The world of Business is stormed with new lingos now and then, with some holding the ground and others biting the dust after a temporary stir.

While it is still early to categorize the word Mompreneur, it has got its fair share of attention from the industry experts, funding institutions, startup circles and most importantly from the working moms themselves.

The following paragraphs aim to explore whether this precise attention is received in positive light or something that can be given a pass for its presumed sexist undertones.

How is Mompreneur defined?

Wikipedia classifies Mompreneur as neologism wherein a female business owner actively balances the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur.

The catchphrase is a subset of the larger socio-economic phenomenon called “work at home parent”.

Currently a hot trend!

Currently a hot trend, especially in the small business sector, this terminology for entrepreneur moms has a dedicated section on the Entrepreneur.com website.

It has gathered publicity buzz owing to the Internet and social platform age where full time mothers are able to run successful business ventures from home instead of the erstwhile dependence on brick and mortar commercial structures.

Mom Entrepreneurs and Work Life Balance – Mythical Association

Mothers who choose to operate their business from home, have to constantly carry the baggage of the term ‘Work Life Balance’ as working from home is conveniently synonymous with raising your kids devotedly without the corporate pressures and yet enjoying the perks of professional life.

This is the reason why most of the web searches related to mompreneurs leads to results that have tips on achieving work life balance or how both these two phenomena go hand in hand.

Web content is mostly concerned to address the “Moms” 

However the reality is quite different. Most of the successful entrepreneurs who also happen to be full time moms swear by the fact that there is hardly any difference in the way they run their business compared to other entrepreneurs.

It is a matter of societal perception that forcibly creates a delusion of balancing careers with family obligations.

Interestingly, it is only the women entrepreneurs who are targeted with such classification. Dad entrepreneurs rarely have to deal with the overbearing concern of work life balance.

Plus there are hardly any blogs, articles or newsletters that target working moms in learning how to scale up their business, sourcing funds for the venture or approaches to give economical twist to creative ideas.

Web content is mostly concerned to address the “Mom” aspect of the Mompreneur by doling out guidelines on managing childcare costs or achieving quality family life.

This mindset takes away the credit from the successful mothers who are putting hours of work and sweat in running their business.

Valid Features of a Working Mom

Women entrepreneurs represent about one-third of all entrepreneurs worldwide with 70% working moms in US and approx. 76% of moms in Canada running their own show. (Source:www.marketwired.com and www.womenentrepreneurshipplatform.eu)

The global drift of more women opting to be self-employed comes from the fact that being a mother is not seen as a hindrance in the path of owning a business.

Children on the other hand have inspired tons of business ideas for their entrepreneur moms.

The success of being a female entrepreneur boils down to the usual business ingredients of having clear idea/vision, tenacity, Funds, target customers, planned resources and scheduling.

Top 4 Realities behind Successful Mompreneur

• Things get easy when done together. Mompreneurs can benefit from a community or network of like-minded women. They can associate strategically for the betterment of their business through sharing of knowledge and resources. In words of Lisa Stone, co-founder of BlogHer (most followed female-focused media platform in US) “Ban toxic people from your life. You already have limited time with your plate being full. Living or working around people who bring you down won’t help.” Such progressive Mompreneur clubs help you to remain motivated towards your goal.

Ban toxic people from your life. You already have limited time with your plate being full!

• Working moms consciously manage the “poor me” syndrome by working harder, smarter and longer. Negativity creates unseen shackles of self –doubt and procrastination. Even male entrepreneurs have their own set of stress factors and the comparison only puts one in negative thought loop. It doesn’t change the fact that being a working mom requires effort and inspiration rather than singing praises of how lucky the male counterparts are.

Working moms consciously manage the “poor me” syndrome

• Scheduling and Outsourcing have proven to work wonders for mompreneurs around the world. “Letting go perfection in smallest things, waking up early and outsourcing tasks not in your zone of genius means more time to devote to advertise your business or plan a park trip with your kid”, says Nellie Akalp, founder of CorpNet and mother of 4 children.

Scheduling and Outsourcing have proven to work wonders for mompreneurs

• Tackling the disparity in terms of housework, childcare and getting investors to fund their business ranks among the prime challenges for mompreneurs. Working moms spent 3 hours more per week on housework and twice the time on childcare as compared to their male counterparts. On business front, investors preferred a venture pitch by a man to an identical pitch by woman at a rate of 68% to 32% (Source: medium.com Tech Diversity Files) Mompreneurs need to find creative ways to battle this professional struggle and find a common ground with male partners on home duties.

Investors preferred a venture pitch by a man to an identical pitch by woman

In conclusion, during the course of running a business, the role of mother supersedes the role of entrepreneur or vice versa depending upon the need of the hour.

Mom entrepreneurs have no choice but to be guilt free and stay positive, assured that amidst their hectic schedule, children are learning to be independent, self reliant and getting first hand view of how business works – all of which helps them in the long term.

Mompreneur or not, being a mom and an entrepreneur are after all exclusive cases with manageable overlaps.

As put beautifully by Nusha Pelicano (A franchisee with Orange Leaf, frozen yoghurt company, single mother of 6 and Ironman competitor) –

“Mompreneurs need to relax, have faith and take one day at a time. The secret is changing directions quickly and in the end it all balances out”.

Mitalee.