I’m NOT a Tangerine!

I saw a very cute greeting card several weeks ago, with a very simple message on the front: “Is a Tangerine Really an Orange that Didn’t Try Hard Enough?” As a newly minted Mompreneur, riding the emotional roller coaster of entrpreneurship, I made a mental note of that comment, swearing to myself that I would never be “Just a Tangerine.” And, at that time, I thought keeping that promise would be easy. I mean, by gosh, I’ve NEVER been a tangerine….in school, at corporate, in life. Of course, at the time I made that promise, things in my little corner of the mom-business world were going relatively swimmingly. My product (the web-site) was in full swing development, my team of MOL Moms was getting ramped up, my bank account was still fairly (?) flush with still-recent corporate paychecks, and everyone I met with loved my business vision.

Fast forward a short 3 months later. How quickly the roller coaster can dip down!

My first dose of reality was the speed with which businesses were responding to our outreach. Those who did respond did so with overwhelming support of the mission for Moms Out Loud – to help local Moms find information, share tips, connect with each other, and celebrate their lives. But there were others that were: on vacation, swamped with kids out of school for the summer or their own summer camps, swamped with other business stuff, or – gasp! – not interested in advertising until the site is proven out (what?!?). So, while our business partnerships have been building steadily, the rate at which they are building didn’t meet my initial expectations. (OK, so I was told my people who’ve been in this kind of business much longer than me that I was a bit unrealistic in those expectations, but am I not building the most amazing Moms web community ever?!? )

My second dose of reality was unrelated to the business entirely – well, kind of. It is how much I enjoy being with my kids. The only explanation I can give to this revelation is “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Tucked away in my little (well, OK, it was big) office in corporate America for 45-50 hours a week, I thought I had an idea of what my kids were doing every week day between Grandma and their Montessori school. BUT, in reality, I didn’t. And now that I have the chance to participate more in their daily lives – wow. It’s nice. Being able to go home at 3:30pm to take my boys swimming after their nap (instead of getting home at 5:30pm just in time for a little rough-housing before dinner) is pure joy. Makes me want to do that a little more often…… like every day.

My third dose of reality was the actual result of my 10 weeks and multiple thousands of dollars of investment in a web development company that was supposed to deliver my product. I had had a sinking suspicion I’d made the wrong choice from early on in our build, but brushed it off as to my overly controlling personality and inexperience in web development projects. Turns out my intuition was right. They are now fired, and I have a new team in place, but unfortunately because the code was so bad, they’re having to start over on the build.

So, with my new frame of reference, I spent the July 4 weekend contemplating all of these developments. (OK, so I also sketched out a book to write a book next year about Mompreneurship and its challenges, but most of the time I was contemplating what this was going to mean for me and Moms Out Loud.) How would I respond to the hard realities of the start-up business world? I’ll tell you how:

By Being an Orange!

For the literalists among us:

By Succeeding Despite These Challenges!

I won’t lie: the thought of walking away did cross my mind. For a split second.

But then I got mad. (And for me, getting mad is a sure-fire sign I’m going to make something work.) I got mad for the obvious reasons: because a crappy web guy had taken my money and delivered a horrible product…… that because of that crappy product, we were going to have to delay the site launch….. that my personal financial situation was going to be even more pinched than we had expected because of the delay.

However, I got the most mad at myself, for even contemplating for one second not pursuing my dream and building my business, which in my three-year-olds words, is simply “Helping Other Mommies.” Giving up? Yes, easier. But then I wouldn’t have the web-site that I have been craving since I got pregnant with that three-year-old. And no other Moms would have it, either.

To me, the promise of Moms Out Loud and what it can offer for Moms in our area is worth a bit of a struggle. Nothing worth having is easy. This won’t be either. It may be harder than I thought, but in the end, the gain is more than worth the pain. So I re-doubled my commitment to making MomsOutLoud.com a smashing success.

BUT – don’t be surprised if you see me with the boys at the pool this afternoon.