Best Resources for Mompreneurs

Woman entrepreneur working and holding her child.

Among the rapidly growing number of women launching their own businesses is a subset of superhumans who balance the challenges of entrepreneurship and motherhood. These “mompreneurs,” according to mompowerment.com, are actually behind one in three of all women-owned businesses, owning a total of over four million U.S. companies.

While they may make it look effortless, running a business and being a mother is not a simple feat, with childcare as one of the biggest obstacles. The following resources are reliable and reputable options for mompreneurs who need a little support. After all, Batman didn’t do it alone.

Websites and Apps

The difficult part of arranging childcare is finding someone who you can trust that fits with your schedule. As a mompreneur, that schedule may change by the day — or even the hour. Established websites and apps offer flexibility and shoulder the burden of background research, so all you need to do is plug in your demands and sift through a curated list of trustworthy options.

Care.com

As the “world’s largest online destination for care,” what sets Care.com apart is the extreme level of personalization for customers. For childcare, you can select the specific type of care you want from a number of categories, like “tutoring & lessons,” “special needs,” “day night sitter,” and more. After selecting your timeframe, which can range from immediate to future need, a short questionnaire about your preferences and location will produce suitable options in your area.

All the carers listed on the site have passed a five-tiered background check, which includes criminal and motor vehicle records. Other available services include tutoring, senior care, pet care, and housekeeping. The Basic Membership, which allows you to browse through active care providers, comes at no cost. However, a subscription — ranging from $13 to $39 per month depending on your needs — is necessary if you have more complicated demands and want to use care services frequently.

SitterCity

SitterCity offers many of the same services as Care.com, including babysitters, nannies, child care, special needs care, senior care, and pet care in most locations across the U.S. The services can also be specialized for specific needs within childcare like infant care or in-home child care, with carers having CPR training and first aid training skills.

SitterCity puts an emphasis on its technology which makes finding a carer matching your desired skills and schedule incredibly straightforward. You are then able to purchase a background check or book an interview directly for the listed sitter. Like with Care.com, you can join for free and view partial sitter profiles with the Basic Membership, but will need the Premium Membership — $35 for one month or $70 for three months — to freely browse profiles and post unlimited jobs, in addition to paying the sitter’s hourly rate.

UrbanSitter

Another flexible service for last-minute sitters, backup care, part-time nannies, and more, Urban Sitter has a fleet of pre-background checked sitters for all your childcare needs. Predominantly for those seeking care in major metropolitan areas, Urban Sitter boasts a unique quirk: using your existing social networks, the website will find carers that your personal connections use and love. This added layer of personalization and security can be a great comfort for parents.

Again, you can search and post a job for free but will need to navigate membership options to contact nannies and sitters, in addition to the required hourly rate (averaging $11-$16 per hour for one child). Membership ranges from $19.95 for a monthly membership to $124.95 for a year of access.

Zūm

Recognizing the logistical challenges of working mothers, Zum is different from the other services because it provides both care and transportation for children. Due to a rigorous driver vetting program, including background checks and fingerprinting, safety and reliability are paramount for Zum. Using the app, you can book rides and childcare — opting for either one-off rides or a Monthly Package for recurring transport and care. You have to schedule rides 24 hours in advance and monthly packages the day before the start of the month.

Nanny.com

Though the Nanny.com website is slightly less technologically advanced than some of the others on this list, it serves as a useful hub for childcare resources. The website hosts information about care for children of all ages — for example how to deal with conflict among children — and directs users searching for childcare to Sittercity.com. You can’t actually book childcare through the website, but if you have questions about nannies or parenting, this is a great resource.

Working Mother

Working Mother is another website that acts more as a center of information than a source of physical care. “Through our website, magazine, research, social networks, and powerful events, Working Mother provides its educated and affluent readers with the community, solutions, and strategies they need to thrive,” reads the website. Ultimately, this is a useful place to find ideas and recommendations for care and parenting.

Mompreneur Media Global

This service, Mompreneur Media Global, seeks to connect working mothers with solutions to the greatest challenges they face on a daily basis. Not limited to just advice and recommendations for childcare, this resource has articles and information about balancing workloads, expanding your business, and more. Again, this is not a service where you can directly book childcare, but it is a good place for mothers to gain background and insight.

Nonprofits

In addition to the many services mompreneurs can pay to access, there are a number of nonprofits offering free support for mothers with businesses. Usually focused on education and skills, these services help provide women with the tools they need to take their ventures to the next level while taking into account the various demands of motherhood.

MotherCoders

The goal of the organization, MotherCoders, is to diversify and grow the talent pool in technology by teaching women with children skills pertinent to the digital economy. This is accomplished through a tech camp for moms, which uses online and in-class coding exercises, classroom workshops, and lectures to teach women technical coding skills while building industry knowledge.

On-site childcare is offered so that women can focus their full energy on coding. The programs are currently based in New York City and San Francisco and culminate with a visit to a tech company like Lyft or Airbnb.

National Partnership for Women & Families

The National Partnership for Women & Families focuses on supporting women through advancing public policies that promote equity both inside and outside of the workplace. Key issues are advancing gender and racial equity through paid family and medical leave, equal pay, and fair scheduling, as well as promoting access to affordable healthcare and reproductive freedom and justice. The website has a wealth of information about women in the workplace. You can get involved through donations or through the signature National Partnership annual event.

Working Moms Connection

The Working Moms Connection is a nonprofit that aims to help working moms find and maintain a healthy work-life balance. One of the key ways it does this is through annual live events and in-person meetups, which facilitate networking and learning. However, women can also easily benefit by browsing the website whose online resources, including blog articles and online communities, support women working through obstacles.

Books

Books are an often overlooked way of accessing valuable business advice from women at the top of their game. Full of life lessons and practical tips, books can be a source of tried and tested guidance that women can easily adopt into their own lives. If none of these books suit your fancy, it’s likely that a mompreneur in your industry has written about her own experience.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Speaking of women at the top of their game, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” author Sheryl Sandberg — the chief operating officer of Facebook — has had an incredible career, and wants to help other women have the same. Using personal anecdotes, scientific research, and quippy prose, Sandberg dives into gender-driven challenges women face in the workplace and at home, explaining how she has navigated complicated issues regarding her family and career.

Tilt: 7 Solutions To Be A Guilt-Free Working Mom

Marci Fair’s parenting guide for mompreneurs has a lot to offer because it stems from the author’s own experiences with the surprising struggles of her journey through life, work, and motherhood. She knows what mompreneurs go through — and as a result, offers tangible work tips to help mothers stop seeking perfect balance, but learn to “Tilt” instead.

Boss Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Business & Nurturing Your Family Like a Pro

With “Boss Mom,” Dana Malstaff’s goal was to help women swap out some of the negative emotions, like guilt and anxiety, that accompany parenting, for feelings of empowerment and confidence. Your mindset has a bigger impact than you may think, so gaining control can improve your success as both a mother and a business owner.

Support Groups

Sometimes it’s as simple as needing to speak to people who are going through a similar experience. There are a number of support groups where mompreneurs can meet other women balancing work and motherhood. These groups can serve as a safe space for women to present and discuss topics and troubles related to both entrepreneurship and parenting, providing advice, inspiration, and community. If there isn’t an accessible support group in your area, consider launching your own — it’s not as daunting as it sounds and could help others around you.

Business Among Moms

Business Among Moms (BAM) is a thriving support group with over 1,200 official members and 35,000 online community members. BAM has a number of physical chapters across the country in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. Those who can’t access the organization in-person can connect through virtual chapters, supplemented by monthly connection calls.

Some of the benefits of this group include job support, education, social opportunities, networking, and promotion for your business. Paid membership, which costs $20 per month, unlocks access to more opportunities that will enhance your business, including summits, webinars, and advertisements in the BAM business directory.

Moms With Careers Making It All Work

Run from a Facebook page, Moms With Careers Making It All Work’s straightforward set-up shows just how easy it can be to create an online support group. The group is for working moms only. The main role of the page is to serve as a medium for communication — after being accepted into the group, you can participate in discussion along with the 11,348 other members.

The Founding Moms

Over 12,000 mompreneurs are members of The Founding Moms, a “global collective of offline masterminds and online resources where mom entrepreneurs can exchange connect and learn from one another.” The group prides itself on providing useful, comprehensive resources through engaging discussions and round-tables instead of boring networking luncheons and business card swaps. The Founding Moms operates in 11 U.S. states and seven other international locations. Meetings are usually held twice a month, but if you can’t attend, you can still take advantage of online resources like webinars and coaching.

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