We have a heart for single women providers because we’ve been there. Whether it’s divorce, being widowed, or retiring your husband, there are all kinds of transitions that can leave women as the sole breadwinner. This week, we’re kicking off a series about running a business as a single mom.
We live and breathe entrepreneurship but we realize that it comes with uncertainty. As a single mom and sole earner, insecurity can be scary! Pile on the stresses of negotiating with a co-parent and making endless decisions for your kids and it adds up to a lot.
It’s incredibly hard at times. But the payoff is worth it and you can do it! Pam and Teri will share some insights from our experiences as single mom entrepreneurs and how we’re making it work.
Are you a single mompreneur? What are your biggest challenges or concerns? Your favorite perks? Comment below and tell us!
Episode 18: The Ups and Downs of Single Women Providers
What We Talked About
- Introducing a new series: Single Mom/Female Providers [00:00:00]
- Pam’s story: from single mom to retiring her husband [01:27]
- Teri’s story: from stay-at-home mom to single mompreneur [03:28]
- Fear around the insecurity of single mom entrepreneurship [04:37]
- When life doesn’t turn out the way it was supposed to [08:37]
- When you simply can’t make another decision [10:28]
- How divorce affects outside relationships [13:30]
- When two incomes suddenly become one [17:00]
- Cynicism: staying positive about marriage and relationships [17:39]
- Seeing divorce from the other side: how your perspective changes [19:27]
- The perks of single woman entrepreneurship [20:00]
- The importance of community and Pam & Teri’s plan to create one! [22:22]
- This or that: Start seeds or buy plants [26:24]
Key Insights
- “You don’t hear a lot about women saying, ‘I’m a single mom. I’m building my own business,’ and maybe because there aren’t as many, because the financial burden is all on their shoulders or maybe they feel like they need to go work for somebody else, just for that sense of security.” – Pam
- “I feel like it’s hard because when you know you’re a born entrepreneur, you know that that’s the work you need to do. But what I feel like about it, the fear comes … It’s like I feel like sometimes there’s no room for a mistake, or trials, or switching gears because there’s no freedom to move in that.” – Teri
- “All of a sudden you’re left with not only the natural decision fatigue that comes from being a business owner, but added on, the issues of I have to make the decisions for these kids on my own or I have to do the extra work of coparenting and negotiating decisions with this person that I’ve now separated myself from … It feels like a lot.” – Pam
- “Even if we don’t have grand plans, for example, for the summer or somethign like that, that’s okay because the time that we do spend together and the money that we do have to spend is still making memories.” – Teri
- “Coming out of this, i think the hope for the women the we work with that go through this is that they come out stronger and they’ll be stronger in the relationships they choose and what they’re looking for because you will never again think the same way you thought.” – Teri
- “I think definitely, if you are like you and I are, you’re a natural born entrepreneur and you know that you work better when you can make your own decisions and you can build what you want to build.” – Pam
- “People, women, sole providers need a place to be. And they need a community.” – Teri
Join Our Community for Female Providers!
Connect with other female sole providers in The Bright Side Facebook group. Just click this link to join. We’d love to have you!
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