When I tell people I am writing a blog series for AusMumpreneur I usually get the same reaction. “Oh my god, that’s so awesome!” quickly followed with “What’s a Mumpreneur?”

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A Screen shot of last week’s episode of Shark Tank!

It is a fairly new word that is slowly becoming more recognisable throughout the business industry, and Oxford Dictionary describes it as – ‘A woman who sets up and runs her own business in addition to caring for her young child or children’. It’s often still mentioned in ‘inverted comas’ (which usually means that people are still contemplating whether it’s a ‘real thing’ or not.. haha) and is slowly being used in business context more and more. It is AWESOME to finally have a title for this position. So it’s a fresh, new word – yes.. But the concept itself is as old as time.

8 weeks ago I buried my beloved 84yr old Grandmother, Lola. She was the strongest woman I have ever known – emotionally, mentally and even physically in her younger years. She worked from the age of 13, married a soldier and went through his recovery as a prisoner of war when he returned home to his country. She raised four children – burying one of her daughters and two grand babies at a very young age due to a devastating car accident. She was the matriarch of our family and unconditionally supported all of her children, sons in law and Grandchildren constantly. And through it all, she worked and ran her own businesses! From running a full time dairy farm when her daughters were new babies to owning and operating a service station and a post office while the girls were going to school.

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She worked from sun up to sun down, seven days a week. And you have to realise, this was back before the simple luxuries of electricity and modern appliances ever existed. She had no internet and computer to network and market her business from. There were no online support groups with other working Mums to waste hours away typing and chatting about their day. And you know what? She succeeded. The children had food on the table and clothes on their backs. They had an education and work ethic along with impeccable manners and social skills. All while their Mother laboured for 16 hours a day to give them the best life she possibly could.

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She was a Mumpreneur.

There was no title for it back then, but she was. An amazing, resilient, strong woman who ‘set up and ran her own business in addition to caring for her young child or children’. And she did it during a time of no modern help, no electrical support and no unlimited free access of information. When I am having a hard day struggling with the balance of work and motherhood, I thinking about what my NannyBo would have done. She would have had to suck it up, take the life lesson from it and keep going. So that’s what I do. And you should as well. Take comfort in knowing that these matriarchal women before us from many generations have been Mumpreneurs all along. They have paved the way for us modern women to survive and thrive in raising our beautiful children and running successful businesses – and trust me, we have it a hell of lot easier than they ever did.

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How lucky are we? Miss you NannyBo xx

 

About Haylie D, Haylie D photography

haylieHaylie is the Owner & Head Photographer at haylie D photography. She specialises in Newborn, Birth & Maternity fine art portraiture and lives on the gorgeous Gold Coast. She is the Mama to two beautiful children aged 7 & 9 and a wife to the most fabulous and supportive man a girl could ever ask for…  though he could pick up his dirty socks once and a while to help a Mama out 😉 “I LOVE running my own business, my home and of course my beautiful family.. I truly am blessed.”

She has been in business since 2013 as a Newborn photographer, though she also ran her own online little girls boutique (Little Miss Fascinated) for 4 years prior to that too.