Work At Home – 5 Ways Being a Mom Makes You a Better Small Business Owner

There is much concern over the “mommy track” and whether women derail their career by taking time off to raise their children. Many moms would like to work at home so that they can continue to earn an income while maintaining the flexibility to raise their children. However, some women are reluctant to pursue work-at-home options due to their lack of experience in running their own business.

I would argue that raising children is some of the best training for running a business that a person can have. Anyone can take a class in accounting or marketing, but real hands-on leadership experience is harder to come by. Any woman raising small children is immersed in a daily leadership program, training them to be a successful entrepreneur.

Successful entrepreneurs should be able to:

1) Deal calmly with crises – whether it is a delayed product shipment or a stolen bicycle, unexpected crises are part of life. Moms have the ability to keep everyone calm, focus on the big picture and strategize a solution.

2) Multi-task – Moms are the original multi-taskers, juggling dinner, ironing, feeding the baby and helping with homework. This makes them perfectly suited for simultaneously making outbound calls, responding to email and approving a marketing campaign.

3) Soothe angry customers – Moms have much experience dealing with tantrums, outbursts and tirades. While they can’t send angry customers to their rooms, they can listen empathetically, give them space to calm down and get them focused on solving the problem together.

4) Negotiate – Moms instinctively know which items are negotiable (15 minutes past bedtime, an extra dessert) and which are not (coming home after dark, riding bikes in the street). They know when to give in, and when to stand firm and how to bake a bigger pie so everyone gets a piece.

5) Delegation – Moms know that it’s more important that their son makes his bed than that he makes it perfectly. Progress not perfection is the key. Whether dealing with her children or her employees, she knows that by giving them both the task and the responsibility, she frees herself up to contribute in ways that only she can.

So, the next time you start to doubt whether you have the relevant experience necessary to run your own business, remind yourself that you already have your MBA – Mom’s Business Administration degree!