Startup Advice from 8 Successful Mompreneurs

Starting a company is not easy... now imagine being a mompreneur (a.k.a. an entrepreneur AND a mom)! You're basically running multiple full-time companies (yes, a family is no different), and yet these incredible 8 women (who are also mompreneurs) manage to get it all done!For all you aspiring mom entrepreneurs or modern business mamas out there, read these pieces of advice from 8 successful "mompreneurs" and know that YOU can be a successful mama in business too!!!

Question to the Mompreneurs: What is ONE piece of advice you wish someone would’ve given you about being a mom and running a business?

1. Reina Pomeroy from Reina and Co.

There's no shame in loving your business as much as you love being a mom. Somedays, it's actually easier to be a business owner than it is to be a mom/wife/housecleaner/foodmaker/spit-up-cleaner-upper. What I learned is that it is a blessing to know moms who also do parenting and business alongside you. Connect with them, don't be afraid to find the people who get your passion for your business. When we're more fulfilled as human beings, we can be better moms.

2. Elna Cain from Twins Mommy

For me, the advice I wished I had before I became a mompreneur – at home with my twins – was be careful about being distracted with other projects. A lot of mompreneurs have shiny object syndrome and any new thing or latest trend gets our attention for sure! Well at least for me! Maybe that's why I have a freelance writing business as well as a blog business for mompreneurs and I manage two other blogs of mine! As a new mompreneur make sure you have a solid business plan or at least a plan for your blog. Figure out your marketing strategy to grow your blog or business, services or products and email marketing strategy and stick to it! Try not to deviate from your big goals.

3. Sarah Lacy from Chairman Mom and Pando

It isn't nearly as hard as the world has told you and MORE IMPORTANTLY: being a mom will make you a better boss and a better entrepreneur. Data backs up that moms are more productive after a brief 15% drop in productivity when kids are young. And they STAY productive their entire careers. Mothers of multiple kids get MORE productive with each kid.Having children also makes you a more empathetic manager, gives you better negotiation skills and a warrior girl stamina because -- well-- you've pushed a baby out of your body who you continue to do anything for night and day.There are also strong links between motherhood and creative problem solving, and creativity generally. Both entrepreneurship and motherhood (especially single motherhood) are exercises in CONSTANT creative problem solving, so doing both at once is like cross training that muscle. There's a lot of evidence of artists, writers who became more successful and productive once they had young kids.Shirley Jackson for one, was inspired by her kids' imaginations and how they saw the world, and so limited by the constraints that she only entered the prime of her career once she became a mother. (With a pretty lousy husband if you read her recent biography.)In short: Not only can you do it, you will unlock superpowers by doing both at once.

4. Kalika Yap from Citrus Studios and Orange & Bergamot

Energy, not time is the fundamental currency of high performance. Read the book - the Power of Full Engagement.

5. Emylee Williams from Think Creative Collective

I wish there had been more open communication within the "mompreneur" community about the transition from 100% mom life (bringing home a newborn and being on leave) to easing back into work. I feel like that transition is so different for everyone and varies based on their needs, but the discussion is so black and white. You either are a daycare mom or you keep your kid at home. There is no in-between.It's automatically assumed that since I work from home that I keep my daughter with me at home. In reality, there is no way I could be as productive as I am (or happy) with her home during the workday. I still feel like there's a lot of shaming around work at home moms who chose to keep their children outside of the home so I wish there had been more support regarding that decision. I wish someone had said that I might not know which "kind of mom" I want to be until I try out both versions. This work/life/mom hat blend is hard!

6. Shay Cochrane from SC Stockshop

Don't try to do it all, all the time. Early on I was the mom who had no set office hours and was trying to be both mom and a business owner all day every day. I had a baby at my feet while I was taking consultation calls and was working as much as I could every time the baby was sleeping or the kids were playing. It was exhausting and the result was that I did neither (being a present mom or a business owner) well.I realized that I need to compartmentalize my days so that I could give 100% of myself to only one roll at a time guilt free. Tuesdays and Thursdays became my work days and I got a nanny to watch the kids. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were 100% mom days with firm work boundaries and I now run 3 successful businesses on that same schedule to this day.

7. Beth Anne Schwamberger from Brilliant Business Moms

Your to-do list is not your permission slip. There will always be more on your list than you can accomplish in a day. Just do your best and set a hard stop time for work. Your family needs you (and not just on the days when you feel you "deserve" a break!) You always deserve a break and some family time. You'll come back the next day more refreshed and with better perspective and focus for what really needs to get done.

8. Jen Berson from Jeneration PR

I wish someone would have told me that there is no such thing as “balance,” so don’t feel guilty that you will ever achieve it. Work and life will never, ever be perfectly balanced, so don’t feel guilty about focusing more on your work, or your family and kids at any given moment. Guilt is not productive, and you can’t give 100% of yourself to everything in your life. Just focus on being present and doing your best with what is happening in front of you at the moment, and know that a perfectly balanced life is not the thing you should be striving for.