Motherhood is not something that most women are completely prepared for. It’s more of a “learn as you go” experience. The same is true about being mom entrepreneurs. Years ago, as a new mother myself, I set high expectations and personal goals. I vowed to only serve healthy and nutritious foods, limit screen time and work out or clean during naptime. Sound familiar?
Then, I actually gave birth…
While I really wanted to live up to these self-proclaimed standards, I soon realized that it was much harder than I anticipated. For a few years I continually beat myself up mentally and felt like I had to vocally (to myself and my husband) justify the afternoons when I took a nap at the same time as my kids. I didn’t feel victorious in motherhood, that’s for sure.
I felt like a failure
It was as if there would never be enough time in a day to accomplish all of my daily tasks.
In my little world, inside the house I was sharing with my small family, it seemed like nothing was ever done or clean or organized. This wasn’t something I was used to. Before kids, I always loved relaxing after a morning of cleaning. I could stand with the door open and marvel at all the progress I had made with organizing the pantry for way longer than anyone needs to admire pantry organizing. None of these things seemed to happen once I had a baby. Everything seemed to change and it was not easy.
Change is Hard
Giving birth is hard, but the change that comes with it is harder. This is particularly true for those who never had prior experience with babies. Even so, experience with other peoples’ children is completely different than having a baby of your own 24/7. I babysat, worked an elementary teacher, a nanny and at a daycare center all before I had kids…but I still panicked the first night home with a newborn and barely slept.
What did I do?
What do all moms do? Well, we just become moms, seemingly, overnight and somehow we take it on like superhuman beings from another planet. We are MomSoldiers and we embrace the change like sailors weathering a storm. We persevere and hop on the motherhood train for better or for worse. There are days we feel like we are failing, and those may never completely go away, but these are the things that make us stronger.
Embracing change as Mom Entrepreneurs
When we become mothers, we learn how to change. We prove it time and time again. Change is hard, yes, we know…but we also know how to change. We may not all feel like experts at motherhood, but we clearly embrace the change that it brings. New professional paths mean big changes, too, but they can, and will, be embraced.
Being mom entrepreneurs: Change can be good
“My dreams of always being productive when I had the chance went down the drain with dishwater after scrubbing bottles.”
I went from being a first-time mom with goals of going above and beyond at naptime to an irritable, sleep-deprived mombie within a matter of weeks. My dreams of always being productive when I had the chance went down the drain with dishwater after scrubbing bottles. However, this change taught me how to set realistic targets and when to give myself a break, which is a great skill to have in the entrepreneurial world.
From Mom to Entrepreneur
I get it…you want to make the right change. Maybe you want to make sure that you don’t alter your relationships with your kids or spouse, but you do want to change your mindset. You want to feel accomplished in an area other than being a mom or wife. I’m here to tell you that you can do it. It won’t be easy, but if you have proved one thing in life, it’s that you can do hard things.
Change your mindset: Change the times…
With all of the change that being an entrepreneur brings, I can’t forget to mention this important aspect. Time. Remember earlier when I mentioned something about there never being enough time in the day? If you can change your mindset to become an entrepreneur while also being a parent, then you will have more time. Plain and simple. Imagine all the time you spend getting ready for and driving to work? What if you didn’t have to do that anymore? You can change the amount of quality time you spend with you family. If you are serious about doing this, you can discover more about it here.
Mom Entrepreneurs are MomSoldiers
Change is your jam. This means you can be any kind of mom you want! Do you want to start a business, big or small? Maybe you want to branch out into the world of digital marketing. Perhaps you are interested in selling your hand-made crafts. Whichever business model you decide on, you will embrace this change, too.
