How Parenting Can Help You Become a More Successful Entrepreneur

Patience. Stamina. Flexibility. Parenthood demands the practice and mastery of these qualities – and so does entrepreneurship, inventor mom Tamara Monosoff defends. Disappointed with the lack of support available to individuals grappling with both raising a child and starting a business, she created the website “mominventors.com”. Two books, “The Mom Inventor’s Handbook” and “Secrets of Millionaire Moms”, and a flourishing web community later, Tamara’s still doing it all and hoping to help you do it well too.

“Five years ago, I wrote my first guidebook from the perspective of a mother. I had just had a child, and I felt that mother’s contributions to the entrepreneurial field weren’t being recognized. I wanted to bring awareness to moms and to encourage them to use their (seemingly) untapped intelligence. I wanted to credit them with their accomplishments!”

But Tamara admits that recently, the tide has begun to shift, if not yet completely change.

“More women are beginning to come forward with their own entrepreneurial journeys,” she shares excitedly.

And although she readily states that “women don’t necessarily possess any special skills men don’t”, women recognize the power of the story. The story behind their ideas – their inspiration, and the realization of that inspiration.

“People want to hear about you. What made you think of that invention? What problem did you recognize needed a solution?“

Her latest book, “Secrets of Millionaire Moms”, capitalizes on this notion. The work intertwines Tamara’s helpful information and advice with stories of other women’s life experiences.

“I interviewed women who had had little formal business training but had established multi-million dollars businesses. I wanted to not only learn about their success, but about the hardships they had endured. How had they persevered?” Tamara explains.

Tamara’s obvious focus has been on female inventors and entrepreneurs. But her information isn’t exclusive. The advice she shares applies to men, too.

“My information really is for anyone. More than anything, I wanted to underscore the fact that the skills we use as parents are transferable to a business environment.”

So, if Tamara could offer any one piece of advice to up and coming inventors (parents or not!), it’d be this:

“If you have a truly novel idea, an idea that solves a real and relevant problem, someone else has probably had it too. Your success will depend on who takes action first.”

Don’t wait. Don’t procrastinate.

Check out Tamara’s message boards, which she describes as “very active” and website, and her blog on Entrepreneur.com for further information.

Click here to listen to her interview.