A terrific question came in via my survey last week:
“I want to see how I can make a go of it with only about 30 minutes a day devoted to my business. I know this is a lot to ask, but that’s where my life is right now. I have five children, we homeschool, we are active in church and our two oldest each have one outside activity. I still only have about 30 minutes a day I can devote to my own thing.”
I’m not surprised to get a question like this from a busy mom with five homeschooled children. I’m willing to bet there are moms reading this who wonder where she’s finding that precious thirty minutes a day for herself on a consistent basis.
In reply I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that you can start a internet based business on 30 minutes a day.
The bad news is that it will be pretty slow going.
If you don’t need to realize income from your efforts for awhile that won’t be a big concern, but still – with only a half hour each day you need to have patience on the path to your new biz.
I have three important tips for you if you want to give it a go.
Cut that Learning Curve
You’ll want to cut straight to the chase with your learning efforts. Moms with hours of free time can stroll around the web plucking nuggets of wisdom from forums and blogs. You will get farther faster by dedicating yourself to a mentoring membership like my Mom Masterminds.
Choosy Moms Choose Smart
You’ll want to be choosy about your business model and target market. You sure can’t provide a service or sell products with only three and a half hours a week. With laser sharp focus (and the perfect target market and product choice) affiliate marketing could produce results over time but I’d be irresponsible to suggest that you’d earn any real money for years.
Don’t Do The Work Yourself
You can maximize your efforts by taking on the role of project manager then develop a team of talented service providers. Then fill that precious thirty minutes by assigning tasks and checking in with your team.
To learn more about running a business just a few hours a week you could read The 4-Hour Workweek
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Leslie Truex is the pajama-clad work-at-home mom dedicated to helping other moms live and work comfortably. She's the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible and owner of 
Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with 
Very good article.!!!!
The only thing I have a problem with was I found 4-hour work week to deep for light reading..really needed total uniterrupted day to devore this read!
Thanks again…keep up the blogging!
Great answers Kelly!
I’d like to add that although you could start a business on 30 min a day, to maintain or grow a business on that amount of time a week is a tall order. I suppose in theory it could be accomplished, but in reality I doubt it could happen.
If you have extensive experience in running the business you choose, it might be doable. But if you are also learning entrepreneurship while starting up your business, I’d like to caution to keep expectations in check.
Sounds a lot like me: homeschool, 4 kids, active at church… only I spend more time on my business out of pure necessity.
My thought was, why not involve the older kids in the business? My 9 year old is one of my virtual assistants. He knows 3 different website builders and can copy and paste like a pro.
Seriously, her 30 minutes plus 30 minutes from two kids is 90 minutes. Put them to proofreading and it’s English. Make them write articles and it’s Language Arts. How about Internet Research? They could do her bookkeeping = math. See where I’m going with this?
And she will probably have to not realize any profits her first year – perhaps longer.
Carrie Lauth’s last blog post..Work at Home Moms Aren’t Making The Feminine Mistake
You’re sure right Wendy.
‘learning entrepreneurship’ is a tall order unto itself.