Becoming a Mompreneur!

 

“We gain strength and courage and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face….. We must do that which we think we cannot!” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

 

You are a Mom dreaming of starting your own business!  Congratulations …. and welcome to the world of self-employment!  Women make up a large percent of new business’s in Canada.  Perhaps like me you were 9 months pregnant and ready to go on a maternity leave,  your world was about to change.  You were told while on your last week of work in the “corporate world” that your company didn’t receive their funding and the contract would not be renewed.  Like so many people today you now find yourself unemployed.

What is a girl to do?  Well she re-invents herself of course.  Moms are wonderful at the act of multi-tasking, organizing and reinventing the wheel.  These are great skills necessary when you are becoming the person you have always dreamed you could be!  You are now in the new unknown territory of starting your new business.   I remember my business advisor Valerie giving me some sage advice.  She said, “Starting your own business is like having a baby”.  Well I could understand that analogy.  It is full of the unknown’s and also the highs and lows, but you would never want to give it up. 

I have always had the entrepreneurial spirit in me; I sold Avon at an early age.  I think I was 9 or 10 years old, when I  saw the Ad in the newspaper, “looking for Avon Lady in your area”.  My Mom told me the Avon lady called and came to our house just to meet me.  She told me I was the youngest Avon lady she had ever met!   I do remember in my later teens, selling Avon.  I took the plunge and ordered my sales kit and I  was in business.  I remember selling my products to my boyfriend at the time. He purchased the newest “man spray”,  just so I would make my quota for the month.

Ok so you are out of work, have a great business idea and maybe not a lot of money.  Now what?  Pull up your socks, say a few prayers and go for it.  Yes I say go for it, what have you got to lose?  Fear stops many people, from even getting to the  first step of taking the plunge of self-employement.  I guess it helps to have a passion, if you do all the better.  If not I suggest maybe it will grow on you. 

A business plan is great, supportive people, a niche market, confidence, some business savvy, and networking.  If you don’t have all of these, don’t worry you can “fake it till you make it”.  All of these skills can be learned too.  These sound like a lot of things in the beginning but I promise you, it will turn out.  If you just click your red shoes, you might just get your first sale.  Soon you will be getting so many sales you will have to hire your first staff member.

So put that idea into action.  Dig deep inside youself and utilize all those great resources available to women starting their own business’s.  There are business community centre’s, government funded programs, libaries, and networking groups just to name a few.

Don’t be afraid and surround yourself with positive, supportive people.  Who know’s you might find yourself creating the best life ever, and juggling the babies with the bacon!

 

Talk Soon ~

 

Nancy