We’ve all heard about the conventional time management advice out there. From breaking down your tasks into manageable bits, to creating new habits in 21 days, most of us have, at some point or another, thought about and even implemented ways to be more strategic with our time. Yet, as working women and moms, time management tends to take a life of its own complexity and nature. From attending to caregiving tasks, to last-minute parenting events, not to mention facing social and professional stigma and lack of gender equity, managing one’s time in a career context is a beast of its own. That’s where the IDEAS framework, anchored in the “Pay Yourself First” principle, comes in…
For working women and moms, managing time strategically and efficiently does not stop at allocating tasks to blocks of time, or creating a well-organized schedule and calendar. Time does not exactly flow on a continuum when one carries the mental load of managing a household, nurturing relationships, parenting or caregiving. Instead, time tends to be a fluid construct integrating the need for flexibility, adaptability and replenishment while allowing for self-compassion and grace, all the while getting things done as efficiently as possible. Talk about a conundrum….
After decades of applying traditional principles of time management, what I, and other women I’ve talked to have found, is that strategic time management for working women and moms is all but traditional or conventional for that matter. What it is, is an ever-changing, fluid construct that can adapt to each working woman and mom’s situation, context and environment. To help in the building of this construct, I’ve outlined what I call the IDEAS framework for strategic time management for working women and moms. This framework is based on the principle of “paying yourself first”, or investing in our most important, career and life-defining long-term goals first and foremost. For example, if your long-term, most important goals include writing a book, paying yourself first would mean investing your time strategically and consistently towards achieving this goal.
The IDEAS framework is as follows:
Identify your most important professional goals:
What are your most important, lifelong professional goals and aspirations? These may even be dreams you’ve had since you were a child, like starting your own business, ascending to the top of the corporate ladder, or research an important cause or topic to you?
Define the tasks to reach these goals
What tasks are needed to reach your goals. In order to write a book for instance, you may have to begin with defining a specific idea, mapping the content of the book, vetting your ideas with trusted advisors or friends.
Establish a time map of your process
Once you delineate the various tasks involved in accomplishing each goal, estimate how long each task is going to require. As a general rule of thumb, double up or multiply your time estimate by 2.5 to get as close as possible to the actual time it will take you, especially as a busy working woman and/or mom. Place these time estimates on your calendar to visualize how and where these would fit along with your everyday other tasks.
Act on it!
Placing your tasks on your calendar in the allotted time slots you’ve defined in the prior step will also allow you to treat these as full-blown appointments with yourself. Treat each task as an appointment for which you have to show up on time, and deliver the expected results. For instance, if you’ve allotted yourself one hour each day to write, make sure to actually show up and execute on a daily basis!
Support yourself and be accountable!
One thing that is often overlooked as related to strategic time management is the amount of support and accountability required. This is especially relevant for working women and moms who have a lot on their plates day in and day out. Finding like-minded women and moms on the same or a similar path can help provide the support needed, and keep you honest throughout this process, as you can also do for others as well!
Would you be interested in applying the IDEAS framework of strategic time management as a working woman and mom? Email us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com for more information.
Welcome to this week’s News Roundup, where we chat about what happened in the news around working women and moms’ careers, businesses, parenting and lifestyles. Read up…
Entrepreneur presents its 2021 100 Women of Impact, and we’re here for it…
In the news this week, Women’s Agenda writes former Facebook employee Frances Haugen’s interview reveals compromising truths about the online giant;
Have you heard about the Pandora Papers? This blockbuster report exposes how the world’s richest individuals conceal their fortune through tax schemes;
Does your company have a returnship program from caregivers getting back to work after a career gap? Forbes tips us off on how to build one;
Are you a small business owner? Black Enterprise lists 5 ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help you thrive in this new normal:
Facebook and Instagram were down for a few hours this week, and Business Insider reminds us of the threat this poses for small business owners;
Working mothers are hitting a wall during and as we slowly emerge from this pandemic. Millions among them are exiting the doors of their hard-earned careers for lack of adequate childcare and support. Many more are silently caving under the pressure of wearing too many hats while still having to uphold the very fabric of our families and societal structures. In the midst of all this pressure, the very concept of mothering has been made incredibly more complex than ever, what with the forced necessity to homeschool children while in quarantine, the instability of schools, educational institutions and governments, and the ever-looming threat of economic precariousness, political volatility, and health scares…
The beautiful gift that is mothering has become fraught with uncertainty, pressures and distractions of all kinds, from social media debates on the validity of vaccines to the need to do it all for our children, families and careers without ever skipping a beat…The result? Working mothers are exhausted. Not from the exhaustion that requires a day (or a month) off, or a nice vacation in a far-away tropical location with exotic beaches and strong cocktails…Rather, working moms are in dire need of a simplified, more balanced, less mentally, physically and emotionally tyrannical idea of what parenting ought to be in the 21st century…An idea that demands re-imagining the concept of motherhood down to its essential basics, rather than up to unattainable ideals of performance.
How do we re-imagine, then, a simpler idea of working motherhood than the one we’ve been grappling with for the past 18 months, and frankly, for years before that?
The first step here is admitting to ourselves that we’ve pushed ourselves, often through no or little fault of our own, way past the brink of over-exhaustion. In sometimes desperate attempts to prove we can have it all, so many of us have, consciously or not, subscribed to an elusive idea of performative motherhood anchored in perfectionism, guilt and laced with heavy hints of imposter syndrome.
The second step is to realize at the end of the day that although we can have it all, we can’t have it all at the same time…That everything is a trade-off… That some seasons might have us trade our purpose and fulfillment for our families, while others may have us stepping on the gas of our calling as our little ones learn to fly off the nest on their own…That all in all, even as we may count some as losses and others as gains, nothing is wasted in the building of the unique mothers birthed and grown out of our unique experiences and callings…
Last but not least, simplifying the idea of modern motherhood requires us to make peace with and embrace the uncertainty and change that are not only at the core of motherhood, but has also been our reality for the past 18 months. Understanding that change is the only constant, especially as working moms navigating a precarious global health crisis, not only helps us keep our sanity; but also helps us model a nimbler, more flexible and adaptable way of working and living.
Are you re-inventing a simplified approach to work and life?
Welcome to our #AskACPA feature where we answer financial, accounting and business questions.
Question: What business structure is best for my side hustle and/or small business?
Answer: The answer is: “It depends!” There are a number of factors that go into deciding the right structure for your business, including tax, liability, funding and personal considerations. As a small business owner, you must choose a business structure before registering your business with the state. Let’s start by taking a look at some of the most common structures for businesses…
Sole Proprietorships
A sole proprietorship is one of the most straightforward business structures, as it’s easy to form and gives its owner complete control over the business. If you perform business activities yet have not registered as any other kind of business, you’re automatically considered to be a sole proprietorship. You are also able to get a trade name.
However, this also means your business assets and liabilities are not separate from your personal liabilities and assets. In other words, you may be held personally liable for any obligation of the business. In addition, raising money may be challenging as banks may be more reluctant to lend to sole proprietorships, and your structure doesn’t allow you to issue and sell stocks.
Who is this for? A sole proprietorship may be a good choice for anyone wanting to test the waters for their business idea first, and in general, for any low-risk business.
Partnerships
Are you and one or many partners planning to own a business together? Then a partnership may be the right business structure for you. Keep in mind there are two main types of partnership structures, including Limited Partnerships (LP) and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP).
In Limited Partnerships, only one general partner has unlimited liability and must pay self-employment taxes, while the other partners have limited liability and limited control over the company. Any profit is passed through to the partners’ personal tax returns, hence the reason why partnerships are also known as “pass-through” entities.
As for Limited Liability partnerships, they afford their owners limited liability, thus protecting them from debts against the partnership.
Who is this for?
Similar to sole proprietorships, partnerships may be good for groups of owners wanting to test their ideas before building a more formal structure. In general, partnerships are well suited to professional groups such as accountants or lawyers.
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Are you looking to have both the advantages of partnerships and corporations?
Do you have a medium to high-risk business?
In this case, you may elect to form an LLC. While an LLC protects you from personal liability in case the business faces a lawsuit or bankruptcy, it also can allow for profits and losses to pass through to your personal income and avoid corporate taxes. LLC members, however, are treated as self-employed and have to pay the self-employment tax.
Who is this for?
LLCs are well suited to members who own sizable personal assets they need to protect, as well as owners who aspire to a lower tax rate than the corporate tax, and medium or higher risk businesses.
Corporations
There are many corporations, including:
C corporations
C Corporations are legal entities separate from their owners, and protect the latter from legal liability. As a matter of fact, they can be taxed, make a profit, and be liable legally. In many instances, C corporations can be taxed
A great advantage of corporations consists in their ability to raise capital through the sale of stock. However, they are more costly to form than other structures, and demand more complex processes, reporting and record-keeping.
Who is this for?
C corps are a good choice for medium to higher-risk businesses in need of capital.
S Corporations
S Corporations help you avoid the double taxation that C corps are subject to. Profits and losses are passed through to the owners’ income without being taxed at corporate rates. S corporations may be taxed differently depending on the state they’re in.
Who is this for?
S corporations are good options for businesses that would be structured as a C corporation, but do qualify to be an S corporation.
B Corporations
Benefit corporations, called B corporations, are for-profit corporations taxed like C corporations. However, they are required by shareholders to generate a public benefit, in addition to financial profits.
Who is this for?
B corporations are a good choice for business owners interested in producing a public benefit along with financial profits.
Close corporations
Similar to B corporations, close corporations are less traditionally structured. They are usually not traded publicly. Usually, they can be run by small groups of shareholders. However, they don’t have a board of directors.
Who is this for?
Close corporations are well suited for business owners who do not want a traditional corporate structure.
Nonprofit corporation
Nonprofit corporations, often called 501(c)(3), are usually dedicated to dong charity, religious, educational, scientific or literary work to benefit the public. As such, they can receive tax-exempt status allowing them not to pay state or federal income taxes on their profits. However, they follow an organizational structure similar to a C Corporation.
Who is this for?
Nonprofit corporations are a good choice for business owners who want to do work to benefit the public.
Cooperative
Cooperatives are businesses or organizations benefiting those using its services, also known as user-owners. They are run by an elected board of directors and officers. Members can join the cooperative through the purchase of shares, and distributed profits among themselves.
Who is this for?
Cooperatives are for owners interested in using the services and sharing the profits of the business among themselves.
After reading about these different structures, which one(s) do you think appeal most to you?
One thing that is sure about the pandemic, is that it has definitely radically altered the way we think about work, especially as working women and moms. As we went through the pandemic and watched the lines between work, life and parenting being blurred, throwing working moms and women into an abyss of unending and exhausting responsibilities and struggles. As a result, many, if not most working women and moms, have been re-thinking their careers and what they truly want out of work.
According to a recent research by McKinsey, one in four working women in North America revealed they were considering a career downshift or dropping out of the workforce entirely. This shift in career attitudes and expectations clearly shows women and moms are stepping away from traditional views on work, and redefining its meaning in their lives. However, for many, this also equates to stepping onto unfamiliar territory. After all, most of what we known as far as work and careers go, comes from traditional perspectives passed on from previous generations. For the longest time, work has been confined to something we do to earn a living, separate from who we are and the personal parts of our lives. Today, and especially after the pandemic, the lines between the personal and professional have been incredibly, and probably irretrievably, blurred. We work from the same homes we raise our kids in, often on the same kitchen tables we eat our family meals on, in the same environment we live, breathe and evolve in every single day. Sometimes, work even involves sharing some of our most private moments on screen and social media, when our positions require it or when our careers err on the side of unconventionality. In any case, work is definitely not what it used to be, which is only one more reason to revisit our careers and what we truly want out of it…
Yet, where do we even begin in this monumental quest to re-define what we want out of work, when the last thing we need is yet another monumental task on our to-do list. This is the question so many working women and moms are asking themselves at this very moment, as some are forced to exit the workforce for lack of adequate childcare and others are seeking a relief from chronic burnout. The reality is, revisiting the very meaning and purpose of our careers is not a one-time thing. The reality is, it’s a process that requires regular attention and dedication. While it may vary from individual to individual, depending on personal preferences, circumstances and choices, it’s anchored in three major principles, including:
Shifting Your Mindset
Rethinking the meaning, place and purpose of work in our lives is no easy feat. Considering the amount and sheer number of pressures faced by the average person, from financial to economic and personal pressures, stepping outside of the traditional norms of work in order to create one’s own definition of professional success can be a daring act in and of itself. Yet, it’s very much a necessary one…
How would you envision your ideal career if money and the other pressures of life were non-existent? What would professional fulfillment and purpose look like to you? How would you rethink your career ambitions to fit your life, personality and priorities?
Organizing your Priorities
Speaking of priorities, a big part of rethinking our careers as working women and moms is also a matter of organizing, and re-organizing our priorities. One thing the pandemic exposed for many, if not most of us, is the lack of boundaries existing between the different areas of our lives. Let’s remember for working women and moms, work is all around, from the professional work we do in and out of the office, to the work we do at home folding laundry, cooking meals and homeschooling kids…
While much of this lack of boundaries was a result of extreme circumstances imposed to us by a global health crisis, a significant part of it was inherited from a latent inequity in social roles and responsibilities at the expense of working women and moms’ balance, health and sanity. This is where understanding, acknowledging and organizing our priorities comes into play…
What truly matters to you? What can you delegate or get more help and assistance on? What are non-negotiables in your work and life? What constitutes a sacred space for you? These are all questions that touch to the core of who we are as working women and moms, that have been neglected for far too long in favor of the proverbial hustle to get it all done. Maybe this is the time to put them back on the table…
Learning to Set Boundaries
Where lines between work and every other area of our lives have been blurred during the pandemic, most of us have realized the urgent need for boundaries in the way we work and live. As we re-imagine our careers in the wake of this crisis, we’re also slowly learning to stop teetering on the edge of personal and professional burnout and exhaustion. This requires getting re-acquainted with the concept of boundaries.
What boundaries do you feel are lacking in your work and life? How did this impact you during the pandemic? What kind of boundaries would you set in your ideal career?
As so many working women and moms are reframing their vision of their careers after the pandemic, many questions are coming to the forefront. While these are challenging our traditional views on work, they’re also helping create the new working world for women and moms.
Are you rethinking what you want out of your career after the pandemic?
