I was at home with my two daughters, then aged 2 and 4 years old, when I started Modern Mama in Edmonton in 2008.
I had quit my corporate career to be at home with them and move to Edmonton for my husband’s job.
I quickly realized that I wanted adult conversation, a creative outlet in my little stay-home-mom world and that I had a ton of business ideas in my head. I just needed to figure out what this business would be.
Knowing that I didn’t want a physical business, like a store, that would take me back out of the house for hours on end, I was determined to figure out what I could do from home, around my girls’ schedules.
Modern Mama was born in the Winter of 2007-08 and we held our first event for moms in March 2008 at Sephora, West Edmonton Mall.
Over the past nine years, I’ve met so many cool mom entrepreneur, including my licensees, who are driven, smart, high-functioning multi-taskers!
Are you looking to work from home or start your own business to have the flexibility too? We here at Modern Mama are currently seeking licensees in several Canadian Cities including Toronto and Winnipeg, and I just launched a new blog, called StartupMoms.co that is designed to help moms who want to start a business. Over there, we are kicking off a 30-day Challenge for YOU to start your business too and become that Mom Entrepreneur you always wanted to be, so come check it out.
I would say there are several traits that make for a fabulous and successful mom entrepreneur, and here they are:
HARD WORKING MINDSET
Working for yourself is not like working at a job. If you don’t hustle to make a sale, or get through your list, you don’t get a paycheque. It’s the bottom line. Hustlers make more money.
MULTI-TASKER
You may often find yourself on a call with a customer or vendor while feeding your baby, flipping channels for your toddler, or all of the above. Get used to it. Book coffee meetings at your home during naptime, invite a potential partner over for a playdate with her kids, being a mom entrepreneur often means combining business and parenting.
IGNORE THE MESS
To be able to make the most of the few minutes here and there that you can spend on your business when you’re raising kids, you have to be able to “tune-out” the dirty dishes in the sink, the laundry pile that needs folding, and so on. Even if it’s only for an hour a day, when you have time to sit down and focus, do it. Let the other stuff go.
ALWAYS HAS A QUICK LIST HANDY
Because you’ll often have only 10 minutes here and there, always have a running list (on your smart phone is best) of tasks you need to do but that will only take a minute or five, so that you can attack a few to-do’s while you can!
BATCHES TASKS
This is something I am trying to get better at. Batching tasks means doing one thing, like writing blog posts, all at once, instead of doing one per day, or switching gears every time you complete something. Schedule some time to do a lot of one thing. Like invoicing, or taking photos, or writing. Batching tasks means you’ll focus hard for a period of time on one thing and then have it all done at once.
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?
Have you always wanted to have a business from home?
Do you want to be a blogger, or a stylist, or a shop owner, a maker who sells her wares?
Come join us and launch your dream this year during the month of February! Our free 30-day Challenge kicks off February 1st, so come on by and sign up!