• Margaret
  July 9th, 2008 at 6:57 pm

  I am all for women entrepreneurs, as I am one myself. Not to take anything away from the business owner featured here, I am dismayed that so much of the media coverage regarding women entrepreneurs focuses on businesses that are related to traditional women’s roles and supposed interests — such as children, fashion, and beauty. I also believe the term “momtrepreneur” trivializes and pidgeon-holes women who start their own businesses.

• Bek
  July 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

  Beautiful stuff! Congrats on your success Kira!

  I do agree with Margaret’s comment above, even though I confess that I am one of the women entrepreneurs that deals with fashion (I’m a silversmith and I sell my work online)…

  I think the media focuses so much on those specific categories(children,fashion, and beauty) as they are areas either going through dramatic or trendy changes either due to trends or health reasons…

  I have also been finding that many women with their own business and who have kids, did not necessarily leave their working 9-5 at an office, for someone else, jobs to have a family. I think many women who leave already have the family in place and they see their family needs change and then they leave…Many of the women I am friendly with started their businesses when they realized one income wasn’t cutting it or they needed the flexibility and the income- either due to kids or illnesses/health issues preventing them from doing the 9-5 thing…

  Also, many of us are also faced with the reality that our jobs (at least for some of us) pay slightly more than daycare costs in urban areas, and once you calculate all of the other costs of having a job outside the home many women realize that having a job may be costing them more than staying home, if they have a wage/salary earning partner…

  I think it’s important to remember that folks who do nothing else but take care of a baby or kid all day have extremely challenging fulltime jobs (with mandatory, unpaid overtime and no vacation!:-). Adding a small business and running it solo on top of raising a little one is extremely difficult. Lots of media outlets do portray it as easy and almost natural, and I think they do not give credit to the amount of energy that balancing both require… Sure you might work from home and set your own hours, but the variable of a kiddo and being self-disciplined enough to operate a small business should never be taken lightly…

  Just my 3 cents (due to inflation
  Hope this makes sense… I have to finish doing one of my zillion jobs so I can hang up my hats for a few hours and get some sleep!

• kira
  July 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

  mom + entrepreneur = momtrepreneur

  in this case, this description is accurate. larkyn hit the nail on the head. and when you do work from home while taking care of your babies or children the two tend to blend together. quite often i am typing with one hand and nursing my daughter in the other. wherever i go, she goes.

  i want to thank larkyn for writing such a lovely article. i am glad that the media has begun to highlight “momtrepeneurs.” in starting my business i took a huge leap of faith, and gave up a very stable, tenured position with a nice salary, great benefits, health coverage and lots of paid time off.

  it is not easy. it has been difficult.

  but i wouldn’t trade it for the world, because this decision, this business, has allowed me to be the kind of mother i want to be (for all those parents out there that do work away from home i support that too~ i was raised by two professionals that worked away from home and i never felt at all like i missed out, even for a minute, on their love and attention.) but for me, and my experience of motherhood, this was the right decision. I think we should celebrate mom’s making this choice. I am glad that society has begun to shift their opinion’s about moms and their roles. And what I think is most important is that all women should feel comfortable making the decision to do what is right for them, not what society typically told us to do. I didn’t expect to go on this tangent, it’s just my first response to some of the other comments written–this story could get into a lot of issues…but the lighter note i would like to leave on is this: I love being a mom, I love having my own business, I love going green and i am devoted to helping our kids and the planet that is the point of baby La Rue.

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