If you’re a parent living with a disability, it can be tough to hold down traditional full-time employment. Between managing your own health and prioritizing family commitments, you might require more flexibility than a typical employer will grant you.

That’s why entrepreneurship can be a great solution for working parents with disabilities. By making your own schedule and maintaining a reasonable workload, you’ll be able to support your family and find balance in life. These tips will help you set up your business plan, get your workload under control, and find childcare, if necessary.

Start with a Business Plan

Your first step will be learning how to set up a new company. You’ll need to write up a concrete business plan that you can refer to throughout the first few months of running your business. Your plan should detail your marketing and sales plan, including how you’ll reach your target market. It should also include your company name, description, and financial projections. You’ll want to include a section on your estimated budget as well.

If you’re starting a home-based business with low overhead, you may not need outside funding. But what if you’re going to incur higher start-up costs? You’re probably concerned about covering these expenses along with your household’s usual spending. In this scenario, you’ll want to apply for grants. If you need to apply for grants or external funding, you’ll have to share budget figures.

You’ll want to spend plenty of time working on your grant applications. Small business grants can be quite competitive! When it comes to applying for grants, Fifth Third Bank recommends researching private and government grants that are offered to entrepreneurs with disabilities.

Whatever your business plan, you’ll need to manage your business’s finances with accounting software. You should put your accounting software to work for you by investing in the easiest-to-use software you can. Not only will you have all the tools you’ll need to track and manage expenses, inventory, and accounts, you’ll save time and money by working more efficiently and with fewer details slipping through the cracks. There are also different plans that allow you to scale up as your business grows.

Choose a Business Structure

When you’re launching a new business, you’ll want to research different business structures and register your company with the right structure as soon as possible. Many new entrepreneurs choose to incorporate their companies as LLCs for the numerous benefits that come with this structure.

For example, the LLC structure provides business owners with limited liability, so your personal financial assets will be protected. Plus, you’ll enjoy some helpful tax advantages, and filing for an LLC won’t require much paperwork. However, each state has its own filing requirements, you’ll want to check out the local rules before getting started.

For differing tax treatment by the IRS, it’s worth considering founding an S Corp in your state. While this structure offers its own advantages, it is more expensive to establish and maintain. Be sure to research your options before making a decision.

Market Your Services

You’re eager to start selling your products and services. But you don’t have customers yet! Learning how to market your business and find your very first customers can be challenging, but it’s a necessary part of building your business. You can get started by setting up a website and social media accounts for your business. Start sharing content that highlights your offerings, and follow people in your industry to form valuable connections.

Part of your business’s marketability depends on branding, and perhaps the most important branding feature after your business name is its logo. When you’re just getting started, avoid hiring an expensive graphic designer by using a logo maker online app for free instead. You can customize a template with colors, text, and graphics until it suits your tastes, and then you can download it to use on your marketing materials.

If you don’t want to rely entirely on marketing, you can also purchase client leads through a lead generation company. Finding lead gen companies isn’t difficult. Simply find a good online review site and find a few that are highly rated. Look specifically for companies that manage clients like you so that you are sure to get the right kinds of leads. Then reach out to a few companies to get a sense of which one is the best fit for you.

Find Childcare

Perhaps you and your spouse already handle childcare during the workday because you both work from home. Or maybe you have a relative who watches your child on a daily basis. But even if you have control over your own schedule as an entrepreneur, you may still have days when you need someone else to watch your child because you’re quite busy. Lining up qualified childcare can take time, so it’s best to start looking early! Ask your loved ones if they can refer you to any trustworthy babysitters.

Hire Employees

In the early days of your business, you might be able to handle everything on your own. But as you start attracting more and more customers, you may realize that you’re feeling a little overwhelmed. When you have a disability, burnout can be especially detrimental to your health. If you know that you need assistance, don’t hesitate to hire employees or contractors for more support. To find the right employees, Sea Coast Bank recommends being clear about what the role entails from the start. That way, candidates will understand your specific needs and expectations.

Manage Your Workload

How can you best manage your time and workload so that you’re not sitting at your desk until late in the day? Be honest with yourself about how many clients you can realistically take on at a time. Implementing a few time management strategies can help, too. ValueWalk recommends using a bullet journal to stay organized or creating a Kanban board to track your progress on key projects.

For many parents with disabilities, working at a standard office job isn’t always feasible. But when you run your own business, you get to decide how your average day looks. With these tips, you’ll be ready to launch your own business!