Want to be a ‘Mompreneur’?
April 16, 2012
Entrepreneur magazine defines a mompreneur as "a female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur."
It's certainly not easy. Just ask any mom and/or small business owner and you'll learn just how difficult each of these jobs is on its own, let alone combined with the other!
According to the Miami Herald, many moms who start businesses from home can arrange their schedule to better allow them to balance work and family obligations. Maria Bailey, CEO of BSM Media and founder of the SheStreams conference told the newspaper that as many as 80 percent of stay-at-home mompreneurs sacrifice sleep and time with their spouses in order to work between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Some mompreneurs just have a good idea and want to be their own boss, while others start their ventures out of necessity.
"The downturn in the economy opened the gates to a new generation of mompreneurs who are tech savvy and innovative," Maria Bailey, author of Trillion Dollar Moms and host of Mom Talk Radio, told Entrepreneur magazine. "Mothers have always been the leaders when necessity appears and many moms who were in the home when their spouses lost their jobs stepped up."
The publication reports that many current small business trends are ideal for mompreneurs, including firms that specialize in social media, environmentally-friendly products, smartphone applications and franchise opportunities.
For example, moms have been responsible for launching some popular smartphone applications. Baby Bump, helps women track their pregnancies and choose baby names. Road Trip Bingo, a family travel game, and Mom Maps, an application that helps parents locate child-friendly locations while they're out and about, were also launched by mompreneurs.
Other successful mom-owned small businesses have followed the popular adage that necessity is the mother of invention. Women, such as Christine Moss, who invented the Snack-Trap as a way to keep her own children's snacks from ending up on the floor, see a need in their own lives and start a business based on a feeling that others would use a similar product.
Baby Einstein, Stroller Strides, The Huffington Post and Teleflora are just a few of the well-known companies that were started by female entrepreneurs. But these women are also moms.
According to the Women's Business Research Center, women-owned businesses contribute $3 trillion to the economy each year, and are responsible for as many as 23 million (16 percent) jobs in the United States.
Like any other small business, moms who launch their own business need to follow similar steps to make their vision of entrepreneurship a reality. These steps include writing a business plan, securing financing, finding a location, registering your business name, getting a tax identification number, determining your business structure, obtaining licenses and permits and hiring employees.
Moms who want to ensure their success as a business owner may consider pursuing a business degree. Whether you choose a traditional brick-and-mortar college or university or take classes online, a college education can help make business ownership a little more manageable.
Grants for parents, scholarships for mothers, single mother scholarships and other financial aid can help offset the cost of your education as well.
