10 reasons not to call yourself a Mompreneur

April 24, 2008 · 1 comment

I happen to be an entrepreneur, woman, wife, mother of two, daughter, sister, friend, colleague, boss, professor, advisor, activist, volunteer, etc.  However, I do not feel compelled to compress all of these roles and aspects of my life into one job title.   Is there any woman in the Corporate World that would appreciate being called a MommyManager by her employees after giving birth?  In fact, I am sure you could win a lawsuit in the U.S. on these grounds.  So, why do women entrepreneurs fall for this condescending label?  It beats me why so many embrace it, but here is my attempt to put a stop to this trend…  (in no particular order)

1 ) A Mompreneur is a Nonpreneur! 

2 ) You may as well shout to the world ”I am not serious about my business”.  The message is the same.

3 ) Attention all Moms; you are still a person with your own individual identity, skills, qualifications and interests.

4 ) It is too convenient to insert an excuse for failure into your job title. 

5 ) Why bring your kids into your business? 

6 ) When an architech becomes a father, does he start calling his profession Daditech?

7 ) Do you really want to go there?  Pubertypreneurs, newlywedpreneurs, gaypreneur, divorcepreneur, menopausalpreneur, grannypreneur, etc…

8 ) Do you think you are unique because you are a Mom and you are running a business?  More than 80% of women have children, so please get over it! 

9 ) Unless the target market for your product or service is strictly limited to new moms, stay at home moms and fellow “Mompreneurs”, please be advised that the rest of us don’t find it cute. 

10 ) Any shortcoming in delivering on your promise, will be attributed to the prioritization of your parenting resonsibilities over your professional commitments.  You cancel a meeting, your client will assume your kids must be sick or when you are unavailable on request, you must not have a babysitter.    

Please don’t spoil it for the rest of us that take both parenting and running our business seriously! 

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Laura August 16, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Good points. But I wonder if the feeling of not being alone, of being with other mothers around the business park, is what gives some women the confidence to go out and create their businesses. In that case, go for it!

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