First of all: Thank you, Keaidy, for letting me share my story of overcoming one of the biggest challenges I had to face when I started my journey as a mom entrepreneur.

I would love to introduce myself:

I am Charlotte Duzong, born in Aruba, living in The Netherlands with my two amazing children Kate and Spencer, my partner Jan-Willem and our dog Beaxa. I speak English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento. I am an ideas-person who is passionate about helping moms manage their home and business efficiently. I am a recovering night owl, I thrive on supporting systems and habits and enjoy drinking pinja colada virgin in the sun :-)

Having said that I want to add that I wasn't always organized and efficient. I was the total opposite.

When I started my entrepreneurial journey  I thought that working from home would give me the freedom to build my business and be there for my children whenever they needed me ( just as good moms do)

Unfortunately I wasn't even close. With two kids under the age of two, I was overwhelmed, exhausted and restless all the time. I was struggling and hoping that one day my life would be less chaotic.

Most of the time I felt guilty. I felt guilty when I was working on my business because I was not with my children. And I felt guilty when I was around them all the time and not working, making money.

This was the most confusing and frustrating time. Three times I was at the edge of giving up on my dream of running a successful business.

On day was so torn apart and stressed out that I sat down and thought about the options I had:

The first one that came to my mind was to wait a few years until my children were older and going to school. I could be there 100% for them and be a good mom.

or

I could give it a go and focus 100% on my business and make more than enough income to provide for my family.

To be honest, neither of the options was making my heart sing. I couldn't see myself doing one or the other alone.

The thing is, I have big dreams and a desire to make a difference in the world. AND I really want to be the best mom I can be.

I want my children to be proud of me. I want them to know I love them very much and honor and respect my dreams and goals too. That is what I want them to do, too. Follow their dreams.

So my best option was to figure out how to have the best of both worlds.

I wanted to feel a sense of control over my life and have some kind of structure in my household. I wanted to be able to pursue my business dreams even if I had a busy life.

My solution

The first thing I did was search for everything that could help me organize my home quickly and easily. I read books, signed up for workshops, purchased online courses about paper-clutter, home-management, time-management and productivity.

Of all the tips, methods and systems that I've learned and implemented in my own home and life, some worked for us and some didn't.
I realized that there was NOT ONE single system or method that suited my needs as both a mom AND as an entrepreneur.

This is how my current business Smart Creative Mompreneur was born.

Now I work with other mompreneurs who want to build their businesses AND spend more quality time with their family, without the guilt and overwhelm.

My clients not only work more productively from home, and get big things done, but also find happiness as they pursue their dreams.

We as mompreneurs are not running one business, but two or more businesses at the same time. Your family IS your business too.

If you want to learn how to manage your home and business efficiently come on over to Smart Creative Mompreneur (URL) and get yourFREE e-book The 7 Time-Saving Secrets for Busy Moms.