Home Business Boundaries

For most stay-at-home moms, the main purpose of starting a small business is to supplement their household income while remaining available to care for their families. Yet, all too often we lose sight of the fact that we are stay-at-home moms with home based businesses so that we don’t neglect our families. If you are going to make a home business work while raising a family, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. 

What’s your “why” for your home business?  Most SAHMs begin their “career” living on only their husband’s income, which makes it difficult to make ends meet. Many women turn their hobbies into something that will make a little extra cash without taking away too much time and energy from their families. But without a concrete statement of purpose, home businesses can quickly take over your life. I encourage you to take some time to sit down with your husband and discuss the goals each of you has for your business. Together, set some expectations and boundaries to keep your business in its proper place.

Write a Mission Statement

If you are serious about starting a business that will not get in the way of your responsibilities to your family, you need to put your purpose into words. Write down your main goal for starting this business, and post it where you do most of your work. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something simple that will serve as a reminder to you of your mission as a stay-at-home mom who happens to own a small business. Something such as, “My purpose as a ______ is to help others improve their health and to supplement my family’s income so that I can afford to remain home with my children.”

Spend some time really capturing the heart of your business. What inspired you to begin? Why do you have a passion in this area? Keep the main thing the main thing and don’t let your original mission die as you dive deeper into the ins and outs of earning money.

Set Boundaries

For most women who start a home business, their husbands and children are their priority and earning money is only secondary. That is as it should be. God first, family second, others next, self last. But we can easily get caught up in the excitement of turning a passion into a money-making endeavor. In order to be sure you are not shirking your responsibilities as a Christian, wife, and mother, you need to set some boundaries. Again, sit down and discuss these with your husband so that he can hold you accountable. The following are suggestions of boundaries:

•       Set a daily/weekly limit for how much time you will invest in your business.
•       Work on your business only after ________ (my household chores have been completed, the children are working on school and don’t need my help, the little ones are down for a nap, the children are in bed for the night, etc.).
•       When my husband needs my attention, I will stop working and give him my full focus.
•       When my children need my attention,  I will put my desires for my project aside and tend to their needs.
•      If others are telling me that my business has become all-consuming, I will take a step back and evaluate.
•      I will do things in a legal, moral, and ethical manner and will abide by the laws of my country and my God in my business.
• Love and concern for others is my motivation. If making money ever becomes my main goal for the day, I need to step away from my business.

Come up with your own boundaries that serve your priorities. To help flesh out your boundaries, download this free printable! (Subscribe to Beautiful Chaos for a few more worksheets!).

Don’t Forget Who’s Boss

Even in “my” business, I am still under my husband’s headship and leadership. If my husband is not 100% in favor of what I am doing to earn money, my business has already failed. If my business comes between my husband and me, causes constant stress on our relationship, or takes up time I should be spending focused on his needs, then it’s time to rethink whether or not this is the right season for me to invest in earning money. 

I may start the business and do all of the nitty gritty work, but in God’s chain of command, I still work for my husband. Joshua is, in essence, my boss. He owns my company and he deserves my respect. I show him respect by running things the way he wants them run, and by paying close attention to how it is affecting our relationship. If your business does not please your husband, quit.

Having a home business can be a huge blessing to your family. It can also be a curse if you allow it to take your focus away from your mission as a Christian wife and mother. Your talents can be used to benefit your family financially, but don’t trade your family’s emotional and spiritual health for a few extra dollars.

Above all, maintain God's priorities.

“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things -- that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5).

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