Many passionate moms venture into entrepreneurship as a flexible means to generate additional revenue for their households. Some eventually become fortunate enough to expand their businesses and venture into entrepreneurship full-time. If this happens to you as a mompreneur, you may be excited about all the new prospects you have for the growth of your passion project. But this new entrepreneurial life, paired with your day-to-day responsibilities as a parent and as a partner, is not without its challenges.
Mistakes Mompreneurs Should Avoid
While juggling their family lives and their business operations, too many mompreneurs in the Philippines make decisions that aren’t ideal for their particular situation. To that end, here are six mistakes mompreneurs should avoid if they want to enjoy the fruits of their venture:
1) Not Investing in the Right Payment Infrastructure for Your Business
A common mistake many mompreneurs make involves how they receive payments in light of their business expansion. Caught up in the excitement of reaching a wider customer base, a mompreneur may fail to consider the scale of payments the business will need to accommodate. This can quickly disrupt financial operations and may result in poor customer service.
Fortunately, there are many seamless and secure payment infrastructure solutions that mompreneurs can explore for their businesses today. The goal is to choose a payment platform that aligns with the business’s needs and that can sufficiently provide a hassle-free experience to customers.
Consider signing up for a tool like Maya Business’s Payment Links, which will allow you to bill and send a link for payment to customers through various messaging apps. You’ll be quickly notified once the payment has gone through. This link payment solution will streamline your business transactions and support your scalability as you expand your business into new markets or introduce additional products or services.
2) Ignoring Market Research and Customer Feedback
Any small business expansion project requires a deep understanding of the market landscape and customers’ needs in order for it to truly succeed. Don’t make the mistake of operating your mom-run business without any regard for those. Instead, invest time and resources to conducting market research and collecting customer feedback.
Stay informed about market trends, monitor your competitors’ activities, and gather regular insights into evolving consumer preferences and how they affect your target audience. Also listen to customer feedback to adapt your products or services accordingly. Keeping the pulse on your market and target audience should eventually become like second nature to you as a mompreneur.
3) Neglecting to Improve on Core Products or Services First
In addition to ignoring what your customers have to say, you must also avoid the mistake of failing to make improvements to your products and services. It’s common for many mompreneurs to get so excited about their business expansion that they grow complacent about their core offerings.
Steer clear of this mistake by making sure to address your customers’ needs, and determine a timeline for enhancing your product quality. Remember to refine your service delivery too, to preserve customer satisfaction and loyalty amidst increasingly high standards. This will allow you to strengthen your competitive position in the market and lay a solid foundation for further growth for your mom-run business.
4) Simultaneously Juggling Business and Mom Duties
While it’s natural for the lines between your work life and your family life to blur, it’s essential to establish boundaries between the two and set your priorities for both of them. Otherwise, you risk letting your business intrude upon your role as a mother or vice versa.
Set aside dedicated time for both work and family so you can be fully present in each role. This may involve setting specific work hours, designating a dedicated workspace at home where no one should interrupt you, or scheduling family activities in advance. Being able to separate business and family responsibilities will allow you to maintain a balance between the two and prevent one from overshadowing the other.
5) Failing to Delegate Tasks
One thing you need to remember as a mompreneur is that you don’t have to do everything on your own. You can still fulfill your responsibilities as a business owner and mother while getting some help. Making the mistake of failing to delegate tasks or outsource non-core activities can lead to burnout and hinder your business growth.
Prioritize tasks based on your expertise and consider outsourcing tasks such as accounting, marketing, or administrative duties to external professionals. Doing so means that you can free up valuable time and focus your energy on strategic initiatives that will drive business growth and innovation. This approach will also allow you more time to take care of your family.
6) Hiring the Wrong People
About the point above, you also need to ensure that you get the right people for the job. Hiring the wrong people can lead to inefficiencies and conflicts, which can do a number on your mom-run business’s profitability.
Take the time to identify your business’s hiring needs and the kinds of skill and talent you’ll need on your staff. And even if you’re employing only one or two people for now, be stringent about your recruitment process. Properly define job roles and responsibilities, and conduct thorough interviews and assessments. Evaluate candidates based on their skills, experience, and how their aspirations line up with yours as a mompreneur.
The lesson to be learned here is to make sure you’re carefully weighing every decision you make as a mompreneur and taking your future growth, not just your current growth, into consideration. Stay vigilant of the mistakes listed above, and keep on persevering to see your mompreneurial venture reach new heights.