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GreenMonkey1
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Advice for the Self Employed
GreenMonkey1
member
in Working Moms
DH is a self employed attorney (I have a job with a company). We're expecting our first and due mid-July. I could use some advice/thoughts on juggling a self employed schedule and being a parent.
My husband does a lot of work nights/weekends, which he knows is not completely sustainable once we have the child. But I don't think he knows how to restructure his work to be conducive to being home and not working. We've talked about it a little and he always says he needs to work different hours and how he's going to start now to get himself more acclimated. Which he doesn't do.
I know a lot of this will be trial and error once the baby comes. Me taking on more responsibilities in the house would basically mean me doing pretty much everything. I don't want to nag him so I've laid low on the subject for the most part.
Any advice or thoughts?
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Re: Advice for the Self Employed
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My husband teaches a lot of online classes, so to save on daycare costs he does a lot of work when the rest of us are sleeping. He has to do meetings and office hours during regular working hours, for which he goes to campus, but his asynchronous work gets done while our son sleeps. So DH works 7 days a weeks from 9pm-2am and then some during naps and teaches one face-to-face class and holds office hours on the day he teaches. Personally, I can't do WFH because I need the physical separation of home and office, but I am so grateful that DH can because it has saved us a wad on daycare!
This is really tough, but in the end the solution depends on the reasons that he is working late and weekends. Is he spending the day answering phones and doing administrative work, so then he has to do his legal work nights and weekends? If so, maybe it's time for staff or more staff. Is he just not good at managing his time during the day? If that's the problem then he needs to work on a schedule and blocking out time for certain tasks.
I agree with PP that if he works at home right now, renting office space may really help him separate work and home time.
If he really has to do some work on the nights and weekends, maybe you can get into a routine where he does no work from 6 to 10 (or whatever). Make that just "home/family time" and when it's over he can work. On the weekends do the reverse, so he can work from 8 to 12 but then has to stop until evening.
He should also talk to other solos that he knows who have families about how they make it work.
He has an office space, which I agree is super helpful. I know when he works from home (such as when he has to wait for a repair person) that he gets significantly less done.
Those are all very good questions. I presume during the day he is working efficiently, but I really couldn't tell. At some point I think he'll have to hire someone to do something (billing, filing at the office, filing briefs etc). He's at the point right now where he doesn't think he makes enough money to hire someone else, but the work load is getting to be a lot for one person. I do think some of his issue is prioritizing and the fact that he is not a morning person (going to have to get better since the baby is not going to run on an adult sleep schedule). So I don't know when he gets to work (I leave the house at 6:30/6:45 and he isn't awake) - he could start at 9 or 10 am for all I know.
At night it's usually answering emails, researching, reading files, etc. So I guess it is part legal and part administrative.
Talking to other solos is a good idea as they will likely have some good ideas about creating the balance. I'd also like to go over his books because there may be money for a law clerk or someone else to do some of the administrative work. Or just go over with him how he structures his day as there may be a way to find more time with another set of eyes.
LOL about getting started at 9 or 10 - because I am definitely guilty of that at times!
I totally get where he is right now with the workload being high but money not quite high enough to hire staff. Maybe he can look into getting someone for just 15-20 hours per week. A college kid who wants to go to law school one day may be good. In my area there are also lots of bookkeepers who just come a few hours one day per week but save you tons of time on a daily basis.
My DH is also a self-employed attorney (sole practitioner) and I LOVE it. He has a network of other attorneys that help him out and vice versa when needed. He shares space with them to save money and shares an admin with one of them so he has help part-time. What I love about it is he has flexibility, except of course when court is scheduled. Because he can work nights and weekends if DD is sick or something comes up he can more easily take off. Also, he goes in later than me making it easier on me in the morning when getting ready etc.. He is a civil litigator/estate attorney so he is not in court as often as some other specialties, which allows for the flexibility. He leaves for work around 9 and gets home by 5:30 most days. He just makes it work. He also has the ability to take on less work when needed because he does not answer to anyone, although he understands that will not make him rich but at this point we don't care family is more important. I carry all of our benefits so we are good there. It can be done he just needs to learn how to make it work and you guys needed to decided what he needs to bring home as far as salary.