Parent + Entrepreneur, ParentPreneur®*, is a business owner, contractor, sole proprietor or principal who is a parent and also managing a business. It is sort of a made up word yet describes us exactly. There seems to be a -preneur for everything these days – mompreneur (mumpreneur in the UK), solopreneur, fitpreneur, bizpreneur, artpreneur, vetpreneur, which undoubtedly irritates an etymologist’s use of the word entrepreneur.
A ParentPreneur can be the owner of any type of various business such as traditional brick-and-mortar, startups, subcontractor, freelancer or other home-based businesses in which the person owns the product and service sold to customers. Some ParentPreneurs have online marketing companies like mine, KellyO Consulting & Coaching, LLC, a business has evolved over the years from the solo practitioner to President/CEO managing from 1 to many subcontractors or employees.
The main thing we all have in common is that we are parents and share many similar challenges managing our business with our family obligations. Some call it a balance, although I do not believe in a balance as it suggests something is always off.
We create a blend of work-family-parenting priorities based on
what is most urgent that day.
Taking my children to and from school has been very important to me as a work-from-home ParentPreneur. Carving out that time in my day is non-negotiable so that I can be with them to hear the crazy stories from their school day. It’s not all about how much homework there is or what’s for dinner. Yes, I’ve had to take calls during afternoon school pick-up time though I try to avoid it whenever possible.
Employees with 9-5 jobs don’t have to worry about their 9-year-old coming into their office to ask about homework or where to find the goldfish crackers. Or tell on their older sister for staring at them in a weird way, taking the last cookie or well, breathing too hard.
Setting rules for work-from-home moms and dads is critical whether your home office is full-time or you’re working a side business after normal working hours. Here are some ideas about What To Do With Your Kids When You Work Home.
Embrace your title ParentPreneur and bravely emblazon your own path. We’re in this together!
*ParentPreneur® is a US registered trademark of KellyO Consulting & Coaching, LLC.
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