Mompreneurs — upcoming or vanishing tribe?
By: Twisha Anand
Tags: Women, Mothers, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Parenting

‘Mompreneurs’ — some like the term some not so much. But like it or not, this term has become a part of the new age vocabulary. It means a female entrepreneur who is actively balancing the responsibilities of owning a business and raising children.

If you look back in history, mompreneurs have been around forever. I come from India and vividly remember that some of my aunts and neighborhood moms knitted sweaters, made pickles and snacks, and even tutored kids at home while doing everything full time moms would do. Childcare came in the form of other neighborhood moms or grandmas pitching in. Marketing, in the absence of social media came in the form of social connections and family friends. Customer support wasn’t needed as much as customer expectations were simple and not benchmarked.

Today mompreneurs are facing an uphill task. Lives are more disconnected than ever, existing mostly online. Childcare is formalized and needs to be (heavily) paid for. Marketing is a never ending race. You not only run the business operations, but also have to be active on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Linkedin at least. Plus don’t forget to keep a blog with fresh content to be in the race for SEO. Connections are made in networking events — those snazzy evening after work gatherings in the big city. You must stay updated with all the latest and greatest in the startup world, know the names of all the prominent investors, be able to talk intelligently about politics, be well informed on sports, also, what book are you reading these days?

For the un or yet to be oriented, here are ‘active mom’ duties — get yourself and the kids ready for school, feed them breakfast, pack lunch, drop them off. Work work work….forgot to send an item for their school project — go drop off….work work work……kids pick up, feed them, bathe them, read, get ready for bed time (networking event? when was that?)….work work work until you fall asleep on your desk. And here you have — half written blog post, only 5 posts lined up on social media, unanswered customer support tickets, half done market research. God forbid if someone is sick in the house, or if you are sick…yikes! Then there is the weekend with play dates, haircuts, birthdays.

Gone are the days when running a business was simply providing a good product or service and relying on your friends for referrals. When childcare or kid pick up was an easy ask for neighbors and family. Living online has put everyone on the same playing field and benchmarked customer expectations to the highest levels. Mom or not, you are expected to deliver the exact same results running in the same race. It is not just the world but even we put the same expectations on ourselves.

Just when we are talking of women empowerment, a mom is shutting down a company due to lack of childcare, support, and resources. Not to forget the bias that comes with funding mothers. Deserving women are hanging their boots, depriving the world of some amazing ideas and executions. The term dinosaurs was coined in 1824, long after they vanished. At least the term mompreneurs came sooner than that happens (hopefully not!).