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Jennifer is the sole owner of Jennifer West Showroom, a manufacturer representative of high-end furniture, fabrics and lighting in Seattle.
Jennifer opened her business in November of 1998 and became a working mother 6 months ago.

 

Has becoming a working mom changed you as an employer?

My employees have told me I am different, now that I am a working mom.  I think having a baby gives you perspective.  As a result, I'm more casual now, not as rigid or formal in my approach.  I put a lot of burden on my staff by not being there when my son was born.  I took a lot of time off and though I'm back full-time now, I'm out the door by 5 or 5:30 at the end of the day.  They've run with it and done incredibly well in my absence.  In return I have to be careful about what I demand of them.

Being a working mother has made me more empathetic with customers and colleagues as people.  Our business is all about servicing our customers.  I'm more focused now than I was before on taking great care of all of our customers, making sure everybody has a good experience.  I've gotten more focused on our fundamentals, doing the things we did early in the business that made us successful.  I'm not running at the frenetic pace I was running at before and I'm not branching out in to too many new directions.

Being a working mom is also an incredible motivator.  If you are going to take time away from your child, you better make it worth while.  Now every night, after my son has gone to bed I make a list of everything I need to do the next day so that I make sure I get to the critical things when I am at the office.  Becoming a working mom has made me much more efficient.  I don't sit around and chat with colleagues or friends or putter through my work at the end of the day.  Now I plow through work and get out of there.

 

Are there benefits to being a working mom who owns her own business versus a working mother who is accountable to her employer?

I am a lucky working mom.  I have a lot of flexibility because I have a great team.  That was something I really focused on getting in place before my son was born.  I know other business owners who don't have the trust and faith in their employees that I have in mine, so they have a much harder time leaving the office and letting go.  Though I don't have a boss driving my schedule, I feel very accountable to my staff because they all work so hard for me.  I feel I ask so much of people that I can't sit around and lollygag.

Owning a business is a constant sales job.  You have to have your employees behind you, as well as your clients and your manufacturers.  To be an effective salesman you have to have more energy than the people you are selling to.  As a working mom, I try to be energetic and positive about the fact that I get the best of both worlds - being a mom and a business owner.  It helps to have a picture of my baby in my mind and to know that when I get home I can switch gears and sit and read a book to my son or take him out in the stroller for a long walk.

 

What has been most unexpected about being a working mom?

Breastfeeding.  It is unexpectedly emotional and consuming.  My son is a big eater and I simply can't produce enough milk for him.  It was very difficult for me to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to do it without formula supplementation.  I really prided myself on having a flexible attitude about having a child, but in reality I was NOT ready to have a C-section and I was NOT ready to feed my son anything but 100% breast milk.  I wish I'd talked to a lactation consultant sooner.  I look back on it and think "what on earth was my hang-up?"  I think maybe I felt I was copping out somehow.

Now I'm driving back to the office while we talk to pick up the breast milk I pumped this morning and then forgot in the refrigerator at work.  That stuff is like liquid gold, I tell ya.

 

What would have been different about your working mom experiences if your business had been at a different stage?

5 years ago I would have had to choose between my business and being a mom.  Back then the business was a "lifestyle business."  It was fun, I got paid pretty well, but nothing amazing.  It is in a totally new phase now.  Every couple, when they have a child, has to weigh out their careers.  How much income am I bringing in?  How much will I be away from my baby?  What are the compromises we're willing to make?  How will we balance everything?  There were a couple of points in the company's history when I probably would have considered walking away from it if I'd had a child.

 

What advice would you give to working moms who are aspiring entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs who are aspiring mothers?

Entrepreneurs need to figure out why they are doing what they are doing.  I read a book called "The E-Myth" when I was starting the business.  The author's theory was that people starting businesses don't think broadly enough about what they want to get from the business as well as their life.  What do you want your life to look like in 5 years?  Do you want to have a life partner?  Do you want to be close to your family?  Where do you want to live?  Then you can figure out how to create that life while working at what you love doing.  If you're not doing what you love doing and you're not getting the return you want, either economical or emotional, then it may not be worth it.