Book excerpt: Mompreneur by Colette Glover-Hannah

In “Mompreneur: Managing Partnerships, Parenthood and Presentations,’’ Tampa entrepreneur Colette Glover-Hannah writes about balancing the challenging demands of motherhood and career. She shares the stories of women who took the chance and are succeeding in business and motherhood. They prove that the right small business idea paired with a lot of hard work can make a mompreneur successful beyond her wildest dreams. Read an excerpt below. 


The Mom

As a mother, there are periods in our lives when parenting consists of a set daily, weekly, monthly, and then annual scheduling. Years ago, when I pulled out of the office parking lot, I left work behind until the next day. If you are a mompreneur, you learn to throw all the scheduling out the window. There will be no predicted routines and you never figuratively pull away from the parking lot. I noticed a huge difference in my home/life schedule when I was employed by the university versus my life today. I share the thought with many others that a work/life balance does not exist and that I am learning that doing my best is simply all that I can offer — I have accepted it. 

In the early stages of a start-up business you are always, always working. You don’t get to turn it off or go home. You trade five, eight-hour days for much longer hours that begin to just run on into one another. Running your business in its early stages is a 24/7 commitment. Little things become big things. In conversations with others, I share that this transition into a mompreneur was truly real for me when thoughts and ideas for my business would awaken me in the middle of the night. The thought takes on a very loud voice and it literally wakes you up. You realize that the ‘just one more thing’ is a lie that you occasionally tell yourself as you feel the need for an excuse to restart the computer or compose another email message.

One day I was talking with my daughter’s fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Rostick during a parent-teacher conference. Ms. Rostick shared with me that my child was excelling in her class and she wanted to give her more challenging assignments. I looked in her eyes as she was speaking to me, but I swear I was not really listening. I had a child who was graduating from college that year and another was a senior in high school and about to enter college. I remember thinking about the needs of both seniors while she was talking about my daughter’s assignments. I was also having slight anxiety about a major event coming up for my school district client. Had all the details been addressed, the technology needs email sent, do I have the cell phone numbers of all tomorrow’s speakers? All this while looking her dead in her eyes and nodding my head in agreement with everything she suggested. I thanked Ms. Rostick for her observation of my daughter’s skills and summed up my life at that moment. 

“Ms. Rostick, I parent in rotation. I have a son about to graduate from college and one who’s entering. It is not Elois’ turn right now. So, whatever you think you need to do to better prepare her for next year, please do it. I trust you as her teacher.”

You can purchase the book on Amazon by clicking on this link. 

Colette Glover-Hannah is a wife, mother and the Founder and CEO of Hannah's Shoebox, an online shoe store that provides self-esteem and confidence to girls who wear women size shoes. The company sells age-appropriate shoes for 'tween girls in women sizes. Hannah’s Shoebox was born after Colette became frustrated with the absence of age-appropriate shoes in the footwear industry for her then 11-year-old daughter who was wearing a size 11 shoe. She created the online store with the intentions of becoming the one-stop shop for families who want to purchase cute, stylish, age-appropriate shoes for young teen girls.  Colette has been featured on television and radio shows, blogs and newspaper and magazine articles. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees Media.