get-go that we wanted to design our own lifestyle. We wanted to homeschool our kids and do work that we were passionate about.

We both wanted to share the responsibility of earning income and caregiving.  We also wanted the freedom to travel to visit family and take educational field trips on our own timeline. We decided that self-employment would ultimately give us the control to create this lifestyle.

Self-Employed with Kids Is Tough But Worth It

The tough economy and the many new web tools available is resulting in people embarking on similar self-employment journeys. However, starting your own business with young kids is not as easy as crashing on your sister’s couch and eating Ramen noodles while you grind through the start-up phase. Kids need stability, good food and a stress-free place to live and grow.

We’ve got three kids and two businesses that are still in the early phases, but we’re well on our way to living our personal vision outside the 9-to-5 with kids in tow. It may be a bit unconventional, but it’s exciting, fulfilling and gives us the freedom we value.

Can you do it? Definitely!

Does it take careful planning? You bet.

Is it guaranteed? No way.

But it’s exciting and if you set yourself up for success you can be your own boss and have the added flexibility of self-employment to enjoy life along side your family.

Advice to Families for Breaking Free of 9-to-5

Looking back we weren’t nearly as prepared as we could have been so I’ll let you in on what we’ve learned so far.

1. Don’t Quit Your Job Yet!

Don’t quit your job and then make a plan. Instead, lay out your plan ahead of time. Create a one-year and a five-year plan and BE REALISTIC! Most businesses don’t cut a profit in the first year. Figure out how much you need to live on for the first year and double that. Take a local small business course and have a professional help you develop your business plan. Know how much you need to start bringing in at what point so you can be sure that you are going to make it.

While dreams are an important part of making this all happen, you’ve got to be realistic to get where you want to go.

2. Downsize Your Lifestyle

We bought an affordable, duplex in a downtown area of a mid-sized, vibrant city. The rental apartment pays for a good portion of our mortgage and since it’s small we have very low heating costs. While we do have to get creative about living with a family of five in a small apartment, it has afforded us flexibility as we start up our businesses.

In the first year of my husband’s business we sold our car to help with living expenses. Living downtown made this doable until we were able to buy a more affordable used car.

Take an honest look at your life and see what you can do without and what’s your deal breaker. For us quality food is a must. In fact, food is the biggest expense in our monthly budget, but that feels very important to us. We’re more than happy to share one cell phone and skip on the cable because we find wireless internet allows us to view entertainment when we want.

3. Get Money in the Door–Fast!

What’s your instant money maker? Focus on that first. You might have to do work that isn’t exactly what you envision for the future. That’s okay–get the money in the door, get your business established and after you lay the foundation you can start to move towards bigger and better projects and visions.

Priority number one is getting the bills paid and food on the table. Your savings is going to be dwindling fast and the sooner you can get money in the door the better.

Be smart about it though, make sure your money maker is a step in the right direction–towards a career and business you are enthusiastic about.

4. Implement a Strong Family Rhythm

It’s not fair to take your kids on a wild ride. Well, it is a part of life, but you can help them get through any transitions and potential family stress by anchoring yourself in a strong daily rhythm (this is different than a schedule). A rhythm moves with your family giving you the flexibility you need, while providing stability. This way–when life starts to get bumpy you have something to stand on.

5. Remember THE PLAN

Our plan towards self-employment and self-sufficiency was (and continues to be) a series of overlapping steps.

First my husband stuck with his “money maker”  even though it’s not what he ultimately wants to do. While he brings in a steady income I’m setting up the launch of my business. As I begin to bring in more regular income the plan is for him to ease up and have more room to evolve his business into more of what he wants. Eventually we want to find a happy medium that’s flexible and secure. We want to use that flexibility of being self-employed to share the responsibility of bringing in income and taking care of the children.

Great plan, right? Well, there are plenty of ho-hum Tuesdays where we look at each other and say, “Why are we doing this?” Avoid letting the day-to-day stuff distract you from your bigger goals. Talk about where you are heading often. Make a visual map of where you are going and how you are getting there and put it somewhere you can see it everyday. Try to remember that this normal Tuesday is part of a bigger picture. Don’t get lost in the every day.

6. Enjoy the Journey

That being said–try not to be so focused on your goal that you forget to enjoy the journey. After all when you reach those five year goals your baby will be running around and talking and your toddler will be an entirely different kid. Don’t miss their childhood! Revel in the every day miracles of first steps, a lost tooth, and silly moments.

7. Get Support

Plug into a bigger support network like an online tribe or a local small business community. Having access to people who understand your challenges is very helpful. Even better–find local families who also live an unconventional lifestyle so you can swap childcare and have friends who share your new “normal”.

8. Take Time to Celebrate–Simply

We’ve been living the past few years as a start-up on a tight budget. Rather than skip out on the celebrations, we adjusted our style. My husband and I realized if we swapped childcare with friends for a few hours we could go out and have a drink and an appetizer for half the cost of a full dinner out and yet it felt just as decadent.

Celebrating is an important part of keeping your life joyful and happy. Kids don’t need fancy things to have fun–they want your time and attention.

We set aside a family night movie with Netflix and our favorite (affordable) Mexican take-out. We’ve learned to have fun with the simple things and to tell you the truth, I don’t feel like we’re missing anything.

Living outside of the 9 to 5 with a family in tow will take some careful planning, creativity and resolve, but if you desire this lifestyle it’s possible and rewarding.

Hillary blogs about entrepreneuring with school free kids, mindful family living and the New American Dream.  If you enjoyed this article, you can check out another of her popular posts at If You’re Not Happy Here, You Won’t Be Happy There.

Also, you can visit Life…Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!

Photo: Copyright PhotoXpress.com

Small business is the backbone of the American economy.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, businesses with fewer than 500 employees make up 99.7 percent of all employer firms.  They generate 60 to 80 percent of all the new jobs and produce 13 times more patents per employee than large firms.  This is all pretty impressive especially when you consider that over half of all businesses in this category are home-based.  Entrepreneurs are vital to the U.S. economy.  If you start a business, then you are being a good citizen.  What a bonus!

Owning a business is as American as apple pie.  I think that it is fantastic that anyone in the U.S. can decide today that they want to be in business for themselves and presto they are.  Whatever it is that you do, in most cases, you could be doing it for yourself.  There are pros and cons of self-employment, but it is an experience that I think everyone should have.  I grew up around it and I can’t imagine going through life without having done it myself.

Let’s assume that you want to start your own business.

Pull up a chair, sit down, and let’s talk about it.  You ask, “As a former business owner, what advice do you have for me?”  Well, I believe there is money to be made if you do it correctly.  As with almost everything in life, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this.  I do not claim to know everything about starting and running a small business.  In fact, I highly recommend getting professional assistance.  However, based on my experience from the first time, I do have some thoughts that might help.  You can probably find this same advice elsewhere, but since you asked, here’s what I would recommend.

Get the advice of other small business owners.

First, I recommend that you talk to every entrepreneur that you can to find out what worked for them and what didn’t prior to striking out on your own.  In addition to helping you avoid mistakes on the front-end, this is a great way to build a network of other like-minded people that you can call upon for advice once you get the company started.  Even though your company may be a one-person shop when you start out, it is never good to be all alone in business.  Most business owners love talking about their experiences and are usually very helpful to others.  This is a great way to learn from other’s successes and mistakes.  In addition, you might discover a great source of referrals or a new customer along the way!

I remember talking with several business owners to get their opinion on what type of entity to create because I wasn’t clear on whether to form an S Corporation or an LLC.  I also asked around to find out if anyone knew a good accountant.  Of course, whatever advice you get you should always corroborate it with multiple sources prior to acting.  This can save you time, money, and grief.

Find a squeaky clean accountant to keep you out of trouble.

I think this was one of the best business decisions that I ever made.  I engaged a CPA to help me get my business up and running from the start.  I cannot emphasize this one enough.  I have heard too many horror stories about small business owners that get in  trouble with the IRS or another government entity.  A good accountant can avoid these pitfalls and will represent you should you ever need to answer any IRS inquiries.  I hired a Certified Public Accountant that specialized in small business.  It was not that expensive.  In fact, it was less that I thought it would be and worth the peace of mind.  The accountant did all my invoicing, payroll, and produced financial statements.  This freed me up to concentrate on the core of the business.

Start small, be frugal and avoid debt.

Avoid multi-level marketing gimmicks and getting in too deep right off the bat.  You can usually make more money by going into business in an area where you already have expertise and can provide a valuable service to others.  I’d suggest getting started while you still have full-time employment.  This will help you to test the waters and work the kinks out before you jump off into the deep end. 

Once you get things up and running, only buy what you absolutely need to get started.  You have to be very conservative as a small business owner.  I recommend avoiding debt and credit cards if at all possible.  I was in the service business so I did not have to buy inventory.  This made it much easier for me to avoid debt initially.  It is very easy to overextend yourself and then get behind.  This may lead to even more debt which can quickly lead to a death spiral.  Always ask yourself if the item you are about to purchase will contribute directly to the bottom line.  If it does not, then you should probably wait.  I made the mistake once of leasing office space.  It increased my overhead tremendously and was really more of a luxury than a necessity.

Open a separate checking account just for the business and do a budget.

No matter how small your operation is you need to open a dedicated bank account for the business that is totally separate from your personal account.  I would also strongly suggest that you create a budget so you can adequately control your money.  Any competent accountant will advise you to do these things as well.  Think of it this way, if you were managing this business for a silent owner that you only met with quarterly, how would you set things up?  You would want everything to be easy to track and explain when the time came.  Use this when setting up your business and it will save you grief down the road.  Deposit all the income from your business and pay all business related expenses from this separate account.  Whatever is left over is your profit.  This keeps everything nice and clear.

Incorporate to protect your personal assets.

Again, I have no professional expertise in the law so I recommend you discuss your particular situation with competent professionals.  In my situation, I was advised by professionals to form a corporation because it would limit my liability.  Specifically, I formed a Subchapter S Corporation.  It is my understanding that if you do not incorporate and operate instead as a sole proprietorship, then you are fully liable for the business and your personal assets are at risk should you ever default on any debt or lose a lawsuit.  You should check into this yourself.  Consult your accountant and possibly a lawyer.

Customer service is priority one!

Serving your customer is your business.  No matter what it is that you do, whether it is cleaning houses, building computer networks, laying tile, selling insurance, or doing people’s taxes, your real business is keeping your customer happy.  Without customers, you have no income and therefore no business.  In my opinion, the best way to do this is to set your client’s expectations up front and then exceed those expectations.  If you tell your client that you will be there at 8 a.m. to start the job, then be sitting in their driveway at ten till.  If you told them that you would have the job finished by Friday, then finish it on Thursday and let them know you are done.  Do a little more than what you promised to do and your customer will be impressed.  It never ceases to amaze me how so many small business owners don’t get this.  They tell you one thing and set your expectations for that and then something completely different.  This leads to disappointment and complaints.  Always, always, always set and exceed your customer’s expectations!

It was nice having this chat.

Well, thanks for asking my advice.  I hope I have told you something that will help.  I wish you all the success in the world as a small business owner.  It is a great adventure and something everyone should try.  If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.  My door is always open and I enjoy helping others!

Photos by Djenan and numberstumper and RW PhotoBug