April 3, 2009
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Business Forecasting 2012
Our special feature on forecasting sheds light on how to choose the right model, offers advice from Jack Stack and more.
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Say the term 'Mom-Brain' and just about anyone with kids will know what you are talking about. Images of a harried, forgetful mom putting fresh milk in the cupboard or running out the door with a car-seat, sans baby - are stereotypes perpetuated in pregnancy books and magazines. Happily, for us moms who refuse to believe that we've gone soft in the noggin, a new study has just come out making the opposite claim. According to scientists at the Australian University of Canberra, having babies can actually sharpen your mental acuity.
This new study, while welcome news to all of us, confirms what most moms already know: having to be constantly alert while multitasking and dealing with constant distraction, makes us better at filtering, focusing and prioritizing.
All of which might explain why so many modern moms are becoming entrepreneurs, and why moms are at the top of their game in these endeavors. Statistics show that mom-owned businesses are on the rise, and that the term 'Momtrepreneur' (and Mompreneur /Mamapreneur / Mommypreneur) seems to be gaining ground in pop culture. The motivation behind this growing trend is pretty obvious: what mom doesn't want to have her career cake and eat it too? When a mom goes into business for herself, she can leave the corporate world behind, set her own hours, and spend time throughout the day juggling kids and business on her own schedule.
But the growing trend of momtrepreneuralism is not just about convenience for moms. After-all, no-one who is looking for 'convenience' decides to launch a start-up. As a momtrepreneur myself, I am all too aware of the challenges of trying to manage a small business at home while raising a young child. It's a chaotic life, to put it mildly, to constantly juggle childcare with things like business meetings and taxes. I believe that the reason so many moms are going into business for themselves is because the experience of having a child (and all the unexpected twists and turns that this entails) unleashes creativity and motivation in moms that lend themselves well to the world of entrepreneurialism. Although this new study on 'Mom Brain' doesn't really get into specifics about business acuity or momtrepreneurialism, the similarities between the experience of motherhood and the experience of running a start-up are obvious.
"When you have small to medium-sized children, your faculties adjust so you can deal with five unexpected, stressful things all at the same time," says Charlotte Judet, a freelance book editor and mother of two. "As a mother of young children, I'm required to be hypersensitive to any signs that they might be in danger. I can distinguish between 15 sorts of cry, and know the difference between a good and a bad silence."
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