During a conversation with a mompreneur, the conversation quickly focussed on dealing with the witching hour.  This is the time when kids, of all ages, become extra sensitive and difficult to manage in the hours leading up to bedtime.

In this period, the mompreneur talked about the difficulty in finding the balance between dealing with phone calls about the business and managing the needs of grumpy out of control children.  She found this part of the day very frustrating, which left her exhausted both emotionally and physically.  She was looking for answers.

I responded that by trying to do two things at the same time, she was committed to neither.  As a result, she was unlikely to be able to resolve the issues arising from each to her satisfaction.

My suggestion was to turn-off the mobile phone during the witching hour and commit to deal with the grumpy children as the priority.

The momprenuer was initially horrified with this suggestion as it meant her team would not be able to communicate with her about important business issues.

I pointed out that if there was an important issue, the person ringing will leave a message and you could get back to them once the children are in bed to tackle the issue with a clear mind.  If they didn’t leave a message the call couldn’t be that important and a response could wait till the next day.

Whilst the mompreneur agreed this was a sensible approach, it meant her family members would not be able to connect during the period the phone was off.

My response…get another mobile phone.  She will have two mobile phones one for business (switched off during the witching hour) and one for family and close contacts.

I am interested in hearing other ideas about how mumpreneurs balance family & business during the witching hour.