Mumpreneur: Exploding the myth

Last week I found myself in a twitter debate about the word ‘mumpreneur’. Personally, I’m not too keen on that word because I’m not sure it gives a good impression of mums in business.

(I thought long and hard about using the ‘m’ word in my e-course Earn What You Deserve as a Mumpreneur, but we live in a keyword-driven world so I decided to just go for it).

Whatever people think of the word ‘mumpreneur’, there are loads of hard-working, creative mums out there doing amazing things with their businesses.

So today, I decided to stick up for ‘mumpreneur’. It’s only short but they say that YouTube is one of the best places to be found on the internet, so that’s where I did it!

What do you think?

7 Replies to “Mumpreneur: Exploding the myth”

  1. Personally the word does not sit too well with me. Yes I have set my company up from scratch whilst raising my 2 boys, and first and foremost I am a Mum, but I am also a business woman. I would rather my customers see me as this rather than a ‘Mumpreneur’. I always think that if I called myself a Mumpreneur then my customers would envisage me as a Mum, trying to juggle work and home life, and just trying to raise a few pennies from a hobby-type business. Some of this may be true with me(!!) but I want to be seen as a successful business woman…

    1. Hi Deli, I agree, I have the same reservations about the word. I’ve just found this article and I think the best part is the comment at the bottom by Suzanne Dibble http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/business-trends/term-mumpreneur-doing-business-women-disservice/37595# . She makes a lot of good points, but one of the best is that we’re generally not advertising ourselves as mumpreneurs, just using it as a word to find support and networking opportunities. In that context I’m fine with it.

  2. Fab video and well put. I was involved in a discussion on facebook a little while ago about the same thing and yes I am a mumpreneur as I have children and run businesses and you can also call me a business mum and business woman. I sometimes think people focus more on the keywords and titles than in actually what we do. I take people at face value, not what they call themselves or others call them. It is a great term to describe us and gives us an identity and helps us network effectively. There will always be people who do ot like certain terms but thats life. Thanks for sticking up for the term.

    1. Thank you! When I first started out ‘mumpreneur’ meant (to me, anyway) freedom, creating a working life on your own terms and not having to rely on either full-time childcare or a badly-paid part-time job. I still really believe in those values, even if the word itself is a problem sometimes. I think you’re right, often people to focus too much on the label and not on the person behind it.

  3. I’ve seen much of the recent debate about the label ‘mumpreneur’. I’m probably more pro the term than many mums in business, simply because it very accurately describes my business – I had my business idea when I was on maternity leave, I saw a gap in the market for a specific baby product, so I developed it and took it to market whilst looking after my son, and I sell my product to other mums. So I do think I am an entrepreneur, and my status as a Mum was integral to the inspiration, the product, and the way I work, so the label fits. I would feel differently though if I were providing a professional service – I do think being called a mumpreneur does have negative connotations about where your priorities and commitment lies – in my line of business those connotations don’t matter, but for an accountant, it may well do.

    1. I think you’re right, the business you’re in makes a huge difference. The only mums I know who actively promote themselves as mumpreneurs are the ones selling products and services to mums. And of course that makes complete sense. But I hope mums in business who don’t want to shout about their young children can gain support from this community if they would like to.Thanks for commenting.

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