Hopefully by now you’ll have noticed that we (and some other great people at YMC) are involved with a contest generously sponsored by UPS. We’re looking for inspiring mompreneurs—and UPS is awarding $1,000 to the winner. Through our outreach about the contest something came up that troubled us. We asked one superstar woman whether she was planning to enter the contest and she confessed that while she’d considered it, she didn’t think she was ‘inspirational.’ We almost fell over.
Then, when we thought about it, we realized that there are scores of entrepreneurial mothers who are not giving themselves the credit they deserve.
Of course if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Who’s better than mothers at thinking they don’t measure up? What mother doesn’t secretly think all of the other moms are more patient, more present, more organized? Plus, the feedback we get from our employers (a.k.a. our kids) is often less than kind. Add to the mix running a business and the self-doubt starts to really have legs. Ask anyone who has waded into entrepreneurial waters—sure, it’s invigorating and all, but it’s also really hard to make a buck when you’re on your own.
The fact is if you are raising both your kids and your business at the same time, you’ve got two full-time jobs, and if you’re doing even moderately well at both—you’re doing a whole lot more than most people are doing. What’s more, we’ll bet you’re rocking both. Maybe not every second of every day, but mompreneurs are no strangers to true moments of genius, both on the home and work fronts.
Here’s a little exercise for you: Instead of perseverating on all of the things you haven’t done, or haven’t done perfectly lately, take stock of everything you got right this week. Think about every customer you served, and every meal you served while you’re at it. Consider the connections you made both at home and at work and look at everything you knocked off your list this week. Then congratulate yourself for being the rock star you are. You don’t have to be curing cancer to be doing a great job.
We think all mompreneurs are inspirational, and that means you, baby.
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