Guest blogger: Christine Janssen (written with Erin Higgins), denken Research & Consulting - This is part 2 of a 6 part article on "mompreneurs". If you prefer to download this article in its entirety, click here...>
Trends
It is difficult to pinpoint how many mompreneurs there are in the United States, but according to some of the latest statistics from the Center for Women’s Business Research (www.womensbusinessresearch.org), the number of women-owned businesses has grown in excess of 40% over the past 10 years, and the number of women who are choosing to stay home to raise their children has increased nearly 15%.
Many new moms in particular have discovered that there are many lifestyle options available to them and those “high-achieving” career women are deliberately choosing not to return to the daily grind of Corporate America. Women who are used to earning a regular salary, spending as they wish, and being intellectually stimulated on a day-to-day basis are often left feeling a bit empty once they become stay-at-home mothers. They find themselves stuck in a chasm between making money and challenging themselves professionally versus trying to be the perfect mother who devotes all of her time and attention to her children.
Sadly, societal and economic pressures have driven us to rely on dual incomes to maintain a certain lifestyle, so once the stork delivers the goods and a woman chooses to stay at home to raise her children, couples are forced to look for creative ways to marry their old and new lifestyles with minimal sacrifices. Today, a large percentage of new moms are highly educated, ambitious career women and want to be professionally challenged, so they are finding ways to stay connected with the business world. The desire to set and achieve personal goals often results in women launching their own businesses from the comfort of home. While not an easy position to be in, it works for many women and can be the best of both worlds.
The trend of women who leave their jobs to have children and then opt to start their own business continues to grow. And don’t mistake this for a short-lived fad like big shoulder pads. There is a strong, definitive change in the world of entrepreneurship from both a social and an economic standpoint. Check this out: In 2007, the Intuit Future of Small Business Report was published to illustrate the changing face of entrepreneurs over the next ten years. The study was sponsored by Intuit (www.intuit.com), one of the leading providers of financial management tools for small business, and authored by The Institute for the Future (www.iftf.org), an independent research organization specializing in emerging trends and their impact on global society. The report stated that “the face of small business will dramatically change as seasoned baby boomers, those fresh out of high school, mid-career women, mompreneurs and new immigrants will come together to create the most diverse pool of entrepreneurs ever.” Moreover, the study emphasized that the United States will continue to realize increasing numbers of female entrepreneurs, thus transferring a large portion of the talent pool from Corporate America to the small business sector.
[part 3 will be distributed tomorrow]
Christine Janssen is the Founder and President of denken Research & Consulting, a boutique consulting firm in New York, NY that provides end-to-end market research and writing services to small businesses, including start-ups. She is also a Doctoral Candidate at New York University, where she is completing her dissertation on women entrepreneurs.
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