Entrepreneur

This happened to a co-founder I had, ended up having a kid. Literally sent me and the rest of the small team we had a video message in tears. He really wanted to make it work, but he just couldn't, and nobody could blame him, and he went back to work in marketing at some corporate somewhere. We literally started up at the beginning of 2020, right before anyone knew COVID was going to be a "thing," and everything was smooth sailing for us, while we watched everyone else's businesses around us burn. But yeah, our Achilles' heel ended up being a newborn and not COVID, as crazy as that might seem in retrospect.

i was newly divorced with two young children...so yea, it was very tuff being a single dad with kids trying to build a business.

Prioritize your family. No one says they wish they spent more time in their business on their deathbed. It's not just time and energy that changes when your kids are born, but the amount of risk you are willing to take. Your expenses can also go through the roof if you're not careful, making it harder to quit your full-time job.

As the business grew, I found myself spending too much time on it. Luckily I have an intense father-in-law and he told me in no uncertain terms that I was killing the family. I also surrounded myself with a board and mentors that knew my business objectives were secondary to my mental health and my family's health. This helped me make the pivot to a more balanced life once things were doing well - something many entrepreneurs just don't do.

Having said that, there are seasons where you'll have a little more time. I found that the kids got much easier around 3 years old and they were out of diapers and the terrible 2s, then there was another break when they started going to school. As soon as my son hit high school, he needed me more again. I started my venture when my kids were 4 and 2 and it was a hard time but I've been able to slow down since and spend more time with the kids. If you still want to start your own thing, save as much as you can and plan a good time to start around your family.

I have 3 kids under 2(twin boys 21months and a new born girl(6 weeks). I have talked about it before but I make good money blogging and started this newsletter where I write everyday for a year! It’s been hard but I make time for it all.

It’s possible just gotta be 100% focused in the free time you have and make sure you do everything you can when they are napping, sleeping. I write tons of notes for myself so when they are in bed I jump right into action on the tasks I need to do.

I started my company before I had kids. Couldn’t imagine doing it now. The early years just take too much time.

I was just searching for a parent entrepreneur sub - specifically for support around a side hustle. I’ve got 3 kids (3,5 and 8 yrs old) and I’m thinking about starting a business in the natural home goods / cleaning products space. The rub is that I can’t quit my job, and have maybe 2 hours at night after the kids go to bed to work on the business. I acquired a super small niche website back in March and made the evening work thing happen for a few months - and feel like I’m still recovering from the burnout from the side hustle + parenting + work.

The main struggle from my perspective is that I can’t see sacrificing my relationship with my kids - that 5-8pm time with them is sacred. So I’m left with the 8-10pm time to work but my energy is low after a full day. I keep talking about wanting to jump in again to running a business (and have made some moves in that direction) but generally am finding it tough to work consistently at night. I’d rather cook, rest, watch tv etc - almost anything other than be on the computer (which is my full time gig).

Being an involved parent and trying to start a side hustle feels more or less impossible. It’s definitely something I want but I haven’t figured out how to make it happen. Having consistent energy to give consistent time to growing a thing is definitely the biggest road block.

Thanks for posting this! Felt timely

I chose to be an entrepreneur instead of having kids. Both take massive amounts of time and effort, it really depends on your priorities and disposition.

For me, being an entrepreneur won out :) For you, it sounds like having kids did :)

Got 2 and now divorced lol. I just grinded after my 9-5 until it took off so I went self-employed

Father of a 4 & 6 y/o. I am assuming for your day job you work in an office? I work from home. That's the key difference. I don't think this would work if I worked in an office. My typical day is I wake up (7:30ish) and help my wife wrangle the kids for the day. She takes the 4 y/o to pre-school and I usually wait for the bus to pick up my 6 y/o.

From 9-5 it's usually 80% my day job. I take some meetings for my startup but I usually save my brain space for the day job. From 5-6 is a transitional time. Sometimes I pick up something urgent for my startup, sometimes I want to wrap up something for my day job, and sometimes I just got hangout with my family.

I am also the primary food provider. By 6 I'm in full chef mode. I ask my kids to help me cook most nights of the week. They really love it and it gives my wife a break. I'm huge into using a sous-vide and or rice cooker so I don't have to spend a bunch of active time in the kitchen. We eat dinner together then start the get ready for bed process which I'm usually a full participant in.

My wife goes to bed right about the same time my kids do 8:30-9:30 range but I'm a lifelong night owl. After they are in bed I work on my startup project I usually have to force myself to go to sleep around midnight. Sometimes I just can't let it go and stay up past 2am but I try to steer myself way from doing that often.

I'd really love to focus on just my startup but we aren't there yet. Our pace is definitely slower than it could be if I were single or were able to quit my day job. At the same time I feel more engaged with my family than I did at my prepandemic office job and I believe my wife feels the same.

Quit job and went all in on my business about 2 months before our second was do. Hasn’t been easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think maybe the thought of letting them down keeps me from ever considering failure as an option.

Kudos to my wife for just telling me to go for it, though. She makes it possible every day for me to do work I love doing.

I had 2 kids when I started. I have four now. It is mentally challenging knowing the business could be growing faster if I gave up more time with my family. It’s a constant struggle for me finding the sweet spot. I haven’t quite found it yet.

Yes I have three young kids, i started my two businesses couple of months before no 3 came along

How about you look at this way, if you have a business, you can create something that allows you to be at home all the time with your family.

My kids think its normal for dad to be at home.