5 ways to balance parenthood and building your business with Rosie Pope

Starting a family requires a lot of time, attention, and care, but it certainly doesn't have to be a reason to dampen anyone's entrepreneurial spirit.

Rosie Pope is an entrepreneur, designer, educator, TV personality and the creative force behind Rosie Pope Maternity & Baby, one of the leading brands in the maternity and parenting industry, also coined as the "Martha Stewart of maternity." Over the years, motherhood has taught Rosie a lot of invaluable tips of how to juggle a number of responsibilities varying from boardroom to baby room. Below, Pope shares five tips any person can use to effectively manage parenthood and business at the same time.

For the full interview and more discussion, check out the above episode of #BizChats. 

1. Have a backup plan

"Nothing ever goes the way you plan it to. Having a backup plan will help you feel a lot more confident about what's going on."

2. Acknowledge it will take longer than you think

"Nobody does it overnight even if it looks like it. It always takes longer than you think."

3. Build in some cushion

"If you're starting a business of if you're trying to climb the ranks somewhere, it always costs more money, takes more time, and is more involved with people than you ever imagined. But, particularly, starting your own business is going to cost more money than you think. Keep making more and more allowance."

4. Fake it ‘till you make it, but have someone in your tribe with whom you’re transparent

"Nobody wants to work with somebody that's sad. It's true! You have to have that level of confidence, not naivety or ignorance, but you have to be confident and believe in what you're doing. You can't come from a place of, 'I really love this project, but I haven't sold any yet. I really hope I can find somebody to buy them soon,' — you can't do that [your energy has to be], 'Everybody loves them, everybody's buying them, everything's going great!' Within fake it 'till you make it, you do need to have somebody in your tribe that can call you out. So, if you're faking it too much, you need somebody to be honest with you at all times."

5. Bring your baby to work

"If you work for me and hopefully the people you work for. It's totally possible, and I think there's a period of time that it's possible for. The first six months, it really, really could work, after that it gets a little tough, but there really is a way that you can balance out the two for a period of time."