Strangely, I would never have seen myself here. The idea of owning and running my own business simply never occurred to me. I was quite happy working for someone else and focusing on “me” when the days came to a close. I was always antsy though. Never quite satisfied. And then, this happened and I started urbanmoms.ca.
My decision to leave full-time employment and commit more time to urbanmoms.ca had almost as much to do with flexibility as it did with my passion for this community. I could work when my kids were in school or in bed. I would not be away from them 11 hours per day. I would meet their pals and their pals’ parents. I would be there more. This was looking good!
I was obviously nervous about taking the leap. However, the things that intimidated me beforehand turned out to be a cinch. I had experience in sales and marketing. Doing this was almost intuitive. It was all of the unexpected things that have made running my own business a much greater challenge than I could have ever anticipated.
For example, in the beginning I didn’t think about invoice tracking…I only had 2 clients! Filing taxes? Well, I had done my own taxes…how tough could it be? Payroll? I wasn’t even paying myself so this was far from my mind. Plus, in the past, I had always had someone to ask. Just pick up the phone and call Accounts Payable to see if that cheque went out. The problem? I was Accounts Payable! And Receivables. And Forecasting. Admin Services. IT. Office Manager. Bookkeeper. And as urbanmoms.ca continued to grow, I was starting to panic.
That is why I jumped at the chance to bring in the experts at Intuit Canada, the makers of software solutions like QuickBooks, Quicken and QuickTax . They have offered to provide us with expertise to help mom-based businesses tackle the tough stuff, like accounting and taxes, with ease. So, the Urban Mom Marketplace is an area where you will receive invaluable information about running your own business. Plus, we are SO excited to introduce a regular part of this section called Featured Mom Business which will feature different mom-based businesses from across Canada…how inspiring! In a recent urbanmoms.ca survey you told us that the majority of you, Canadian moms, are currently/have/or have thought about starting your own business. This is for you!
I know from experience that starting a business is tough, especially for a busy mom. So I hope you will take advantage of the information offered in this area, share your comments and questions below, and check out the QuickBooks forum – specifically for Canadian women in business – to get the resources you need to build your home-based business. And click for a great offer from QuickBooks!
Jen
Founder, urbanmoms.ca
If you are a Mom Entrepreneur and would like to be featured in urbanmoms.ca Marketplace Featured Mom Business please email a 100 word description of your product or company with a picture of you at work to kath@urbanmoms.ca.
Please note: urbanmoms.ca’s objective is to increase awareness of mom-based businesses and products, to continue to support our growing community of Canadian mothers, and to drive awareness of these businesses. urbanmoms.ca will not endorse any of the products or services featured.