When you’re a parent, it’s a difficult task to juggle both your professional and your home life. Now imagine you are your own boss, a business owner.

While the life of an entrepreneur parent may seem to hold all kinds of benefits, think about how much more difficult it is to be both a good parent and an effective manager of your own business.

Freedom comes with a cost, after all, and for some people it might be too much to bear but for those that can survive the dual challenges of parentings and entrepreneurship, the rewards are pretty significant.

In this article we will offer you some advice about how you can both be a successful business owner and a successful parent at the same time.

The first step is to find what inspires you and to follow through on it. This isn’t just something you enjoy, but rather a field you are truly passionate about for the rest of your life. Don’t settle on something you have to do to pay the bills, engage in a business that you know you will love from day one until the moment you sell the company.

The second biggest piece of advice after that is finding ways to connect your child and family to your company. How can you involve your kids in the family business and what strategies can you use to achieve that? It all depends on the child’s age but a good rule of thumb is the more buy-in the child feels like they have in your company’s direction, they more involved and closer they will feel to you as a parent. Make it known to your child that you value their input and want them with you on your journey as an entrepreneur.

Part of doing that is freeing up your time to potentially focus on other tasks or even engage in family activities. As you grow your company look for software that can help you do just that. Such things like contract management software and part-time freelancers could really help you open up your schedule for more time with your children or business development.

Along those lines, establish some ground rules that you stick to when it comes to business time and family time. Sure, your company may need you more during certain seasons over others but you should try to stick to a schedule. Again, grow your company and free up your time with awesome efficiencies like contract management software to help you manage your invoices.

Part of establishing hard boundaries is that you enable yourself to give 100% to each task at hand. Whether it is your family or your business, divided attentions are of no benefit to either. Focus on one at a time and both will thrive. If your children know you value them then you will be able to add value elsewhere. Always take a view of the big picture and insure that the primary objectives, not the day-to-day tasks, drive you forward.