Learning on the Job: The Entrepreneurial Skillset in Every Parent

Motherhood is one of the most difficult jobs there is all on its own, especially for single parents such as myself. But the fact that so many women out there are simultaneously choosing to pursue careers, leadership roles, and become entrepreneurs is no surprise. Parents already possess so many of the qualities necessary to be successful in business, and the same can be said for entrepreneurs interested in starting families. Of course, there’s a lot more that goes into both roles than just transferrable skills, but it certainly provides a good leg up.

Doubling down on the skills you already possess can make all the difference when it comes to being successful.

A cutesy—maybe kitschy—term for mothers who own their own businesses is, ‘mompreneur,’ and while it could never hope to capture everything this woman does in a day, what the word does well is illustrate?how one role bleeds into the other. To elaborate, if you’re a mom, you are well suited for entrepreneurship in many ways, and vice versa. Which one is best to pursue first? This all depends on the type of person you are. As women, we’re very familiar with just how many barriers to entry there are in all aspects of life, which is why doubling down on the skills you already possess can make all the difference when it comes to being successful.

Speaking from experience, the days when women had to choose between motherhood and their careers are essentially gone. I don’t mean to sound too cliché here, but it really is possible to do both if you can manage to put in the work. It’s demanding and relentless, but the rewards are unmatched, and more importantly, it’s very far from impossible. What do you need to have? Passion, grit, and resilience. One won’t serve you in the long run without the other two there for support. You need all three all the time.?

To illustrate the crossover between mother and entrepreneur, let’s look at the following overlapping traits:

• Resilience: You can’t control every situation, but you can control your response. All the preparation and experience in the world can’t help you with unknown variables. Some days are good, others aren’t. You learn as you go, you keep going, you get better.
• Agility: The ability to tactfully pivot has never been more relevant for parents and business owners alike. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” - said every parent and entrepreneur ever.
• Determination: Whether it was your goal to become a parent or entrepreneur, or it was something of an accident, once you’re on the path, you develop tunnel vision to succeed. You don’t give up.
• Reliability: Parents and entrepreneurs must show up every day no matter what. For their kids, for their employees, for their clients, for themselves. Being present, focused, and accountable is the name of the game.
• Empathy: This is one trait that is overlooked in business, but that is so important in anyone in a leadership role, which coincidentally, is all parents. You can’t be a successful parent or business owner if you can’t empathize with others. Compassion for others is what makes you a relatable, trustworthy, and authentic human.

For me, business came first. It was 2015 when I was simultaneously getting my creative agency—BC Design Haus—off the ground and adopting my son, Jace all on my own. As a new parent to a 3-year-old who was also in the early stages of transforming my solopreneur business into a startup, I can confirm just how difficult and exhausting this time in my life was. I talk a lot about ‘hustling’ as an entrepreneur because it’s what was required of me to be successful, and once I started parenting, that rang even more true. “Me time,” as I knew it, ceased to exist. It was hustle, hustle, hustle, 24 hours a day.

Suddenly, I was juggling everything at once—building a business, learning to parent, balancing personal and professional—and trying my absolute best to succeed. Those early days were challenging for all the reasons you’d imagine, and something I came to realize during this time was that nothing and no one prepared me for this. Parenting, growing a business from scratch, doing both at the same time. These were not things I could study for as much as I would have liked, these were things I could only learn and get better at by doing.

With time, you get better, and one day, you turn around you realize, “I’ve got this.”

The arts, academics, and sports came so naturally to me, that when I wasn’t immediately “good” at parenting, I was at a bit of a loss. Some days were wonderful, but others were hell, and I never knew which would be hurled my way. Saying days is generous, as life tends to change by the minute with children, and even though my son is 10 now, new and unexpected challenges have come with age. Things like keeping up with his moods, frustrations, interests, and mental health and learning how I can support him in all of these are difficult because they’re everchanging, and at times, there’s the overwhelming “mom guilt” that comes with feeling like I could be falling short.

These are the same types of feelings that arise when starting a business. Every day brings new challenges, you work long and exhausting hours, and you don’t always succeed, but you learn from your failures, you keep going, and you keep learning. With time, you get better, and one day, you turn around you realize, “I’ve got this.” And it’s extremely rewarding because you built it. You can see the parallel between this and parenting.

With business, there’s a certain amount of control because you’re able to prepare for what you know, but with parenting, planning often becomes irrelevant thanks to the many unknown variables that can (and do) pop up on any given day. Luckily for me, being organized is second nature, and that allows me a bit of control and clarity when times get tough. You can never fully understand parenthood until you experience it, but as any mother can confirm, as relentless a job as it is, it’s even more rewarding.

One final piece of advice I’d like to give to all mothers also pursuing business goals is to begin normalizing speaking about your dual role (‘mompreneur’) whenever you have the opportunity. Mentioning your children as often as possible will let your coworkers, clients, bosses, etc., know you’re a proud parent and hopefully help them understand that you have two equally important jobs, each requiring different levels of attention. Parents and non-parents alike are worthy of equal workplace treatment, and no one should feel like they need to hide the fact that they have children to be taken seriously at work.

I’m very vocal about the fact that I’m a mother now, but this wasn’t always the case. It can take time to feel comfortable opening up about this, but as our times become more progressive, it’s important that we keep the momentum going so that future generations can freely and openly choose to be powerhouse ‘mompreneurs’ without the guilt or lack of support we’ve experienced.