To help you get inspired, we’ve collected success stories from some of the Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017, or mompreneurs.
There is no question that starting your own business is tough. It requires a lot of time, dedication, effort, and money. You’re putting your financial stability, job security, and livelihood at risk. However, you’re also risking your family’s livelihood. Because of this, many aspiring business owners with kids often opt out of pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. If you’re a mom trying to start a business, you may especially be doubting yourself. Women are still outnumbered by men in the business owners’ circle. If you’re a mom, you’ll be even more of an interloper. If you take a look at other articles geared towards mompreneurs, you’ll read comments questioning if it’s responsible for a mom to start a business. Commenters will ask, “How can you be a good mom and take care of your family?” If anyone approaches you with this sort of attitude, cut them out of your life. It’s 2017 and that mindset can take a hike. Just ask the women on our list of the Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017! There are plenty of business ideas and opportunities for women at home.
From businesses surrounding motherhood to social media gurus, the Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 will show you your entrepreneurial dreams can still be achieved when you’re a mom!.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Caroline Freedman & Lauren McCollough of NurturMe.
In 2010, co-founders of NuturMe, Caroline Freedman and Lauren McCollough saw the need to create wholesome baby food. They noticed that standard baby food was thick, jarred, and full of preservatives for a long shelf life. When they dug further, they discovered that the baby food was not very nutritious. It was full of added salt, sugar, and other ingredients that aren’t doing one good thing for your baby’s health.
To solve the problems, these Austin, Texas-based moms created plant and fruit-based wholesome powdered baby food. They created the dehydrated powder so that is could be reconstituted with water, milk, juice or breastmilk. In under less than a year, NuturMe products were being sold across the nation and in some of the biggest retailers, like Target and WholeFoods.
Since its founding, NuturMe has expanded its product range. The brand now makes products for babies and toddler, including cereals, oatmeal snacks and more. NuturMe focuses on creating products that are gluten, dairy, and egg free. They also began producing products that have added probiotics. Caroline and Lauren used their experience as a mom and created something all families would benefit from consuming. If someone ever tells you moms can’t run a successful business, remind them that in less than a year, Caroline and Lauren were getting acquisition offers on NuturMe and looking at early retirement.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Angela Benton of NewME.
Just because you’re a new mom, doesn’t mean you have to create a business around motherhood. While that’s great for some, it’s not for everyone. The key is to find what excites you. Angela Benton did just that. After having her first child at 16, Angela didn’t let being a single mom stop her from achieving her dreams. In 2011, she founded NewME.
“NewME has accelerated hundreds of entrepreneurs through our online platform, residential “boot-camp” accelerators, and equity portfolio. We pioneered diversity in Silicon Valley by focusing on helping entrepreneurs identify strengths from their non-traditional backgrounds and leveraging them in business. We’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs build better businesses some have even gone on to raise venture capital funding. To-date NewME has helped minority entrepreneurs raise over $25MM in funding,” says NewME.
Angela has taken the entrepreneurial and mompreneurial world by storm. Since launching NewME, she has appeared in many prestigious publications, including Ebony Magazine’s Power 150, Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and Marie Claire’s 50 Women Who Rule. She encourages women to follow their dream. She reminds aspiring mompreneurs that being a mom gives you amazing tools needed to be an entrepreneur: patience, drive, multitasking, creativity, getting the most out of a budget and more.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Erica Zidel of SittingAround.
If you’re a caregiver to a child, you know the stress of finding a babysitter. Every caregiver wants and needs some time off every now and then. Despite all the babysitting apps and websites available, it can still be difficult to find an available sitter that has great reviews. Let’s be honest, when a parent finds someone that is good, they could be a bit hesitant to share the information for fear they could be losing their go-to. Another limiting factor for caregivers is cost. Good sitters are expensive. If you’re going out only for dinner, you’re looking to pay for at least three hours of care. For this reason, many caregivers are looking for family members to fill the gap. Most likely, a family member will not charge you to watch your child.The best thing about having a family member watch your kids is that you know they’re going to do a great job. But what happens if you live far away from your family members?
Erica Zidel had the same issue. To solve her childcare dilemma, she founded SittingAround with co-founder Ted Tieken in 2010. SittingAround is a babysitting cooperative or coop.
“Babysitting coops are a group of parents who trade free babysitting with their neighbors. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child — SittingAround helps you build that village. A babysitting coop is a group of parents in a neighborhood who trade childcare. The average parent in a coop saves over $500 a year while going out more often. Today’s parents don’t have large, extended families. This can make parenting in the modern world quite isolating. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child — SittingAround helps you build that village,” says SittingAround.
The site helps you find an existing coop in your neighborhood. If there isn’t one. you can build it! SittingAround gives you the tools and guidance to create a successful coop.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Brook Eddy of Bhakti Chai.
Seeing something go to waste is awful. You’re seeing money slip out the door. If you read ingredients on the back of your food, you get chills thinking about what is in your food and how it was produced. Do you really want to eat that? Do you want your children to eat that? Top it off with stories on underpaid and overworked local workers by the large corporations in the food manufacturing industry, it’s no surprise that many consumers and business owners to ensure their product is produced sustainably.
Brook Eddy, the founder of Bhakti Chai, had the same feeling. After a trip to India in 2012, she became inspired by the social justice movement based on Bhakti, which means devotion through social action, after learning about it first-hand.
“In the communities where she learned about Bhakti, families would invite her into their homes and share their experiences about how this social movement had impacted them and their communities over a cup homemade spicy chai. She couldn’t help but fall in love with its incredible flavor and aroma,” says Bhakti Chai.
Upon return from India, Brook began making her own chai. Her brew began getting a cult following with some serious addicts. I would know, as this is by far the best chai I’ve ever tasted. Everyone was asking for more. She decided, as a single mom of twins, to quit her job and build a chai company based on the principals of Bhakti. She made sure the company incorporated social and environmental change. Fast forward years later, and Brook’s Bhakita Chai is now sold across the country both online and in stores, including large national chains like Whole Foods.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Lisa Druxman of Fit4MOM.
New moms go through a whirlwind of emotions when welcoming a new child into the world. However, some women feel insecure about the change in how their body looks. If you do, keep in mind what your body just did, and be proud of it and yourself for what you’ve done. Remember that. Don’t beat yourself up about not looking exactly the same as you did nine months ago. There is nothing wrong with that.
After becoming a mom in 2001, Lisa Druxman wanted to get back into fitness and stay healthy for her newly expanded family. She found this challenging. It was harder than she thought it would be to slip away to the gym for an hour or two with a newborn child. She decided to create FIT4MOM to allow her to work out while not missing out anything with her newborn.
“FIT4MOM is dedicated to the Strength In Motherhood™. By providing classes and support for moms in every stage of motherhood. Through Fit4Baby’s prenatal fitness classes, Stroller Strides, Body Back, and Our Village, women have the opportunity to have a workout and support that is flexible around motherhood,” says FIT4MOM.
The Top Mom Entrepreneurs of 2017 – Karla Campos of Social Media Sass.
As a single mother of three, Karla didn’t let anything stand her away from becoming a social media guru. She founded Social Media Sass. The company provides digital marketing and social media training to small business owners. In today’s digital world, your success is measured by your online and social media presence. However, it can be expensive to undergo training or hire someone to get your socials up to speed.
Karla solved this problem by creating an affordable digital marketing and social media training to business owners. She gears her training and social platform towards other mompreneurs.
“Karla has extensive knowledge of social media, digital marketing, traditional marketing, influencer marketing, blogging, web design, UX, social networking, media relations, and event marketing. Karla was featured on several media outlets for her work with moms, entrepreneurship, and education. She is currently working on Entrepreneur Moms Club. Karla has worked with the media for many years and will be using her expertise to help entrepreneur mom,” says Social Media Sass.
Sources: NewME, SittingAround, Bhakti Chai, FIT4MOM, and Social Media Sass