Parentrepreneur: ISHA PANDIT

Isha Pandit

My biggest challenge as a parentrepreneur:

"The biggest challenge that I have as a parentrepreneur is balancing the needs of the business and my kids. When I am working, I feel that I don’t give enough time to my kids and when I am with kids, I feel that my business needs attention as well. With Covid, my kids are out of their preschool and I am trying to homeschool them. It has been challenging to keep them engaged constructively and at the same time focus on building up my business."

Some tips I would like to share with other parentrepreneurs: 

"It all boils down to time management. Planning my week ahead of time has helped me balance my work and professional life. Working from home, there is a thin line between the two. But when I set the goals for the week ahead of time, I can plan to accomplish them without feeling rushed. Having/ building a support system around me has also helped me a lot. In these times of COVID-19, social distancing has reduced the normal channels for help such as hiring babysitters or after-school programs. But the small social bubble that my family has created, has helped tremendously."
 

Something that I learnt from my kid(s):

"When I started homeschooling my kids, I looked at normal channels such as Instagram, Pinterest to understand what is needed and what activities I can do with my preschoolers. And I got overwhelmed by the number of bloggers and activities out there. One day, my kids got an empty milk carton. Slowly that milk carton became a "pretend play" object - from an animal barn to a musical drum to a bus. That made me realize that I don’t need any fancy preschool setup. I started planning activities using normal household objects and these objects hold the kids’ attention more than normal toys."

My bio:

"I am a business consultant and also the Co-founder & Chief Community Engagement Officer, Ladderworks."