Mompreneur: Running a Family While Being a Boss by Tanisha Jamison
Working mothers have often faced criticism with respect to dividing their attention between their career and their family. (Someone should really close that peanut gallery from which strangers feel so comfortable shouting unsolicited opinions.) “You’re abandoning your children!” seems to be the most popular indictment of working mothers. There’s also that favorite, politically correct accusation of selfishness: “Are you trying to have it all?” Meanwhile, working fathers have simply been “providing for the family.” The double standard is more than enough to make your eyes hurt from all that rolling.
Tanisha Jamison, a self-help author and mother of four, acknowledges this historical tension between prescribed gender roles in the introduction to her book Mompreneur: Running a Family While Being a Boss: “It started with ‘what a man can do, a woman can try’; then it turned to ‘what a man can do, a woman can do as well.’ At a particular time, it was ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better.’” In a surprising twist, however, Jamison asserts, “the real thing is ‘what a man can do, a woman can overdo.’” A “mompreneur” herself, Jamison personally understands the struggle of juggling a successful business and a family, and her book aims to support and guide other “mompreneurs” on their journey.
Jamison tackles a wide range of topics that affect the day-to-day operations of running a business — like time management and procrastination — as well as factors that influence the bigger picture such as self-esteem, stress, and even the health of a marriage and sex. “You can be a wife, a mother, and an entrepreneur,” writes Jamison, but success requires a deft balancing act between the responsibilities of business and those of family. That’s where Jamison and Mompreneur come in.
LEARN TO CULTIVATE THAT “MOMPRENEUR” MENTALITY
In the first chapter, Jamison says, “A lot of mompreneurs are failing as a result of their mentality.” Her goal is to help shift away from attitudes that are stifling success. She discusses building confidence, fostering positivity while remaining pragmatic, and dismissing the tendency to think of fledgling businesses as hobbies rather than real work. After all, if a “mompreneur” is going to succeed, she should start by treating her business with the respect it deserves.
While Jamison stresses the importance of cultivating an entrepreneurial mentality, she also acknowledges the attention that responsibilities outside of work require. In her chapter titled “Your Work and Family,” Jamison outlines tips to help busy moms juggle the demands of these two competing worlds. She reminds “mompreneurs” not to feel guilty about dividing their time and encourages them to develop networks of support by connecting with other working mothers. She even has an entire chapter dedicated to exploring the positive impacts that working mothers have on their children — take that, peanut gallery!
Jamison clearly outlines each topic so that the information is accessible and easy to understand. She breaks down why problems like self-sabotage and poor self-esteem occur and offers solutions that address these issues. Although her book specifically targets working mothers, much of her advice on shaping your attitude toward business and understanding how outside factors influence your work could benefit almost anyone.
The quest for that all-important, yet ever-elusive, work-life balance is challenging, but Jamison believes anyone can succeed with the right support. “Mompreneurs” need to know when to take on a project themselves and when they should outsource it. In other words, you don’t need to do it all yourself to have it all. Understanding how to prioritize will lead to a healthier relationship with both your work and your family, and Mompreneur contains advice to help you achieve precisely that.
