I DIDN’T MAKE MUCH PROGRESS AS A MOMPRENEUR UNTIL I EMBRACED SOME MINDSET CHANGES
Many mompreneurs are struggling because of their mindsets. If you’re one of them, it’s time to embrace some mindset changes so you can make some headway in your business.
Learning and developing the best mindsets for success takes time and isn’t always easy. But if you stay committed you will start to see a difference in your business.
When I became a homeschooling mom in 2014, I knew the only way we could make things work financially was to be a work at home mom too.
For a long time, I didn’t know what I was doing and I struggled a lot.
One day it dawned on me that I had been approaching this mompreneur thing all wrong and I needed to change my midset if I wanted to be successful.
So in this post, I want to share the mindset changes that made a difference to my life.
If you’re a struggling mompreneur who is at her wit’s end or thinking of giving up, I hope these tips will help you to turn things around in no time.
This post may contain affiliate links.If you buy anything using my links, I may receive a small commission.
6 ESSENTIAL MINDSET CHANGES FOR STRUGGLING MOMPRENEURS
BE REALISTIC ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE TO WORK
It’s difficult to make much progress if you’re constantly overwhelmed or stressed because you don’t have enough time to do all the things.
Instead of feeling stressed or unhappy about all the things you can’t do, be realistic about your situation.
The truth is, how much time you have to work on your business will depend on things like: the number of kids you have at home, their ages and how much help you have.
It goes without saying that being a mompreneur is easier when your kids are older and are a lot more independent.
My kids are now ten and thirteen and finding the time to work is so much easier because they are less needy.
One advantage of being realistic is that it helps you to be more focused because you know you don’t have unlimited hours to work on your business because of family and other commitments.
And guess what happens when you’re more focused?
You become more productive (that is if you’re focused on the right things of course).
Far too many moms buy into the lie that they can have it all (or do it all) and they get stressed or unhappy when they find out they can’t.
The first mindset change you need to embrace if you want to succeed is to be realistic about your circumstances.
Be realistic about how much time you can invest in your business, then figure out how to make the most of the time you have available.
START TREATING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A REAL BUSINESS NOT A HOBBY
Do you treat your business like a real business or like a hobby?
To succeed as a mompreneur or small business owner, you have to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
What does it mean to have an entrepreneurial mindset?
Having an entrepreneurial mindset simply means you know and understand that you’re responsible for the success and failure of your business.
When you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you know that the decisions you take will either make or break your business.
Far too many of us treat our businesses like hobbies. We put in very little effort yet we expect big things from our business.
That’s not how it works.
So how do you treat you business like a real business and not a hobby?
Here are some ways to do that:
- Be consistent. Which means you work on your business whether you feel like it or not. You show up everyday (or most days) and you put in the work. One thing that helps with consistency is to have “regular” business hours. That means choosing the best time (for you), when you can work on your business.
- Learn the skills you need to succeed. When you start taking your business seriously, you stop winging it and you start learning everything you can about entrepreneurship and how to make your business work.
- Focus and eliminate distractions. When you start taking your business seriously, you start focusing on activities with the highest return on investment. In other words, you eliminate distractions and give your attention only to the things that move the needle. Which means no more trying to write a blog post while scrolling through Facebook at the same time. Ahem.
- Become financially savvy. Understand your business finances. Profits and losses. How to maximize your income. Taxation and other financial aspects of running a business.
- Be organized and have a dedicated work space you use as an office.
When you start treating your business like more than a hobby, your attitude and focus changes.
Embracing an entrepreneurial mindset is one of the best things you can do for your business.
DITCH THE “DIY” MENTALITY
First let me just say that there’s nothing wrong with trying to do some things.
I do a lot of stuff either to save money or because I don’t have the budget for it.
That’s just how it’s when you’re a small business owner with limited capital to invest in your business.
However, you must be willing to invest in your business when necessary.
Let me quickly throw in a caveat here.
I am not saying you should invest in everything that catches your fancy or invest in things because FOMO.
But every entrepreneur needs a few tools or resources that would improve their business or make them more money.
Instead of trying to google everything or find answers in Facebook groups, you should consider making one or two essential investments as long you can afford it and you will use it immediately.
I can’t begin to tell you how many things I have invested in that are just sitting around gathering dust.
Don’t do that.
An essential tool is something that you need right now or in the not too distant future.
Investing in things because they are on sale or because you think you’re gonna need them in future isn’t a smart move or something I recommend.
So if your mindset has been to diy everything, you may want to rethink that.
Sometimes trying to figure out things on your requires a lot of time investment. That’s time you could spend working on something else.
When you think about it like that, it becomes easier to outsource or invest in a few things (especially when they aren’t our strength).
So take a good look at your business, make a list of all the essential tools or resources you need to make, then create a budget and a savings plan to so you can invest in them.
DEVELOP A CONFIDENT MINDSET
Are you a confident mompreneur or are you plagued with self doubt?
If you’re constantly doubting yourself or wondering if your business (your products or services) is good enough, it’s possible you are dealing with self doubt.
If you struggle to make decisions or you constantly crowd source opinions before you get anything done, you may be dealing with a lack of self confidence.
Everyone has moments when we second-guess ourselves, that’s entirely normal.
But if you spend most of your time second guessing yourself, then that isn’t healthy.
Lack of confidence will stop you from achieving your goals. When you lack confidence, you keep selling your self short because you think what you have to offer isn’t quite as good as what your competition is offering.
What tends to happen is you find yourself constantly trying to offer more and asking little in return.
While it’s important to offer value to your customers or clients, (and it’s good practice to go over and beyond), it’s only good practice as long as you’re getting something fair and valuable in return.
So don’t give away the farm because you think that’s the only way you can attract customers or clients.
Be confident in what you’re offering as long as you know you’re offering something useful, helpful and solving a real problem!
If you’re dealing with feelings of insecurity and self doubt, here are some ways you can improve your confidence.
- Surround yourself with confident people.
- Surround yourself with positive and people who affirm and support you.
- Stop comparing yourself with others.
- Do the best job that you can and trust that it’s good enough.
- Focus on your strengths and not your weakness
- Keep learning. Never stop learning. That’s the easiest way to get better and improve your confidence When you know “your stuff” there’s no reason to feel insecure.
STOP BEING AFRAID OF THE COMPETITION
Do you spend a lot of time looking across the fence thinking about what your competition is doing?
Do you isolate yourself from others and hold back some of your ideas because you’re afraid someone is going to steal them?
Believe it or not this really happens. I know of some business owners who refuse to launch their products or services (or stopped selling some of their products) because they were afraid someone was going to steal their idea.
I hate to break it to you, but you’re right to be worried about someone stealing your idea. This is especially true if you work in the online space.
However, that shouldn’t stop you from carrying on with your life and business!
At some point you’ve just got to stop worrying about what others are doing and do your thing (whatever that is).
Worrying about the competition isn’t going to help you. Worrying about whether there are enough customers or clients to go around isn’t going to change anything.
You have to focus on yourself, trust in the process and believe there is enough for everyone.
So just go out there and get your own slice of the pie.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF SUCCESS
I swear, I never used to believe that this was a thing, but it really is.
Many mompreneurs are afraid of success even if they won’t admit it.
Some of them are afraid because they think they don’t deserve it, they are afraid of change or for some other weird reason.
There are different ways that fear of success manifests itself. The most common ways are making things as difficult as possible for yourself and sabotaging yourself.
If you find yourself making strange decisions (or refusing to make decisions that would grow your business),or doing things that that could potentially hurt your business,you may want to consider whether you’re afraid of success or if it’s something else.
If you suffer from a fear of success, ask yourself why. What are you afraid of?
MINDSET CHANGES FOR MOMPRENEURS
- Be realistic about how much time you have to work
- Start treating your business like a real business not a hobby
- Ditch the “DIY” mentality
- Develop a confident mindset
- Stop being afraid of the competition
- Don’t be afraid of success
As a mompreneur it’s important that you embrace the right mindsets if you want to grow a successful business.
If you have been struggling with some negative mindsets, it’s time to embrace new mindsets that will help you to achieve your goals.
Related work from home posts:
How to start working from home as a homeschool mom
