Denise Marshall
was recently featured in Time
magazine for her development
of the Mac & Cool, a dish that
speeds a food’s cooling time,
reducing impatience levels
(and burned mouths) for kids.
“I had $17,000 going into
this,” says Marshall. “I thought,
‘I have a lot of money.’ Turns
out it goes really fast.”
Entrepreneurs call this “the
moment of truth”—whether to
stay in the game or fold.
Marshall stayed in, has
since sold about 50,000 units
and has developed a second
product line.
ASHLLAND PHOTOGRAPHY
IMAGES BY DAVID
Ellen Parlapiano ,
the co-creator of the term
“mompreneur,” offers
this advice.
“The very first thing is to
start with soul searching,”
she says. “What do you love to
do? What do you hate to do?
Think about your skills,
hobbies, talents. Narrow
your niche. Find a business
area that isn’t being targeted
and find out if it’s viable. Use
message boards—lots of
moms are blogging now—
and ask, ‘Would you use/like
a business like this?’ Use the
Web to check about patents
and trademarks. Go in with
a plan. Don’t just wing it.”
Juggling and boundaries
In the end, mom entrepreneurs encounter
many of the same challenges, pitfalls and perks as
any other home-based business; it’s an imperfect
science. Being a work-at-home mom doesn’t magically solve all those work/life problems. If they’re
not careful, women who start their own businesses
say they find it easy to get distracted.
“There have definitely been times when I’ve put
more time and energy into it [the business] than I
thought I would,” says Marshall.
Monosoff says that setting up guidelines from
the very beginning made the difference: “There is no
boundary between work and life unless I put it there.”
“It’s easy to get down and get stuck. I have to
make sure I prioritize each morning,” says Westerdahl,
who operates Comfy Crawlers from her home in
Florida. “I’ll make a mental list of the things I need to
do. I try to get things done while my daughter is at
school. And I take my son with me everywhere I go.”
Throwing all the responsibilities of motherhood into the mix makes for a unique juggling act.
“There’s just so much on your plate,” says
Tamsevicius. “You’re trying to be a mom and run an
effective business. It’s a daily struggle.”
Business activities are typically planned
during “downtime,” when children are napping or at school, or at night while they’re
sleeping. Often, work is taken care of in transit. “A lot of my business is done in the car
while I’m waiting to pick up my children,”
says Steele.
“Probably the best development that
makes it so you can be a mom and a businessperson is the cell phone,” says Marshall. “I
can take calls when I’m walking to school to
pick up my kids. The cell phone allows you to
be both things at the same time.”
Moms also rely heavily on other family
members—parents, husbands, siblings, sometimes
even their children—to help out.
“Both my parents have MBAs,” says Steele. “My
mom is my right hand. I couldn’t ask for better
advisers. And my husband is my computer support.”
They all agree the efforts have been well worth
it, and in ways beyond financial measure.
“This is a very fulfilling and happy life,” says
Steele. “I’m still there for my kids every day. I can
also fit in this business when I need to. I’m doing
something I love to do, it’s profitable and it involves
everybody in my family.”
“I would love for women who have an idea, but
just feel it is too hard, to know that you have to just do
it,” says Westerdahl. “You’ll learn as you go. You gain so
much confidence and self-fulfillment when you take
something that you believe in and make it happen.
“I feel like a different person,” she continues. “It
makes me proud to have this little company that was
once just in my mind. To see it happening and
affecting people in a positive way—it’s been so awesome. I wouldn’t change a thing.” C
The Costco Connection
Starting a business? From Costco’s member
services to business and consumer products,
every mom we interviewed cited Costco as a
great resource and a large contributor to her
business’s success.
