Whether you’re a new mom or a seasoned mother of three, the decision to become an entrepreneur will be an exciting adventure for you to take on… so you think.
The reality is, becoming an entrepreneur really is an exciting journey to go on but as a mother who might be used to working a regular 9 to 5 job or if you’re used to solely being a stay-at-home mom, the idea of giving all of that up can be a little overwhelming.
There will definitely be many different emotions and feelings you’ll face in the beginning stages of starting your business. Some moms have even said that it’s like being on an emotional roller coaster causing you to feel defeated before you can even get started but try not to let these emotions get the best of you. Fighting these emotions and seeing the good of your journey can be very hard to do but you just have to stick with it… nothing ever comes easy, right?
Starting your own business can and will put you out of your comfort zone but isn’t that what everyone really needs in order to grow? Yes. You don’t ever want to get complacent because the only constant is change. Although these emotions can seem like more than you can handle, trust and believe that you can.
This is Your Life So Take Charge of It!
So stop letting your emotions get the best of you. If you want to open a “brick and mortar” boutique, do it! If you want to open your first e-commerce store, get online, find a domain name, set up shop, and be your own boss! It’s as simple as that! The main thing to remember when creating your domain name is to make sure it has a name that fully represents your brand and will be attractive to customers. The only thing that stops people from fully pursuing their dreams is themselves. Get out of your comfort zone and see where it leads you. We’re going to take a look at the common emotions moms face when making the decision to become an entrepreneur and how to handle those emotions.
Emotion #1: Fear
Did you know that fear is the number one reason why people don’t live out their dreams? Fear of what people will think, fearing that no one will support your business… The thing about fear is that you won’t ever know how well you will do unless you put yourself out there and give it a try. The biggest aspects of fear are not knowing what will happen and of course the fear of failure.
The saying says that “if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” And that is a very powerful statement. What you can do is go into your business venture hopeful for success but prepared for failures in case you stumble along the way. You can’t honestly expect everything to turn out perfect on your first try… there will be bumps along the way and if you anticipate those bumps, the road won’t be as dreadful when you hit them… you can keep going and keep trying.
Emotion #2: Jealousy
You might have friends or people you know who have started their own business and have seen great success but find yourself becoming envious of them because you’re not experiencing their same level of success. Now, it’s actually common for people to experience jealousy on their journey to success but it’s also an emotion that you need to nip in the bud as soon as you realize you’re displaying jealous actions.
You have to remember, someone else’s success isn’t your failure. This is what you need to do… When you notice yourself displaying jealousy habits or actions, stop and ask yourself:
- Why are you so jealous of this person or business?
- How long have they been in the business?
- What’s their story behind their success?
- Why do you want their success and not your own?
Other people’s success has a lot of factors that you may not even know about. The story behind a lot of successful businesses is not fairytale stories. A lot of them struggled in the beginning or went belly-under before they reached their success… so you just never know their stories unless you talk to them and find out. Even if you aren’t able to reach them, have it in your mind that you don’t know their struggle or their story… it will be beneficial to saving your own sanity as a mompreneur.
Emotion #3: Frustration
So, starting your own business will definitely bring about frustration. Frustration that things aren’t going exactly how you planned, money isn’t coming in as quickly as you knew it would, plus, the kids haven’t cleaned their room in the past three days! You feel like you’re failing from a business standpoint and you feel like you’re failing as a mother.
Frustration is something that comes with motherhood and with running and operating your own business, especially if you’re running your business from home all while trying to keep your house in order too! When you’ve hit this rock, you need to take a step back for a moment and go back over your business plan and also reconfigure some things at home.
You might actually need a little help on the homefront, and there is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it. Whether it’s a nanny or a maid, anything that can help you and preserve you is worth it. According to Forbes.com, mothers have a fear of hiring nannies because they fear that the nanny will threaten their place as their mother but there are actually lots of working moms who hire a nanny a few days out of the week to help them out and have never had that issue… as mentioned before, there’s nothing wrong with needing help sometimes.
Emotion #4: Regret
Regret is the one emotion you never want to experience. This would mean that you let all of your emotions get the best of you making you give up on living out your dream of becoming a business owner. Letting those fears keep you from going after something you have so much passion for will leaving you feeling resentment towards yourself and it’s really something you will have to deal with for the rest of your life, constantly wondering what could have been. Instead of even giving regret a chance, follow your dreams.
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