Hello! I’m Mindee Doney, the inventor of Boogie Wipes™ and owner of Juicebox Idea Consulting. I was thrilled and humbled to be a judge of this year’s event! After spending a weekend visiting your websites and Facebook pages, reading the nominations and comments from your friends and fans, my heart needed to send a quick note to everyone. I hope you will enlighten me. 🙂
As different as your businesses and your stories are, seeing them together proves that you….WE!….are all cut from the same cloth. One of my favorite comedians said “You are not truly a Woman until you push out a kid and have them stomp all over your dreams.” It’s funny, sad and true how much having kids changes us, makes us take a long look in the mirror and inevitably becomes a “sink or swim” defining moment for most of us. Instead of throwing up your hands in overwhelmed defeat at the challenges of raising kids, you have all taken the skills your learning as a Mother and applied them to starting a business. You’re truly striving for your potential above and beyond what was ever expected of you. Many of you have overcome huge health and wellness obstacles to start and maintain your businesses. All of you are full of tenacity, ideas, creativity, and resourcefulness because that’s what it takes to be a healthy Mompreneur in the opinionated world we live in today. All of you clearly want more out of your life. High Five!
So, I did the judging according to Dawn’s requirements and scoring system and also added a brief comment for each of you specific to what I discovered in a short review of your company. Having been in all of your shoes on some level during my own 12 years as an entrepreneur, I felt a burning desire to communicate a few questions that kept coming up for me. The chief cause of failure and disappointment in life and business is trading what you want MOST for what you want at the MOMENT. Aligning your expectations of yourself and others can ensure you are making the most of every day. Please, take these thoughts with a grain of salt. There is NO right or wrong answers, only an awareness that I believe will help your happy meter. Listen to your heart and you will know if the intention is meant for you or not.
1. Did you start your business for fun and distraction or to make money? Sure, “both” is a fine answer but one of them MUST be more important to you than the other. Pick one to guide your decision making. You will see a significant shift in how you spend your time and your fulfillment level when you accept why you are really doing what you do. It will help you decide if you should spend your morning cold calling sales leads, drawing up new designs or pinning and tweeting again.
2. Do you want to do what you did today 10 years from now? Many of you have a business 100% based on your presence in it EVERYDAY! Many entrepreneurs want the option to someday be sitting on a beach while they make money. If that is you, what are you doing today to make that happen? What revenue streams can you create (product, partnerships etc..) that can sustain income when you are not available? What can you teach others to do? Yes, it’s a gradual process but it must never be far from your mind if that’s your goal.
3. How much are you relying on your MOM persona to make your business succeed? It’s a nice angle in the appropriate setting but at the end of the day, people don’t pay you for your product, time or help because you are a Mom, they give you their hard earned money because you have a tool they feel they need to solve a problem. Remember not to lay the Mommy story on to thick. Of course, it has a time and a place and is great for PR. Just keep it in check.
4. Is your work & life REALLY balanced? Mine never was and never will be. Sometimes life is all about work, sometimes it’s all about kids and family. ACCEPT WHERE YOU ARE! If you are in a stage where you are working 50+ hours a week, it’s all about YOU and your business right now. Give yourself an amount of time you are willing to live that way, communicate with those you love about it honestly and straightforward, stop apologizing for it. Set your boundaries, and reflect often on why you have chosen that and what the consequences and rewards are. Only YOU control how you feel at the end of the day.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my reflections. I have personally struggled with success and failure in my businesses and my life often and find my own sense of purpose in trying to help others discover their best life like many people helped me. I wish you all the very best in your pursuit of joy in your businesses and your home. Be Well, Dream Big, Live Simple
Mindee
Reach me @ mindee{at}juiceboxconsulting.com