I love being a mumpreneur, being my own boss and being free to have time with my baby girl every single day. Sure it has its challenges, but what career choice doesn’t? I decided to become a mumpreneur because it was important for me to be with my babies when they were young but even as they’ve grown older there have been so many benefits and advantages to this lifestyle and parenting choice and since my new baby was born last year, I’m grateful every day that I have the opportunity to follow my career ambitions and watch her grow up too. Here are just some of the reasons I love being a mumpreneur:

1. You can work how, when & where you want. You have total flexibility around the kind of work you will do. You can choose the hours that work best for you and you can make your own workspace wherever you want. When you’re your own boss you get to call the shots.

2. You can be with your baby. Something that really annoys me about traditional workplaces is that a boss tells you when you can and can’t see your baby. This was the number one reason I didn’t go back to work, babies need their mums and mums need their babies too. I think its awful that there are still some employers who only hold women’s positions for them for 12 weeks before forcing them to choose between their baby or their career, why can’t we have both, why does this have to be so hard? Once kids start school its a little better but traditional work hours are usually 9-5 so by the time you get home it’s more like 6 and if your kids go to bed at 7.30, that’s just one and a half hours a day that you get together. And you’ll probably spend most of that time on homework. As a Mumpreneur you set your own hours so from 3pm you can go to the park, catch up with friends, go to the beach, whatever you like, without ever having to ‘ask’ a bosses permission. I know many employers are working towards greater workplace flexibility but it will never give you the freedom that being an entrepreneur can.

3. You contribute to the local economy. As your business grows you’ll need suppliers, deliveries, clients and employees. All of these people are benefiting from new opportunities you are creating PLUS there are flow on effects to the economy as a whole too.

4. You’re doing something for yourself. Creating something new is exciting, it will take all of your courage, determination and perseverance to make it happen. But like any big challenge the feeling of success when you’ve finally achieved that goal is amazing!

5. You’re doing something for your family. Bringing in an income is important and whether you’re a single mum or have a partner the financial rewards of having your own business benefits your whole family. Lots of women I’ve spoken to also say that having a home based business gives their kids a more entrepreneurial outlook on life.

Those are my top five. I know family and friends often think (and some will tell you) you’re crazy when you go out on your own but in the past five years I’ve worked with thousands of women who have put in the effort and are seeing the rewards for themselves and their families, some of them now have million dollar businesses and still only work two days a week! It’s not always easy and it’s not for everyone but if you have what it takes and you’re prepared to be persistent it can be the best life changing decision you’ll ever make.  Do you love being a mumpreneur?  What are your favourite reasons for this lifestyle?

5 reasons being a mumpreneur rocks