#Mompreneur in the Making
As an entrepreneur, the questions you must know the answers to are ‘What?’ and ‘Why?’
‘What?’
What is the problem you are solving?
What is your understanding of the problem?
What is the solution you are offering?
What are the direct and derived benefits?
‘Why?’
Why are you doing, what you are doing?
To effectively answer all the above, you need to figure out the ‘How?’
More often than not, if you are convinced of the What and Why, the How will follow.
It is imperative to avoid the ‘Analysis Paralysis’ phase and get going.
If one is successful, everybody wants to know about that elusive mystery ingredient(s) to their or success. The secret that maketh the secret sauce.
A heads-up! I too am working on making that entrepreneurial dream a reality. I make no secret of the fact that I want to be asked about my special ingredient too, at some point in the near future.
There is one person I know, who works harder than anyone I know, or anybody I can vouch for -
My Mom
Doing what she does requires other worldly or superhuman abilities. Mothers possess the ability to juggle multiple things, without dropping any. Whether it is a burden or blessing, she would be the best person to answer those questions. Her narrative, her voice. I won’t volunteer an opinion, because I am not my Mom. (*Whispers* - Our opinions don’t always coincide)
Now, the protagonist of this piece, my Mom, is in the process of ‘bringing her fifth child into the world’. No. It isn’t a little one. It is her business venture.
If I may be so bold, I believe I can guess why she will be successful.
There is no question of ‘if’. Only When.
A key skill that has taken me a while to develop comes naturally to her.
Her rate of conversion of ‘feelers’ to collaborators is immensely high.
She is a mother to four children. It isn’t easy to raise a child, without a support system. She told me so and I know how difficult I was growing up.
She continues to raise us and help us take pivotal decisions. We know she has done her homework before offering us her educated opinion. There are times when her gut feeling alone is sufficient. If she says, ‘I have a feeling, it’s not worth it’; we don’t complain. The track record has been impeccable.
At school, I wanted to participate in a competition and the rules mandated only teams of 5 could take part. I was not sure how to go about getting 4 team members to join in. I narrated the trouble to my Mom like an epic saga, which I do pretty much every day. She suggested I pitch the competition to 8 people. My first official pitch.
Here’s the break down of what happened.
The ‘Yes’s – 3 – On the fly, no questions asked.
The ‘No’s – 3 – Travel plans, other engagements.
The ‘Maybe’s – 2 – In case anybody else dropped out.
The 5th Member? – A random phone call with a friend, who was more enthusiastic than the ‘Maybe’s. (This one, was all me.)
It makes business (and logical) sense to bring enthusiastic people along on the journey. Bored people rarely make the good partners or even employees.
Back to Mompreneur;
Given the nature of the business she is setting up, it’s success relies heavily on her ability to send out feelers, reach out and scout opportunities to solve key problems. It relies on figuring out who will respond the strongest to the solution she is offering. Family, friends and strangers who will no doubt, become loyal customers in the long run, are all on a top secret list. She has a system in place. She is aware of the busy-schedules, the travel plans, et all. Facebook check-ins don’t hold a candle to her knowledge.
As a Mother, she has had to reach out for know-how and assistance – ‘Why won’t the baby stop crying? Will carrots be better as teething tools? Can you babysit, while I go out to get some errands done?’ She has always had a knack for reaching out to people who will more often than not, come to her aid.
In business, it is no different. Knowing is IMPORTANT.
Knowing the what and why,
Knowing who to approach,
Knowing your target audience
Knowing the how, closes more deals.
I have said to her as I say to you now, her secret to success may be more than one special ingredient. What makes her case so unique, is that she has an important ingredient figured out already. Whether she chooses to acknowledge it or not.
Her advice to me at the start of my journey(s) has always been, ‘Buckle Up kiddo. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.’
Well, let’s just say, among others, it has served me very well. There isn’t a lot I can offer to her, except, ‘It has been a long time coming.’
To her journey, yours and mine,
Upwards and onwards!
