Many moms who work from home can understand what it’s like trying to get in a business call with a child in the background. That’s why Kimberly’s story is so easy to relate to for many of us. Thanks to the mompreneur boom, though, it’s becoming more widely accepted.
If you’ve ever worked from home under less-than-ideal conditions, you’ll appreciate Kimberly Kayajan’s recollection of the first business call she made from her home.
Kayajan, now 36, was using a cell phone for her startup Internet business selling colorful flip-flop sandals. This was several years ago and, at the time, reception at her home was pretty bad. Kayajan also was taking care of her infant son that day. So there she was, “hanging my head out the window, not wanting to leave my child alone inside, trying to sound professional.”
Today, phone reception has improved. And Kayajan is no longer shy about telling customers and business associates that they might hear children in the background because she’s working at home.
Even so, with small children at home — now there are two — it’s not always easy to make uninterrupted business calls. “You have to strategically plan your time,” said Kayajan, who lives with her husband and children in Cotuit.
That’s a challenge facing the growing number of women who are combining motherhood and work by starting home-based businesses.
These enterprising women represent a trend that small business experts are paying attention to. They are enough of a phenomenon that there is now a widely accepted name for them — “mompreneurs.” The term was coined in 1997, and later trademarked, by Ellen Parlapiano and Pat Cobe, co-authors of two advice books on the topic and run a Web site full of resources.
There’s nothing new about mothers finding ingenious ways to earn money from home while raising their kids. But today, e-commerce makes it possible for such ventures to earn more than grocery money. Sometimes lots more.
Plus, the growth of home-based businesses in general has meant that mothers who are home-based entrepreneurs — OK, mompreneurs — now are taken seriously.
Kayajan is now in her fourth year combining motherhood with her business venture, which last year shifted its focus to selling monogrammed jewelry.
Until her children are in school full-time, she expects growth to be slow. “That is one of the challenges with being a stay-at-home mom. Right now my kids are my priority,” said Kayajan, who spends just a few hours a week on her business, mostly at night.
“I’m really lucky that right now I can do a little of both. For our family this is what works.”
Image from Stock.xchng.
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