What I’ve Learned in My First Year as a Working Mom

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Today is my daughter’s first birthday and I thought it would be cool to write down some of the things she has taught me and to share all of the ways motherhood has made me a better (and worse) business owner.

How motherhood has made me a better business owner.

I’ve stared at my blinking cursor for 10 minutes now trying to come up with ways I believe having a baby has made me a better business owner. Often, I find myself feeling guilty for not giving my business the attention it deserves as I navigate this new season of motherhood. In many ways, I’m not the savvy, go-getter entrepreneur I was a year ago.

But deep down I know that Maia has made me not only a better business owner, but a better person. Here’s why.

Leaders eat last… and so do moms.

I read the book Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek a few years ago and was greatly impacted by the principle of servant leadership. What I didn’t know when I read that book, is how much becoming a mom would teach me about servant leadership.

While this book has nothing to do with motherhood, the parallels are undeniable.

"Leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.”

- Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last

Replace the word “Leadership” with “Motherhood” and the word “leaders” with “mothers” and re-read that statement. It works, doesn’t it?!

As I’ve learned that putting the interest of my daughter over the interest of myself makes me a better mom, so I’ve learned that putting the interest of my designers and my clients over my own makes me a better business owner.

When they succeed, I succeed.

Over the last 12 months, I’ve watched my daughter learn how to sit up, how to stand, how to walk, and eventually how to say her first few words. I excitedly cheered for her at each of these milestones and would well up with pride when she’d watch me do something enough times to where she was able to mimic my actions and do it herself. I was succeeding at motherhood!

Is this not the same as my service-based business? Do I not aim to share my knowledge and expertise with my clients until they are able to understand it on their own and go on to achieve their own success?

In the same way that I feel like I’ve succeeded as a mother when I watch my baby hit a milestone, I also know that I’ve succeeded as a business owner when I see my designers growing in their ability to design a killer website or when my clients start showing up for their business with confidence because they’ve invested in their online presence.

From one working mom to another.

We often focus entirely on the challenges of being a working mom. The struggles we face day in and day out trying to find the perfect, seemingly intangible, balance of work and motherhood. But today, I’d like to focus on some of the great attributes of moms who work.

As a mompreneur, I’ve had to shift from my business being my baby to my baby being my baby and my business being my business. Are you still with me??

While my business is incredibly important to me and I hope to steward this gift well in my life, BrandWell is not my baby. It is no longer the thing that I pour all of my time and attention into. I put A LOT of my time and attention into it- but not all.

My biggest takeaway from year one.

Overall, I think my biggest takeaway from year one is that becoming a mom strips you of your freedom, your independence, and your selfishness. I don’t get to spend 12 hours a day on my laptop like I once did and I have to make a lot of arrangements in order to accomplish a branding shoot or even a simple podcast interview.

But I also have never known a love like the love I have for my little girl. She’s made me more patient, more compassionate, and more interested in the needs of others than in the needs of myself.

I’m so thankful for this opportunity to be a working mom. To pursue my career as a business owner and to raise my daughter to know the value of hard work and creativity.

Thanks for supporting me on this journey of motherhood and entrepreneurship. Here we come, year 2!

KEEP BRANDING WELL,

Victoria