As a single mom, your head of household status is both a source of contention and pride. But have you ever considered how single parenting prepares you for entrepreneurship? Lisa Abeyta, founder, and CEO of APPCityLife writes in Inc. that:
“Parenthood can provide the ideal training ground for many of the soft skills needed to run a business.”
Soft skills like resilience, adaptability, and creativity fuel the passionate entrepreneur. These same abilities are refined, mostly without even realizing it, while parenting alone. Angela Benton, founder and CEO of NewMe, told Entrepreneur that:
“Being a single mom comes with a wealth of skills that do well in entrepreneurship
Now, if you’re a single parent, then you’re probably nodding your head. You already know what you balance every day. But perhaps you didn’t realize that you’ve been busy honing in your entrepreneurial skills.
Single parenthood prepares us for entrepreneurship.
The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) reports that there are more than 11 million women-owned businesses in the United States. A number that increased by 45% from 2007 to 2016.
During this time, Pew Research reported that children living with single mothers remained steady at 21% and that:
One-in-five children live with a single mother.
Flexibility and better income opportunities are only two reasons why women choose to work for themselves. When I question my ability to provide for my family as an entrepreneur, then I think about how single parenting is similar to entrepreneurship.
A quote by Amanda Austin, founder
Successful entrepreneurs demonstrate an ability to tolerate risk. They dream big and learn to delegate. Each day presents a new issue that the entrepreneur brainstorms their way around. From freelancing to blogging, we forge on with exciting adventures.
Replace the word entrepreneur with term single mom.
Being a single mom is like heading into uncharted territory.
After all, taking on motherhood and single parenthood is certainly a new adventure. One that presents new issues daily. The single mom, who, when hard-pressed for money and time, turns to creative measures to keep her household running.
It’s rarely clear what to do next.
Oh sure, we develop routines and learn a few tricks. But, with kids, they never fail to find something unique to throw at us that leaves us Googling like crazy to find a solution.
And you have to rely on yourself a lot when you run into problems.
As single parents, a hundred million little decisions hit us, all before 8 am. It never ends.
There isn’t a second person to tag in for five minutes. Often there’s no tagging in of anyone unless we need childcare for work. Then we tag in (and pay) someone else so we can go parent other co-workers or baby our customers for eight hours.
There are many days when you feel like things will never work out.
When deadlines, school activities, and illnesses hit all at once, it’s exhausting. Handling emergencies while working from home is one thing, but if mom is hugging the toilet bowl while struggling to fulfill her duties as the sole parent in the house, then yes we have those minutes where we have severe doubts that things will be okay.
You’re operating at a loss for endless months.
For the 30% of the single parents who live at or below the poverty level, it’s easy to identify with a
You have to be able to stomach the roller coaster of emotions that comes with striking out on your own.
Here are the keywords—you have to. As a sole caregiver, you have to. Whatever the action is, whatever the price is, you have to and you will.
So to all the shift working, side hustling, single moms out there getting it done — you got this. In fact, these hard-won, life-altering skills may actually be preparing you for life as an entrepreneur.
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