Maruxa Murphy, MA

I was working with a client on some offline marketing techniques she and her husband were looking to implement for their business. They then asked me about Momprenaire and what EXACTLY I'm doing with this new addition to my consulting work with mom entrepreneurs.

I shared with them that I'm passionate about helping mom entrepreneurs (as she already knew) and that I was expanding my vision of getting beyond my local community to connect with other mom entrepreneurs globally.

She asked, "How are you doing that?"

I answered, "Well, it's easy. I've been putting my knowledge and giftedness online to transform mom entrepreneurs into thinking and creating a more focused mindset, one where they see themselves as the "Mama CEO", having a big vision and taking action to meet the goals she has for herself and her family. I am excited about working with women across the globe and build on each other's ideas/strategies to empower each other towards success."

"How would you help me to think bigger?"

"I can't make you think bigger. You've got to do this yourself. But I do know you've taken your business in the last year and doubled your income, hired more qualified staff, and created a strong positive relationship within the community. You need to share your knowledge as a successful business owner to others in your offline market about how you've done this. Position yourself as an expert in your industry. You've got knowledge and experience others are dying to know!"

"But you said 'Successful'. I don't feel successful yet. Haven't reached my definition of success."

"Then you need to continue to stay where you are and keep putting in the 80 hour work week you're doing. I can't help you achieve your success."

Here's the thing: so many of us have been "stuck" in seeing ourselves as a small business. Nothing wrong with BEING a small business if that means small in number of people who work in the office or are on your team, but sometimes (actually, MOST of the time) when we choose to call ourselves a "small business", we tend to act with small thinking.

Let me explain.

Psychologists often talk about the power of mental images. When we say the word "small" we think of what it means and have mental images going through our mind about that word:

tiny, often unseen, a speck.

When we match that with our idea of business:

hard work, money, relationships, brick-and-mortar business, offline, etc.

What do we get?

Often the mental image of LOTS of grueling laborious hours into our money-making, relationship building machine with some profits, a bit of income coming in. Often, what started as a passion to bring your business into your community now... well, quite frankly... feels like you're enslaved to another job, but this time you actually OWN IT.

That is not why we've chosen to start businesses! The American Dream creates a picture of freedom for all who choose to work hard to achieve it - yet for so many business owners, the dream is becoming more of a nightmare.

Let's quickly go back to the story above:

She wasn't ready to begin thinking bigger, thinking outside of herself to see that many people envy her ability to create a name for herself in her offline market in just over a year. What I would've loved to share with her was the idea to package her experience into a course and share that detailed course with others who are looking to create that success in her industry across the world.

The truth is I could easily have tried to persuade her to doing what I think she needs to do, but if in her mind she does not see herself as successful, the people who may potentially buy her course will sense this lack of confidence on some level and her credibility could be diminished - not even by what she says, but by what she's non-verbally putting out to the market.

I'm excited to see mom entrepreneurs take massive action towards their success, and I encouraged her as I do you to begin remembering it was all those steps you've taken to this day that makes you the person you are today. You are somebody special, somebody that is looked up to, somebody that has inspired another. Know that even if you've yet to reach your ultimate goals and dreams, you taking one step in front of another is success in itself. Share that success with others - they'll appreciate it and who knows? Maybe they'll start asking you for advice!