In conversation with a fellow Mompreneur recently and in response to her question, “Can we talk work when we meet at the party tonight…” (we had been invited to the same do that night), “…or wouldn’t you like to talk work at night?”, my instinctive reply was, “I’m a mom and I’m an entrepreneur. So, I’m always working!”
Now, don’t get me wrong. That doesn’t mean we burn the midnight oil night after night (no way, sleep is extremely precious once you become a mom!) What I meant was that, as a Mompreneur, one, generally, does not miss out on any opportunity to talk work (day or night, party or the child’s play date).
Coming to the question at hand: Do moms make better entrepreneurs?
Let me try and list down some of the reasons why I feel moms do make better entrepreneurs:
- Multi-tasking: If the images of Australian Senator Larissa Waters breastfeeding in the national Parliament are anything to go by, one can safely say, and understand, that moms who work, eventually, are pro-s at multi-tasking. There is nothing she really cannot handle while handling her baby and nothing teaches women how to multi-task better than becoming a mother.
2. Delegation: If there is anything we, ‘moms’, learn (the hard way) is that different people are best suited in their individual roles and they should be left to do just that. Asking a fish to climb a tree is something a mompreneur would never waste her time and energy on.
3. Matters of negotiation and sales: If you have ever heard a mom convince her child to do something he or she did not want to do in the first place, or have overheard a conversation where the mother-child duo is busy negotiating with each other to get the maximum out of the conversation, you would know exactly what I’m talking about! The toughest negotiators will always be kids and, if the mom can win there, she can win on every battlefield (read in the boardroom).
It boils down to two very key skills that all Mom Entrepreneurs excel at: Time Management and People Management. The reason Mompreneurs do a better job than most entrepreneurs is their experience and command over these two essential skills required by any entrepreneur!
If you ask me, personally, I would never have dreamt of being an entrepreneur had it not been for motherhood. So, the way I see it, I definitely think and feel that being a mother does bring out the best in you if you are an entrepreneur, as well.
(Anisha Singh Motwani is the CEO & Founder of Q.E.D ( Quite Easily Done ) and mother to a 6-year-old! Many years of experience in Brand Management and marketing led to the formation of her very own marketing company that focusses on online as well as offline marketing support. Also a pranic healer by passion.)
