Transcript
Combining parenthood and entrepreneurship is obviously a huge challenge, even though it can be quite fulfilling but I think what is most important to realize when starting a business as a parent or as a mother is that you have limited time and limited energy and you need to divide your time between both your family, your children and your business, and so starting from the beginning with a clear picture of how much time and energy you have and setting a structure, a schedule and also not expecting too much from yourself, I think is a good way to start. And also finding other people, finding a team to share responsibilities with. Because we all know children get sick like every few days sometimes. And if you know that you have somebody to share the load within your business, then you know that that helps a lot and it relaxes you and it frees up your head and your time to focus on your child when you need to. So I think just really realizing how much time you have available is an important factor.
What we have found is that a lot of women tend to start more social businesses when they become a mother. Not all of them, obviously, but very many do with this comes with its own set of challenges. You know, finding a viable business model, securing the necessary funding can all be quite challenging and then also balancing that with financial restraints. You know, that you have when starting a family alongside starting a business. So it is really even more important to have the right people at your side, the right partner that supports you both with childcare and raising a family, but also financially, perhaps at least in the beginning, and then finding the right people to start your business with and obviously, childcare is a huge factor. We couldn’t start business without having people that look after our children. Relying 100 percent on the public child care system is not really an option because even though we have a very good system here in place in Germany, especially in Berlin, there’s just not enough spots. So many people end up waiting, many months, even sometimes years for a daycare spot. And daycares have closing times and sometimes you need extra time when you’re starting a business in the evenings, on the weekends.
So finding alternatives and additional services that cover these times is very important, which is one of the reasons why we offer the service that we do. But even that is not always the final answer. So sometimes you need more private help, babysitters, et cetera. Setting up this whole social structure and social system for yourself is very important so that you can focus on your business as much as possible.
First and foremost, we offer flexible childcare so that parents can come here and work and know that their child is taken care of, just a few doors away. This is really just one part of the whole picture. Since being in a place where you’re among like minded people. There’s other parents, that are starting businesses, not just mothers, not just dads, but everyone. Also people that don’t have children that start businesses here that are working on their projects.
You know, having this support network, not just a business partner, but just people that you could talk to that give you free advice and that know what you’re talking about and know what you’re feeling is a huge factor here. And what we’re also doing right now is we’re creating an incubator program for parentpreneurs. So basically, there’s already regular meetups happening, and each meetup has a different topic that can be discussed, and then every few months, there will be a speaker also invited to talk about a certain topic. And we’re being supported by Google for startups so that we can actually offer free childcare during these sessions. And this is exactly the kind of infrastructure that is needed for parents to be able to focus on their business and turn their sometimes really great ideas into reality because otherwise it just couldn’t happen.
