Mompreneur's Guide to Start a Business

WomExperts

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To become a mompreneur is an ambition that many mothers harbor. It is one of the most satisfying roles a woman can aspire to play in her life. When becoming a successful mother itself is a challenging task, to take up the additional responsibility of becoming a successful entrepreneur makes the journey even more luring for personalities who enjoy facing challenges and winning them too. A successful mompreneur’s life is anybody’s envy and after penning her own success story, she can go on to give her valuable inputs to others who are also planning to do something similar.

However, before a mompreneur goes all the way to become successful, she has to make a start. Like any other successful mission in other fields of life, getting the right start is very, very important for a mompreneur as well. It requires a lot of thought and brainstorming to identify the business field where a mompreneur can aspire to have a successful run. It has to be interesting and suiting one’s interests and temperament; viable in terms of investment of time and finally, a potentially rewarding one for her financially. To make sure all these factors click in combination, a mompreneur can avail a guide to flag off the march. 

Adopting certain strategies does make the dual jobs of raising children and managing a business a less than difficult assignment. Here are five strategies that act as a perfect guide for mompreneurs to start a business: 

Identify a business potential that suits you, your place and timing: 

For a would-be mompreneur, identifying the right business venture in terms of temperamental suitability, space and timing is a key step to make. It is always good to start a business from home than go for expensive work spaces. It will not only help her keep the costs under control but also not leave the children alone for long hours. Any task looks easier to accomplish from the comfort zone of home and for someone who is just starting to manage two big responsibilities together, a home-based start is the perfect way to do it. Then comes the suitability part. It is always wise to identify a business area over which one has knowledge and interest. Brushing old knowledge and skills during free times help to get prepared for the business work. And finally, the timing. Mompreneurs would do best by opting a business profession which is more day-centric than night. Both your fronts should ideally be operational at the same time of the day and not one after another. The latter arrangement can leave you jaded, physically and mentally, in no time.  

Starting part-time and gradually change to full-time: 

It is always a wise thing to start slowly and like that famous tortoise, win the race by being steady. By beginning with a part-time enterprise, a mompreneur can overcome the transition much more easily. This also helps the children to adjust themselves with their mother’s life routine and they will not face a bigger problem when she eventually becomes a full-time entrepreneur.  

Divide the business work, learn multitasking:  

Like starting from a part-time venture, an aspiring mompreneur can also divide her business work into smaller parts and she could do those even while staying at home -- like for example, composing some business letters or sending official emails or having a brief tele-talk with a client or office aide. A mobile phone and laptop can be more than handy in doing the work in small parts yet when having a break time in the family (like when the kids have gone to school or sleep). A mompreneur who learns multitasking faster is the best candidate to master the business.  

The task of scheduling: 

Lesley Spencer-Pyle, the founder of HireMyMom.com -- a support network for mompreneurs who own business ventures in Spring, Texas -- has advised mompreneurs to put into place a schedule that will allow them to focus more on their work. Employing part-time baby-sitters or house-cleaners or delegating work to spouses or relatives will help create a support system that would help the would-be mompreneurs. Nothing like it for a mompreneur to have a supportive spouse. 

Not sacrificing family life: 

One may harbor the ambition of becoming a successful mompreneur but ensure that you are not ending up ignoring your family life. If she feels that her new business venture is making her sacrifice quality time with her family, then she can start a review system whereby she can keep a track on the distribution of time. It is key to decide what is more important and organize one’s agenda towards achieving that goal. If an aspiring mompreneur can succeed, at the very outset, to eliminate things that only waste time, her chances of emerging a better entrepreneur will only increase with experience. It is important for a mompreneur to have as healthy a family life if she wants to shine in the field of business.  

 A successful mompreneur will soon realize that besides having a biological baby or babies at home, she also has a ‘professional baby’ in her business as well. Both the babies at home and office will grow over time and they will need more of your time and commitment. The game will only get more challenging as you find it more satisfying. A mompreneur is thus advised to get herself mentally tougher as well so that she can cope with all the situations that she faces over time without being too harsh on herself.