Nowadays, what holds many women back from pursuing new careers, as digital entrepreneurs for example, is the fact that they have to fulfill other duties, being mothers and wives. Many are blocked by this “situation”, today we asked Manuela Fantini, a successful Italian entrepreneur, how to be both a great mom and a great digital entrepreneur.
It all started after listening with my team, to an inspiring Facebook Live where the main guest was Stefania Lo Gatto. She’s a woman, a mother, and an entrepreneur who I respect and who is not afraid to say what many of us tend not to say or think, because the feelings of guilt would bury us, she said:
“Don’t feel guilty, In the beginning, it would also happen to me. I once had a phone conversation whilst my baby was calling me, I didn’t have the time to listen to him, so in order to succeed in bringing home my extra $200, which I needed for the end of the month, I locked myself in the bathroom in an attempt to concentrate and get the job done. Every time I gave corn flakes, bread or Nutella to my children for dinner instead of a proper meal, or when I had to take them with me to endless meetings, or when I would leave them too long with an iPad in their hands, I would feel a crazy sense of guilt and I didn’t feel like a good mother.”
In the beginning, I was alone, I had to do everything with my own strength. Today, mothers who are starting this job, have meetings available everywhere and a lot of online material.
Don’t let your children become your excuses, instead make them your motivation, your strength! I may not have watched many of my children's matches, but I showed them what can be achieved in life with commitment and hard work.
Yes, I can’t deny that there will be an early stage of self-sacrifice, but you will be well rewarded by it, especially if you start it for your children and if you begin to approach this business with quality intention: quality makes the difference. If you start improving your skills, learn to listen to the people in front of you, and learn to schedule your time, you will have already done 90% of the job. I must admit that this long-term vision of my children’s education has captivated me, we have to quit weighing up the time we spend with them today and starting to be aware that we’’ll have the freedom to be able to spend our time with them in the future. Start thinking about teaching them a good example by pursuing our dreams and being willing
to pay the price it takes to achieve them.
This is probably a particularly forward-thinking mindset, but it is a very important part of me, and now that the world is changing so fast, I don’t want to keep believing the old clichés anymore. I want to learn how to build new ones.