The Great Mumpreneur Divide

They will be dealing with school letters, bake sales, dress up days, poorly small people sent home, packed lunches, homework and after school clubs as well as taxes, accounts, sales, marketing, outsourcers, coworkers - oh, and the actual work that you charge for.

There are few words which evoke such a strong reaction in me as "mumpreneur".

Yes, I am a mum. Yes, I am a solopreneur.

So it should follow, one would imagine, that the title should fit like a glove, like a logical, portmanteau gift wrap.

It's just that I can't stand it.

I really, truly can't.

There is something so very tea-and-cake and "ahh that's nice dear, earn some pin money while the baby sleeps" about it that really piques my feminist alert system and gets on my sleep deprived nerves.

I am a huge advocate of female entrepreneurs who create their own businesses around the demands of a family. I myself have re-designed my business and working life to accommodate not only motherhood, but life with a couple of chronic illnesses kicking about.

No mean feat.

Whenever I have written a post online about work hacks for self employed mums, or tech tips for freelance mums there is inevitably a backlash in the comments section from the lads - "what about the self employed dads?".

Well, here is the thing:

By and large, most self employed women will also still take care of the majority of the household chores and childcare. Not all, but the majority.

They will be dealing with school letters, bake sales, dress up days, poorly small people sent home, packed lunches, homework and after school clubs as well as taxes, accounts, sales, marketing, outsourcers, coworkers - oh, and the actual work that you charge for.

Now, I know there are thousands of dads out there who have chosen to work for themselves and who have created a lifestyle business specifically to spend more time with the family; I love that, and I am truly in awe of any parents who grab the chance to be with their loved ones as often as possible.

It's just that - or so it seems to me - we don't seem to afford the men who are self employed parents the same assumption of 'a nice little job to earn some beer money'.

Instead, the boys are taken seriously as businessmen; they are beings whose working hours are sacred and whose time with the kids is applauded.

When it comes to us girls the gravitas is, so often, missing.

Or maybe it's just me getting me stereotypes in a flap.

Right now I am rolling with the title "The Boss", awarded by one of my little ladies; not because I am in charge of anyone, per se, but because I work "like a boss".

That will do nicely.

What it all boils down to, however, is that all parents - whether employed, self employed, full time at home or somewhere in the grey area of general life mush - well, we are all doing our very best.

We are all at the coalface of life juggling, money spinning, bill paying and trying to remember what day it is.

So, in the scheme of things maybe it just doesn't matter.

Whatever you call yourself, have a high five from "The Boss".

See you at the coalface.

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