Author: Ideal Motherhood Life , Moms4Moms 2023/24 Fellow Natalie Lee
Yesterday morning, I attended the opening ceremony of the Moms4Moms Fellowship Program organised by Hong Kong Momtrepreneurs.
I feel extremely fortunate to be one of their fellows this year, and even more fortunate to have been assigned a mentor who I have known and admired for a long time. All of these good things started when I met Lena, the founder of Hong Kong Momtrepreneurs. I am truly grateful for everything that has happened.
During the opening ceremony yesterday, Ms. Joanna Hotung was invited to share her entrepreneurial story of founding Kids’ Gallery after becoming a mother. Listening to her sharing, I truly feel that no matter what background you come from, your education, knowledge, teammates, or partners…
When you are a mother with dreams, ambitions, and things you want to accomplish, it means that you are destined to face the challenges that naturally come with pursuing a career while balancing motherhood.
The dilemma of motherhood transcends generations and backgrounds. I was deeply inspired yesterday, and I would like to share a few points that I particularly liked.
- Do you want to develop a business related to children? That’s good, but it also has its drawbacks. The logic of being a mother is really simple: start developing a business based on your child’s needs, and you can achieve two things at once. However, Joanna mentioned that while children can indeed inspire you, and you can have them by your side, it may also mean that the boundaries between your family and your business become increasingly blurred. As children grow up, your services or business may not necessarily change, and your child’s involvement will eventually diminish. What’s more important is that sometimes you are the boss, the executor, the service provider, but at the same time, you are also a mother. You may have to face complaints from your child that you “only know how to take care of other children.” Joanna mentioned with a smile that her daughter did complain about this in the past, but now she casually brushes it off. However, this is the reality for many entrepreneurial mothers.
There is no good or bad choice. When you make a choice, you naturally have to accept all the accompanying conditions. But by understanding this in advance, you can have better mental preparation and not blame yourself for your choices. - Are we achieving life balance really difficult? It is more important that how to find the comfort within the work-life mix.
If you treat your children’s matters as part of your entrepreneurial content, achieving work-life balance may only happen in a fairytale world. Joanna said she didn’t know what work-life balance was, and sometimes it felt more like work-life mess (laughs). She believes that if mothers have entrepreneurial aspirations, the state of work-life mix and acceptance can sometimes be wonderful and sometimes very troubling. This is the reality that entrepreneurial mothers face.
Personally, I think a work-life mix can also be wonderful. The key lies in how you perceive it. Is it “annoying to work and take care of children at the same time,” or “being able to work and take care of children at the same time”? And sometimes, you also need to accept that when you juggle two things, achieving 50% in both is already good enough. Don’t force yourself to do everything at 100% separately (I know many mothers expect themselves to be superheroes, even two superheroes) - #Finding the right people to discuss during entrepreneurship is crucial.
Joanna mentioned that most friends don’t understand what you’re doing; at most, they can cheer you on. Family members will have various emotions about your business, and sometimes you may even have to reassure them and respond to their doubts (which can be annoying~). Therefore, finding partners who understand your business and can accompany you while maintaining rationality to discuss the various challenges you face in your business is a skill to learn during the entrepreneurial period. - I can feel this very well. In the past, I often felt lonely because when I talked to my family, they would tell me to “go find a job,” and when I talked to my friends, I needed to establish a significant amount of background knowledge, but the truth is, everyone is busy, and we can’t spare more than a few words before returning to daily chores.
In conclusion, don’t give up on finding companions. You will find them. I am fortunate to have participated in this program this year, and I look forward to starting a new learning journey in September 💛
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank Lena, the founder of HKM, for making all this happen!
Here is the highlights video of our opening ceremony