Why Parents Are Natural Entrepreneurs
As I write this, it’s midnight on a Friday. As CEO, the week has been filled with meetings, decisions, planning, and seemingly endless to-dos. At home, I am mom to four kids, ages 10, 6, 2½, and 5 months. And if that weren’t demanding enough, I’m in the middle of packing up my family’s belongings into boxes to move.
But I’m writing this article because I’ve connected with so many parents who want to start their own company. Often, they tell me the timing isn’t right. They are waiting. Waiting for when their kids are a little older; waiting until they’ve saved up more money. Many keep waiting and waiting. They never get to the point of taking the leap.
Like having kids, the timing will never be perfect to start a business. But doing both in tandem can actually be an advantage. Here’s why.
Nothing surprises you. Your 6-year-old just wet his pants. The teenager stayed out way past curfew. When you have kids, you learn to field constant curveballs. You can get mad, sad, or annoyed, but as a parent, you can’t control everything. In business, it’s the same—there are great days, upswings, and lucky breaks. There are also bad days, bad years, bad eggs, and plenty of mistakes. The key is how you respond and learn lessons to avoid repeats.
Persistence is the name of the game. In the past 10 years, I’ve had four kids, supported my husband through nursing school, and moved four times while building a business that supports my family and my values and provides jobs for others.
Not throwing in the towel is half the battle. That’s fundamental to parenting—never giving up on your kids, always striving to find the answer to the ailment or a solution to the problem, and digging deep to solve from a place of love.
You think ahead. As a parent, you can’t walk out the door with just your cell phone. You pack the diaper bag, snacks, extra outfits—and don’t forget the toys, or your child will demand your phone, delete all of your email, and change your password (true story).
As a business owner, thinking ahead is equally essential to survival. You have to make decisions (and often sacrifices) early to get the wheels of change going before you see a payoff in a quarter or two (or next month or next year). Whether the goal is a peaceful family road trip or scaling a business, the steps are much the same: anticipate, prepare, and adapt when things don’t go as planned.
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You prioritize. My business might be bigger or better, my leadership style stronger, and my life saner if I hadn’t been raising four kids while starting and growing a company. But it’s also true that I would be less humble, caring, grateful, and self-aware if I were not a parent. To stay balanced, I focus on what matters most and then work down the list. Not every call or meeting is essential. Setting boundaries, having greater focus, and prioritizing aren’t just good for a balanced life. Those principles are also good for building teams.
Delegate and trust. Leaving your baby with a grandparent or sitter for the first time is scary. You know their needs best. But time away makes for a happier, healthier parent, which in turn makes for happier, healthier families.
In business, learning to delegate and trust is hard, too. The business is your baby. But there comes a time when you must let others in to help. Working together as a team is where the magic happens. You lean on others, and they lean on you. You create the vision, and they help write the story on how to get there. The greatest wins are not won alone.
You see the whole person. I was a manager long before I was a parent, but once I became a parent, the way I managed changed. I started to see the whole person—each employee could be a father or mother, a son or a daughter. Caring for them, knowing what makes them tick, what they aspire to be or do and how they like to be recognized comes naturally when you care about the full person. You want to see your teammates fulfilled, challenged, and valued. Building a team is all about the “us,” and so is building a family.
So many attributes that make for good parenting are also a good recipe for entrepreneurship: persistence, grit, going with the flow, being resilient, and caring deeply. So for anyone wishing and hoping that they could start sooner, I’m here to say it is possible to raise a family and grow a business. It’s not easy, but then it’s never easy. Ultimately, I want my kids to see me loving what I do, setting the bar for their relationship with work. To me, showing passion, sacrifice, hard work, and compassion is part of being a great parent. Because I hope to not just raise kids, but to raise entrepreneurs, too.
