Mommy CEO - The Effects of Mompreneurship on my Children

As mompreneurs it's easy to worry about our kids and how they interpret what we do and how and when we do it. But how often do we open the dialogue and ask?

I recently did just that! The filters are off as 4 of my 6 children open up about what it's like to have parents who are entrepreneurs.. and some of it is quite enlightening!

What do you guys like about having a mom who is a momprenuer or entrepreneur?

Landon: "I like how you always get to stay home more and you get to play with us."

Bailey: "It definitely gives us more freedoms. Like vacation and all that. You don't have to stick to a schedule that someone that gives you, you get to make your own."

Peyton: "You can also work from home instead of always leaving."

What are some of the challenges? What are the things that you don't like?

Bailey: "Sometimes, if something comes up and there's a problem, you always have to go and you have to fix it. And sometimes that can cause a lot of stress. Sometimes it just comes out of nowhere and the kids have to watch themselves or babysit."

Hunter: "Although you do stay home, you still have to work a lot. So you are physically here, but not mentally here. You're in a different world."

Landon: "Sometimes we have to be quiet while you're doing a podcast or a live video. And sometimes if something's bad, like something happens that's wrong, you can lose your temper."

When we live a life of entrepreneurship, you guys get to see what that looks like. What are the things that have surprised you the most about entrepreneurship that maybe school doesn't teach you about?

Hunter: "That you stay home a lot more? I thought you'd be at the warehouse or work all day long."

Bailey: "For me, it really helps me to be able to see another option choice. Like, oh, you do this and that looks really cool. If you hadn't been an entrepreneur, I would not have wanted to take the business academy at the school that I'm going to go to."

What about things that you wish that were done differently or that you think would help? Because you said sometimes I am here but I'm not really fully here or I'm, I'm physically present but I'm not emotionally present or I might lose my temper if I'm trying to focus on recording a podcast or doing a live video and maybe people are being crazy in the background. So what are some things that help us to not have to get to that point?

Hunter: "Honestly, I think that electronics keep us cooled down during your podcasts and your videos."

Bailey: "When you're recording a podcast and I start to get a bit stressed out, or I'm like, oh, you're gone all the time which you really aren't, I think just noticing those blessings that we have and that you're able to stay home and you're able to have your own work schedule, it really helps." 

Do you guys think that communication helps? For example, if I'm going to record a podcast, but I don't tell you guys about it and then all of a sudden now I'm just getting frustrated because you guys aren't being quiet, but I didn't tell you that's not really fair. Right? But if I tell you what my schedule is and I say, hey guys, from this time to this time today I have to go to the warehouse but then I'm going to come back and from this time to this time we're going to do this fun thing together. Whatever. Does that help?

Bailey: "Yeah, it definitely helps. To know that right now I need to do this but after this we can hang out. So communication definitely helps." 

Life can be kind of hard running a business and being able to juggle and balance it all. Do you guys think it's worth it?

"Yes." 

Why is it worth it?

Landon: "Because even though there's some hard times, there still are fun times when we get to hang out." 

There may be challenges, but the challenges will help you along the way, not only with business but also with life. Sometimes we make plans and the plans change and that can be super frustrating when we're looking forward to something as a family and then the plan has to change because an emergency comes up with an employee. There's always lots of things that can happen when there's a big group of people on a team.

Bailey: "It definitely causes some tension, not only at work, but also in the home. Let's say you have something fun planned out, but something serious comes up with work and you have to change your plans. It definitely can cause some stress and disappointment but I think when you communicate with each other and you're able to say, okay, we might do this, but if something comes up I'm going to have to be gone for a while but maybe we can do this another day."

One of the things that I love about your in school is that they teach the habits, which are all fantastic entrepreneurial habits. So do you guys know what all of them are? 

1. Be Proactive. I'm in charge of me.
2. Begin with the end in mind.
3. Put first things first.
4. Think win-win.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
6. Synergize.
7. Sharpen the saw.
8. Find your voice.

If you had to choose your favorite habit, what is it?

Bailey: "I definitely like synergize. It's all about working together. It definitely helps. It can incorporate with work and family and friends. It definitely helps to know how to work together. You also want to be able to work with your friends and your family and to be able to be okay in all sorts of different situations."

Speaker 2: (13:24)
Landon: "I really like habit eight, find your voice. It is a really good for entrepreneurs because they need to find their voice and know what they're good at to excel in it. And also my favorite is habit seven because you get to read. It's sharpen the saw which is when you rest your mind and get to play and you balance yourself."

Hunter: "Sharpening your saw. You get to play, play, play."

Peyton: "I like habit seven, sharpening your saw."

So what do you guys do to sharpen your saw?

Hunter: "Play Pokemon, play outside, play with the cats, play with the dogs, go swimming.."

Peyton: "Go swimming."

Bailey: "Habit seven definitely helps you to regenerate and to cool down after a hard days work and it's like, what do I need to feel peaceful again?"

We talked about the things that we like about entrepreneurship, which are creating your own schedule, the power to choose what entrepreneurship looks like for you. There's always going to be challenges. But there's learning experiences and you can go from needing help to giving help. The more that you're educated and the more opportunities and learning experiences you have and the more hard things you go through, the more help and wisdom that you have to be able to give to other people.

We also talked about the challenges of entrepreneurship and how we need to overcome them through communication, through being flexible. I think one of the biggest challenges for me and dad, and we've talked to you guys about this similarly where it's a challenge for you guys if we're not communicating with you and you don't know what the schedule or expectations are when everybody just expects to have fun all the time and doesn't value or appreciate the work. That could be a challenge too. So it also comes down to respect where you guys respect mom and dad for the work that we tried to do, but we also respect you and try to be present.

If you could give one piece of advice to another mompreneur, advice for her and advice for her kids, what would it be?

Bailey: "Going back to the communication skills, you definitely want to be able to know, this is what I need this at this time and this is what you need at this time. It definitely helps to create a balance. We might have to push that back later because I really have to do this and it's really important. If you wait until the last second, it's definitely going to cause a lot of stress. Having good communication skills can help clear all that stress."

Landon: "I would say to the children, when your mom is doing a live video or something that requires quiet, you should let her do that and when she's done you can play with her."

Hunter: "Yeah, I agree with Landon that you have to be patient in order to get to the fun part."

Conversations like these are so important. No matter how their answers sting (and some WILL sting!) having a mindset to improve is required for us to progress. 

• Ask the tough questions.
• Be willing to hear the hard answers.
• Step back to assess.
• Conquer each day as a NEW day!

This journey is NOT about being perfect. I'm a clear indicator of that! But the lessons we learn along the way allow us to serve others in a way that we couldn't otherwise do.