The best gifts we receive from our mothers aren’t wrapped with pretty red bows. Instead, they are life lessons that shape our sense of purpose, nurture our ambitions, and encourage us to revel in our accomplishments. We carry these lessons with us as we travel through college, develop first relationships, and search for our life’s work.
As I raise my daughter, I have a new appreciation for these “gifts.” After all, my mother is the one who encouraged my love of crafts and sewing. Her support helped give me the courage to launch my own clothing line. She didn’t just encourage her little girl to have a hobby. She gave me the confidence I needed to create a successful business.
Lessons to Share
As the business world embraces the trends of telecommuting, virtual work environments, and flex-time schedules, mom entrepreneurs truly benefit. These new tools for entrepreneurship have allowed moms flexible hours, the ability to dictate their workload, and the potential for creating their own financial destiny. As the moms of today raise their daughters, I believe we have important lessons to share. Among those lessons is the love of learning, the importance of work/life balance, and that true happiness comes from embracing your individuality.
Love of Learning
A lifelong journey of learning ensures that we will always be excited and challenged by life. The heart of an entrepreneur beats to the drum of innovation. Encourage this life-long passion for learning by enrolling your child in extracurricular classes such as foreign languages, music lessons, or even just frequent trips to the library. The goal isn’t the activity, but to establish a love of all things new. This love of learning will help give your children a competitive advantage later in life as they become the new breed of “early adopters.”
Importance of Work/Life Balance
The pursuit of entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride with tremendous highs that can easily entice one to work endless hours and travel extensively as you push toward accomplishing company milestones. However, success at work is hollow without success at home. You need family and friends with whom you can share that success. Be a positive role model for your daughter by creating clear boundaries between work and home. Teaching your child how to build a harmonious work/life balance early will make the transition into Mom Entrepreneurship that much easier.
True Happiness
Childhood can be a difficult time for some as they prefer a life of sameness to greatness. A mother’s appreciation for her child’s unique talents may be all that’s needed to foster the next Van Gogh or Steve Jobs. For instance, if your child shows an interest toward drawing, sign her up for a local class or encourage her to enter an art competition. Nurturing and appreciating your child’s talent and individuality now will help build the confidence she needs to lead. To be happy and fulfilled in her career, she must first be happy and fulfilled with herself.
Blossoming into the Mom Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow
With technology pushing us forward, I believe the business world will continue to embrace family-friendly business trends. Undoubtedly, these trends bring the promise of even more opportunities for our daughters. As they blossom into the Mom Entrepreneurs of tomorrow, we must strive to give them the gifts they need today.
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