How To Balance A Business And Caregiving

Owning a business is a full-time job, being a parent is a full-time job. Owning a business is not the same as working for an employer. You can’t just clock out for the day and that be that. It’s already a struggle trying to mentally clock out when being a business owner. The role is constantly there 24/7, even on vacations and the exact same thing can be said when it comes to being a parent.

But what about being a caregiver?  Chances are, at one point in time, you can count on playing the role of a caretaker towards your grandparents, parents, or maybe some other aging loved one within the family. It’s essentially inevitable.

While it can feel so rewarding getting to show your love and dedication to this person, trying to balance out your personal responsibilities, your work responsibilities, on top of these new responsibilities can be far too overwhelming. So what can be done?

Create a schedule

You need to create a schedule that you can consistently stick to, and allow no exceptions to interfere with this schedule. If you promised your aging loved one that you’ll swing by to help them out by 12 in the afternoon, then you need to make sure for the next hour or so there aren’t going to be any interruptions such as meetings. So create a schedule that you know for a fact you will stick to.

You want your aging loved ones to know that they can rely on you. You want them to know they can trust you to be around. Yes, it can be difficult to balance this out, and business owners are known for having an inconsistent schedule but you have to buckle down and get organised with this. There are apps available online that can help you with improving your schedule.

Don’t go at this alone

Recruit some help if you can. This can include other family members, your spouse, family friends, or anyone else you see as a fit. Sharing the caregiving responsibilities with the family is important.

Not only does this allow for you to have some reliable reinforcements that can help you out. But this also means that you don’t need to stress about schedule conflicts or work-related responsibilities either. There are also some benefits for your aging loved one too. They’ll be able to see some other family members and mingle with them which can help fight off loneliness.

Hire a professional

Maybe your aging loved one has far more health-related issues than you could have imagined. If they need around-the-clock care, then this may not be something for you.

While it’s important to contribute to helping out, sometimes, the best thing you can do is to look for private carers and get them to help out. They’re the professionals who know exactly what to do. They’ll be able to provide your aging loved one with everything that you need. They have been specially trained and educated on certain protocols and if anything happens, they’ll know what to do and how to handle it.