Keeping a blog and an online shop up to date while being a mom – experiences and tips

Ann-Cathrin Krauss is 43 years old, married and has two daughters aged 10 and 11. She studied business administration and worked in marketing and product management for fashion/sports lifestyle companies before becoming self-employed. Below, she answers a few questions and shares her experiences with you.

My reasons for becoming self-employed were not very glamorous but rather based on a reality check. We had two small children of kindergarten age, I worked part-time (25 hours) in the marketing department of a large company, my husband traveled a lot for his job abroad and we had no family nearby. The classic situation of many families.

For example: the kindergarten called because our older daughter had fallen ill. I was sitting in a meeting and didn't hear the phone. When my husband was called to pick up his sick child, he was just getting into a taxi in China. We weren't there for our daughter at that moment. For me, it was a feeling of powerlessness that I didn't like. In my job, I was also asked to travel to customer appointments in other federal states. My children in Bavaria, me in North Rhine-Westphalia, my husband on another continent – it was unimaginable for me.

My children were always more important to me than my professional career. And so I took the plunge into self-employment in order to be there for my daughters from a more powerful position and at the same time to be able to work and develop professionally. I want to be a role model for my daughters and inspire them to reconcile work and family life, just as my parents have done for us.

Based on my experience, I would say that there is no such thing as optimal preparation for becoming a mompreneur. Of course, you have to try to plan the framework conditions as well as possible, but in your daily life you should have a high degree of flexibility and spontaneity. In the early years, I had my office exclusively at home, so I could always work, whether it was morning, noon, evening, during the holidays or when the children were sick. Personally, that took a lot of pressure off me. Of course, this model is not possible for every profession.

In our network, there was a childminder and a babysitter, as well as acquaintances with whom we organized carpools to the children's hobbies. This gave me additional time and also allowed my husband and me time off as a couple to recharge our batteries. So, be sure to build a network in preparation for being a mompreneur!

My daughters are older now and I also have an external office in addition to my home office, which sometimes makes the separation between job and private life a little easier.

I didn't have any fears, otherwise I wouldn't have gone into the start-up process. When I'm convinced of something, I trust and don't worry about the consequences because I have a gut feeling that I'm on the right track. The basis of my self-employment was, of course, a well-developed business plan with short-, medium- and long-term goals, as well as a clear exit strategy if it didn't lead to success.

I am generally a risk-averse person and would have no problem saying “stop” immediately if it failed, for example, and switching back to a permanent position. In addition, when I set up the business, I applied for a start-up grant from the employment office and had my husband, who supports the family income financially. And since I have tax advisors in the family, I am always very quickly confronted with the financial side of my self-employment.

Personally, I like the mix of working with the numbers from the order to the accounting and the creative processes from curating the collection to the photo shoots for my shop, blog and social media, writing the blog articles and working with people. That's why studying business administration was a good basis for me to found my own business.

• My first tip: don't look left or right! While your neighbor with the 20-hour permanent job is relaxing in the afternoon and playing with the children in the garden, you are often still sitting over the accounts or talking to customers while your own children are still in childcare or have to keep themselves occupied. On the other hand, as a mompreneur you have the maximum flexibility to organize your own working hours during the day or to work at the weekend. This way, you can do things with the children during the school holidays and work in the afternoons when your husband can take over.
• And that brings us to my second tip: you are “always and forever” self-employed and you have to accept this situation! That means your mind is working around the clock and it's almost impossible to take a few days off at a time and not think about your business. There is also no longer a clear distinction between weekdays and weekends. It's all fluid, depending on the workload. You take your laptop with you on vacation because you might still have to respond to inquiries or you have an idea for a job. Being a mompreneur is a full-time job with freedom!
• My third tip: Listen to your gut! Your project has to feel right for you and your fears must not prevail.