How A Single Mom Built A Successful Business

This is a guest post from our reader Austin, It talks about how does a single mom decide to quit her job and start a business?

Enjoy the post!

A few years ago, I found myself in a rut. I was raising a ten-year-old boy all on my own while working in a dead-end job I hated.

I knew I was lucky just to have a job that allowed me to make enough money while taking care of my child. However, I wanted so much more for myself.

Years of college studying business strategy only to end up doing an admin job that required no real knowledge.

Nonetheless, there seemed to be little I could do. I applied for better jobs, but my non-negotiables often ruled me out before even getting to an interview.

Choosing to have time to take care of my son came at the cost of career advancement, but I wouldn’t think of doing differently. Especially not for the sort of job that only kind of suited me.

For some people, this may appear to be the worst possible position to start building a new business. But for me, it was the catalyst I so badly needed.

I realized I could not hope for the perfect job to come along. I had to make it for myself.

I did some planning and came up with business ideas.

I ruled out those that would force me to work weekends and nights and those that I would probably end up hating. In the end, I opted to start a small travel agency, with a staff of one for now.

My First Steps

Once I had decided on the perfect business for me, I needed to take some steps to get there. I did not quit my job immediately.

First, I had to make sure I had taken care of the practical matters for at least the first couple of months.

I drew up a budget of what I’d need in the early stages.

I would need access to certain online resources, a website, lead generation software, and customer management software.

I would also need paid help designing and developing my website. And I would need to pay myself a workable salary.

In order to complete my budget, I had to have a marketing plan as well. I knew I could do some of it myself but that I would need help from a copywriter with SEO expertise.

I’d also need software to create email campaigns and capital to spend on sponsored posts and adverts.

With a completed budget in hand, it was time to actually raise the capital.

My dream was to find an angel investor who would be willing to fund my business, but it became clear to me that these investors only funded companies likely to make a killing.

I mean, this shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Instead, I applied for a loan.

Many companies are now promoting business loans for women.

As with most other non-gendered items aimed at women, these are the same as business loans for men.

However, they do help by providing extra information that helps women take the first steps, especially those of us taking care of children.

The business loan covered everything I needed to set up my business, as well as my own salary for the first couple of months and the money necessary to pay the freelancers I hired.

At this point, I felt confident enough to quit my job and commit to my brand new business.

Conclusion

I thought I was stuck in my job, despite being overqualified for it and barely earning enough to take care of myself and my son.

However, with the confidence I had in myself and my college education, along with the opportunities created by a business loan, it was actually fairly easy.

Entrepreneurship is in many ways a more secure approach to earning money than taking on a full-time job. For us single mothers, it can provide all the benefits we need with far more satisfaction and a much higher share of the profits!