They say never to work with animals or children but sometimes the life of mumpreneur means you have no choice...
1. She's part of a secret society, in fact many secret social media groups that you wouldn't know exist - there's a revolution happening and it's going on right in your homes: the startups, the freelancers, the entrepreneurs.
2. She's a 4am Facebook fiend - if the baby is up, she's networking her ass off in the glimmer of the Noddy nightlight.
3. She starts to use words like tribe, self-care, showing up and mindset in her day-to-day vocabulary and the kids have started using these too...
4. She's gone all transatlantic - sharing advice with other mums across the pond, they have a little inside joke and in that fleeting exchange, they feel connected.
5. She's a miracle multi-tasker, a mummy on a merry-go-round mission: "I was on a team [video conference] call breastfeeding my twins and one decided to fall off and hit the iPad then the other twin looked away. All of a sudden [it's my turn in the conference] and I'm on the video call topless!! [thank goodness] it was only women!!" - Rachel Hoy, Juice +.
6. She's a highly successful businesswoman but her children can still show her who's boss: "I was having a Skype session with a prospective client and my 3 year old was at home sick. I set her up in front of the TV but she wanted to see what I was doing and came in. She wanted to sit on my lap, she put her hand over my mouth and said, 'stop talking mummy' and was playing with things on my desk; ripping my papers up and wanting my chair to swing around. I was mortified after the session and messaged my new client to apologise. Her response, 'please don't apologise for the awesomeness of your child, I loved it. It was nice to engage with a child again. I really enjoyed talking to you and I am excited to work with you'!" - Michelle Smith, Start Up Mum.
7. ...Or her children can completely embarrass her: "I was on a call with a client and my 3 year old twins were playing in another room, [there's a knock at the door] and my son races to the door...with no pants or underwear on, screaming 'HI CAROLYN!' (the name of woman) just as she gets to the front door, he then proceeds to pee in the front yard... - Luciana Naldi, Mama On A Mission.
8. She is always prepared: "The cute girl I'm cuddling in my profile photo - she piddled on the studio floor when we went for some professional shots for some promotional material. She had decided that she wasn't going to be wearing nappies anymore - the day before the shoot. I went to the studio armed with a potty..." - Sarah MacDonald, Sarahmac Designs & Nappy Go Lucky.
9. She's all 'business at the front, party at the back' - and no we're talking mullet hairstyles, we're talking smart work-wear, all preened and spruced from the waist up whilst wearing pyjama bottoms (probably strained with the kids' breakfast) and furry flamingo slippers under her desk.
10. She's strategic: "I have exactly 33 uninterrupted minutes from my eldest by putting on the TV. When he notices his show is over and I'm still on the phone, he will start saying 'GET OFF THE PHONE NOW, MOM' like a broken record..."
"I typically schedule the work that I need to be laser focused on, on the days where I have help! But of course, there are many times where I need more time than help. One time, when my eldest [was in the kitchen] getting the bread down, he knocked over a brand new glass jar candle which broke and the glass went everywhere. It was my turn to speak [on my conference call] and I had to jump up and run to the kitchen to make sure he was alright. Instead of taking time to clean up right that second, I barricaded the kids in my office and needless to say my stress level was high and patience was low and EVERYTHING WAS A MESS! I totally needed a Margarita after that day!" - Lauren Girdler, Success Coach for the Highly Motivated Mama.
11. She tries to do everything - despite outsourcing her highly demanding workload, part of her still feels like she should also play an old fashioned role in the home and she feels guilty for outsourcing cleaners, childcare, etc.
12. She is multi-skilled - in the space of 25 minutes, she's played football with her youngest, brushed Elsa's hair into a plait with her eldest, hung out the laundry, fed the dog, organised an after-school club and just nailed a huge contract.
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