Stay-at-home moms can excel in business

By BRUCE FREEMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Dear Professor Bruce:

When my husband and I had our first baby, we both thought it was a good opportunity for me to drop out of my corporate career. We can live on his income alone, and I really wanted to be a full-time mom. I still do, and yet I miss some of the intellectual challenges and social connections of my previous life. Is there any way of getting some of that back without having to go back to work?

Answer:

Your timing couldn't be better. For earlier generations of former career women who become mothers, the choice was stark: either stay at home or return to the workplace. But the Internet has rewritten that rule, especially as it comes to running a small business. Now we are seeing a new phenomenon called the "mompreneur."

These are women who use their Web skills to start new home-based businesses. Some start selling items on eBay. Others might be chatting in online forums and discover they have a skill they can provide to others in their community. In doing so, they contribute to the family coffers, of course, but they also get back some of what you are missing: intellectual challenge and an extended social network.

Brad Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit's small business division, says that many monpreneurs don't think of themselves as entrepreneurs in the traditional sense. "There is a perception that the typical entrepreneur is male and works 80 hours a week to get up and running, maintaining and growing his business. What we're seeing is that one of the fastest growing segments of entrepreneurs is moms working out of their home on top of their existing full-time job of running the household and raising a family. With the Internet, women and mompreneurs have a lot more freedom and flexibility to balance both career and family."

Intuit recently joined forces with the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley research firm, to look at how the face of entrepreneurship will change over the next ten years. Among their findings: women are launching small businesses for all kinds of reasons. Some see entrepreneurship as a way around the glass ceiling, while others just want to try their hand at building a business from scratch. What most have in common is a savvy use of technology. They either know or learn how to participate in online discussions, sell things online, and research information from the Web. They may also use a cell phone, including text messaging, to help them stay in touch while running errands.

"There's no reason why growing a business and growing a family can't go hand-in-hand," says Smith. "And for some mompreneurs, by the time their kids have grown up, their personal businesses may have taken flight as well."

For further information, visit www.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness

Bruce Freeman is president of ProLine Communications, a marketing and public relations firm in Livingston, NJ and an adjunct professor of marketing and entrepreneurship. E-mail questions to Bruce(at)SmallBusinessProf.com.