The hashtag ‘ Mompreneur ‘ has roughly 4.2 million posts on Instagram today. A 5-minute scroll is all it takes to see images of moms running their own businesses. From multi-level marketing to brick-and-mortar businesses, moms are crushing it in the online business space.
Personally, I’m a fan. I’m a “mompreneur” myself, and I am both inspired and motivated to run my own business.
However, I see a disturbing trend in the community today. While scrolling the hashtag, I see pictures of moms holding their babies while working on the computer. There are pictures of moms nursing their newborn babies while responding to emails. Images of moms holding wine glasses just waiting for the end of the day to unwind.
The wine and coffee memes are out of control.
I see way too many “if I can do it, you can too” messaging. Moms are holding themselves responsible not only for the success of their businesses but for their families as well. And while I totally agree that we can in fact have both, we can’t “do it all.”
Time isn’t an unlimited resource. If we want to accomplish something well, something else has to give.
Want to find more time in your life for your goals? Listen to this podcast episode.
Raising children is hard. Raising a business is equally hard. And both roles overlapping on a daily basis can lead to multiple problems down the road, from a mental and physical health standpoint. I’ve met moms who run themselves to the ground by keeping up with their kids during the day and then working for hours in the middle of the night to keep up with their businesses.
Need some ideas?
Start by outsourcing. Outsourcing doesn’t only apply to your business. It can just as easily apply to your life as well.
– Have someone clean your house once or twice a month.
– Send your kids to daycare/preschool two or three times or five days of the week (I said it).
– Use a food service like Blue Apron for your meals, or even better, take some time off cooking dinner and order in from your favorite healthy restaurant.
– Leave your clothes in the dryer and avoid folding them.
– Find someone to watch the kids for a few hours a day, a few days a week to get some things done work-wise.
Here’s some perspective for you – do you see “Dadpreneurs” out there claiming to do it all? Do you see dads who own businesses claim that they do it all? No. It’s because they know that they can’t do it all. We need to remember that doing it all is detrimental not only to our mental and physical health, but to our monetary health as well.
You don’t need to do it all in order to validate your hustle. Deal?
