Contrary to what people may believe, being a mum and juggling a business do mix well.
One advantage mumpreneurs have over other entrepreneurs is their abundant capacity to show love and affection for their business. They know how to give their all to the things they care about whether it be their child or their budding business. They’re also excellent multitaskers—a skill that every entrepreneur needs to have to succeed in this cutthroat business world.
With these traits, it should be no surprise that mums make up a big fraction of the economy’s driving force.
In fact, in the US alone, there are over 12 million women who are bona fide mumpreneurs. This number, naturally, increases when you look at the figure through a more global lens. With these traits and figures setting the backdrop, if you’re a mum looking to transition to the business world, know that you’re very much capable of succeeding in that field.
Here are five tips’ mums can learn from to bring their entrepreneurial dream into reality.
- Identify Your Business Niche
A lot of people want to set up a business, but what separates the dreamers, and the doers is knowing that specific product or service to sell to the world.
The first step, therefore, is to identify what role you can fill in the business scene; your ikigai, if we may wrap it up in one term.
This is an incredibly personal decision, but we’ll give you some direction to jumpstart your decision-making process.
First, look at your interests and passions. What do you like doing in your spare time? Aligning your business with something you are genuinely enthusiastic about can provide a source of motivation when the going gets tough.
Secondly, consider your skills and expertise. Is there something you excel at that others might be willing to pay for? This could range from a professional skill like graphic design or coding to more personal talents like cooking or crafting.
Thirdly, look for gaps in the market. Are there needs or desires currently unmet by existing businesses? These could be opportunities for your business to enter and dominate.
Lastly, try to merge all these points and look for intersections. The sweet spot for your business idea lies in the overlap between these things. You may not cross all of them, but the more you have, the better!
By homing in on this, you can set your business up for success from the start.
- Create a Business Plan
To run a successful business, you need to have some semblance of order, especially at the start of operations.
This can come in the form of a business plan. This plan serves as a strategic roadmap to guide you through the arduous process of setting up a business from scratch. In essence, it keeps you accountable and focused.
The business plan can include as many (or as few) things as you’d want—you call the shots, after all. But a general rule of thumb is to detail a business description, a business goal, a target audience, competition, marketing strategies, and financial forecasts.
A mission and vision statement and an expected profit turnover period would also be good to set up early on to hinge your business in a certain direction and quantify your goals, respectively.
- Create A Functional Business System
Do you want to actively manage your business and keep it running smoothly under your wings? Or do you have plans to delegate tasks to your trusted employees over time?
There are no two ways about it: you’ll most definitely have a high level of involvement when running your business at the start. But if you want to eventually detach yourself from your business to make room for yourself and your family, you’ll need to be devoted to creating the right business system.
To do so, you’ll want to break down all the different functions of the business and decide the best way to operate them. Collaborating with skilled individuals can smooth out the process, but expect to fine-tune and change your strategies as you identify the best system for you.
At the basic level, you need to have finances, operations, and marketing in order. Get a bank account for your business to make it look legitimate to other people and institutions. Read here on how to set up a business banking guide from Westpac.
You also need to ensure that your operations are running smoothly. There should be a steady flow of inventory and a good system to satisfy customers without compromising on costs.
Lastly, you also want to market your business effectively. You can do this through engaging in offline marketing channels, like putting up billboards and posters; and online channels, like social media advertising and SEO.
4. Manage Your Time Wisely
It’s easy to get honed in on a specific problem of your business or personal life and spend hours of the day ruminating over it. But as a mumpreneur, you’ll need to learn to juggle these problems appropriately, as having one of these problems crossing over another sphere can lead to drastic complications.
Balancing your time between your business and your personal life can be a tricky endeavour, but it’s more than possible with the right techniques.
As an entrepreneur, set up some fallbacks in case you encounter sudden emergencies. The best way to do this is by delegating tasks and responsibilities to your team. This will help your business keep on running even when you’re not around.
If you’re the sole person running the show, create a set schedule for yourself and stick to it. Having a clearly defined work schedule can help prevent work from crossing into your personal time.
- Leverage Technology
The greatest perk about running a business in this era is the endless amount of technological tools you can utilise for it. These tools can turn hours of painstaking duties into minutes of simple tasks, which can be a godsend for any busy mum.
If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to harness technological tools to streamline your business operations.
These tools can be used in every area of your business. For instance, project management tools can keep track of pending tasks, social media tools can help you schedule things in your calendar ahead of time, and accounting software can manage your finances in an organised way.
You may encounter a steep learning curve at the start, but the value of technology when operating a business is not to be understated.
