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How to become a successful business mum or mompreneur

Guest post by: Roy Derrick

Article Overview: Are you about to return to work after having maternity leave? Are you filled with dread at the prospect of having to leave your new bundle of joy behind? Or are you a working mum struggling to juggle family and working life? If so here is an account of how you can achieve more personal and financial freedom by embarking on an exciting opportunity to work from home by starting up your own home based business.

How to become a successful business mum or mompreneur

Is life more difficult for women today compared to what it was in days gone by?

One hundred years ago women were regarded as second class citizens. They were encouraged to consider the interests of men folk over their own. They were generally reared to become full time wives and mothers. Their options in life were very limited especially for working class girls who had even fewer choices than their middle class counterparts. Education for girls was limited to the 3 R 's namely reading, writing and arithmetic along with a little geography and history. The biggest chunk was allocated to that of domestic subjects such as needlework, house management, cooking, laundry work and childcare.

Even though the age for compulsory school attendance raised to fourteen in 1899 many working class girls often left earlier provided that they had the necessary labour certificate that enabled them to enter poorly paid jobs in domestic service. Women were not even regarded as worthy enough to vote which left them powerless to change their circumstances and improve their lives. The way out for many women was to get married and become stay at home mums as their working class husbands would have been against them going out to work.

The only contribution that women in these times would have been able to make to supplement the household income would have been to take in laundry or lodgers or to ask neighbours or friends for help.

Often women would have large families and would often go without food themselves in order to ensure that the husband got fed. Life was very hard especially as all cleaning tasks involved hard labour as there were none of the household appliances that we now take for granted like our washing machines and vacuum cleaners to name but a few. Heating and cooking was obtained via an open coal fire which involved carrying constant heavy scuttles full of coal. Men did not help women with household chores as this was regarded as being the woman's work.

However women began to tire of this treatment and in 1903 Emmaline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) which was a women's only organisation. They in particular campaigned for women to have the right to vote as they felt this would greatly help improve their conditions. She believed that women "would remain a servant until they lifted themselves out of it". The organisation sought to bring equality for women in the family.

In today's times women are still not quite equal but we have travelled a long way from the wretched conditions that existed for women one hundred years ago. Currently it is a fact that 21% of U K women get paid less than men for full time working, there are only 4 female chief executives in the FTSE 100 companies and the 30,000 women are expected to lose their jobs each year due to becoming pregnant.

Despite these bleak figures there is no doubt that life is still better now and women have more choices available to them. The introduction of birth control has reduced the burden of women having to rear large families and modern household appliances have reduced or certainly made everyday chores easier to complete. Most houses now have central heating and hot water and more importantly women now have equal access to all forms of education and are no longer regarded as second class citizens.

However if could be argued that women have it harder now as quite often they do not have the option of becoming stay at home mums. Most have to return to work after maternity leave as the husband's income alone is often not high enough to cover the household bills. We have sadly become accustomed to the luxuries that two salaries provide namely nice houses, more than one car per family and annual family holidays abroad. Also there is often the need to supplement children who are encouraged to go to university to further their education hence the need for two incomes.

Whilst some women welcome going back to work as it offers a welcome change from domestic chores, others resent having to leave their new little bundle of joy and become resentful especially when they have the added pressure of commuting to and from work.

There is however an alternative that offers a healthy balance between the two namely finding an opportunity to work from home. There are many business opportunities for women whereby they can start up a business from home. This enables them to have the best of both worlds. They can earn a second income but more importantly they can work flexible hours based around their family needs hence creating more personal and financial freedom. Many women choose to work when their babies are sleeping or if their children are at school they work around school hours. Mompreneurs are fortunate to be able to attend any school concerts at short notice and do not have to spend out on expensive childcare particularly during school holidays. They also save a lot of time and money not having to commute to and from work. Running your own business also has the advantage of being equal opportunity. There is no discrimination between men or women when you start your own business as success depends on the time and effort that an individual puts into the business regardless of what sex that person is. You will be rewarded based on your commitment to the business venture.

There are many business opportunities for women. These include hundreds of internet business opportunities or openings for freelance services .There has never been a better time to start a business working from home. Many of these home based business opportunities will even offer one to one coaching to help you set up a business.

Becoming a business mum or mompreneur offers women the opportunity to be able to be stay at home mums who play an active role in their children's upbringing whilst still being able to sustain a successful career working from home around their family commitments. In today's world it certainly is possible for women to have the best of both worlds and to finally have the opportunity to achieve the same goals as their male counterparts which would have been unthinkable a hundred years ago.

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Re: Success - I think success is 2% luck and 98% persistence. While it's true that SOME people are successful due to luck, but the majority of the population has to work very hard to attain their goals. Opening a business require a ton of footwork. This means a lot of travel, a lot of networking, a lot of bank transactions -- just a lot of everything. If you're willing to put up with the monotonous aspects of business and you're willing to push forward, you're more than likely be successful. Also, make sure to cater to your audience/customer.
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Re: Business Failure Rate – What is the Real Business Failure Ra - [quote="Kevin":3v711nok][quote="ZekeLL":3v711nok]Hi Kevin, The answer is actually a little sad. The sources that I found define a successful business as one that doesn't go broke and remains operating! Zeke Camusio[/quote:3v711nok] Hi ZekeLL, That is disappointing to hear as that could mean those businesses could still be in serious debt.[/quote:3v711nok] I call that scraping by not being successful. If you determine success as only being open for business - that should increase the odds of "being successful". Add the current economic crisis i the US and around the world and the questionable companies won't survive. I read an article about how tough economic times reveal the weak business owners and "leaders". I guess we're also seeing that with US auto makers and financial institutions. Chris


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