Ok ladies so I did not intend for this to be the first “official” post I wrote but after the day I had today…its much needed. As some of you may know, I am a full-time working mother of two (a boy mom to be exact) and a wife. My youngest son just turned 1 a couple of months ago. For those who know me personally its no secret that I do not love my full-time job but it is a means to fund my personal business so for right now its necessary. Working full-time and being a mom is no easy life (shout out to all my working mamas). Now as if being a working mother isn’t challenging enough, I just had to go and complicate things even further with my dreams and aspirations. My full-time schedule consists of one 11-8 PM day and four 12-9 PM days. Yet I decided to start my own business. That right! You read correctly I am an entrepreneur and one that is in the very beginning phases of building her business. What made me decide to start my own business while my plate was already overflowing you ask? I’ll tell you why. I was tired of sitting on the sidelines; unfulfilled at work, lacking passion and obsessively following the journeys of women I followed on social media platforms who were trading in their unfulfilling lives and going for the lives they really wanted. They seemed to be living the life I aspired to have. I’ll be honest there were many reasons I decided entrepreneurship was for me. I wanted to take back my time, I wanted to be more present at home, I wanted to feel like I was walking in my purpose. So I finally decided to do it. I was tired of sitting on the sidelines. I was ready to be like so many of the moms and other women I followed on social media who were starting and growing their purpose filled businesses. So I became a “mompreneur”.
But can I be honest for a minute? I’m a little disappointed. These “mompreneurs” made it look so easy. They made it seem like they were living their best lives, creating their own schedules, spending more time with their families, creating generational wealth (I mean who wouldn’t want in if thats the life you’re selling, right?). But the reality is, entrepreneurship is hard; but “mompreneurship” is harder. I am pulling back the curtain because its not all cute and curated social media posts; its being interrupted 20 times throughout the day when you are simply trying to put together your new blog page.
Today was a rough day for me. I had set out with the goal to get so much accomplished for my business. I took the day off from my full-time job to invest time into my business. I had a list of things I wanted to complete by the end of the day; one being setting up my new blog page. Yet here I am 20 minutes to 9pm FINALLY writing my first post (on an entirely different topic than originally intended might I add). I was not able to edit my website, send marketing e-mails, create content or any of the other necessary tasks to grow my business because the “mom” part of “mompreneur” always takes precedence. I have to break for every tantrum, nap time, lunch time, play time, “I’m crying just because you won’t pick-me up” time, dinner time. And before I knew it the entire day had got away from me because the “mom” comes first.
Its hard being a mom, working, being a wife; feeling like you seldom get time to yourself for yourself but throw building a business and there and its insanity. I wanted to have a honest moment and let you all know the truth about being a working mom trying to build a business at the same time. I may post pretty pictures and although I LOVE building my own business, its not easy. Its not always as pretty as the pictures I post. Its late late late nights and early mornings. Its a jam packed schedule with just cracks to fit my self-care routine into. Its wanting to pull my hair out multiple times a day because I cannot hear myself think. Its days of feeling completely defeated because all I was able to do was give to my time and energy to those around me while my business got nothing. Its moments of wanting to give up and sink back into the comfortable place that lacks passion and purpose. But most importantly, its deciding to go at it again and again and again in spite of all of that. I’m not saying “mompreneurship” (I know it isn’t a real word) isn’t worth it because it is I’m just being honest about the very real struggles we mompreneurs face.
YOUNG lifesty-EL 