Putting the Family to Work

With small businesses feeling the country’s economic woes, I too have fallen victim to having to tighten the budget. My small business Bilingual Fun has allowed me to create my work life around my family life. It has given me the flexibility to care for my young children while growing and running the business. This summer however, we are really feeling the pinch. Our student enrollment is down due to gas prices and overall economic tightness. I have had to cut back on the number of instructors and classes they teach. To top it all off my husband is recovering from surgery and on disability for a short time. The time has come, to put the family to work!

Although they are only 3 ½ and 6 years old, my children are learning the ropes of the business. They each have been given age appropriate duties to perform. Instead of paying my teenage assistants to prepare class materials, my 6 year old has taken over with many of these duties. She staples, cuts, colors, and collates. What you may ask, can my 3 ½ year old son do? Hmm… that is a good question and I am still working on it. He has however, been a big help with order fulfillment. He is a very organized little fellow, and does an exceptional job putting items in boxes (I color coded them for him).

My poor husband has only been home from the hospital for less than 48 hours and his list of business duties is already 2 pages long. I plan to utilize him to assist with many of the phone calls, research, advertising, PR, etc. that has been put on my back burner. Many of these duties I have been putting off because we just cannot afford to pay contract workers at the moment.

So although we continue to hear about the struggling economy, I hope that being creative with my funds and with my family, I will not succumb too much to the pinch and continue to move forward with our goals. Feel free to share any advice about incorporating children in the business duties!