No dust on us: mumpreneurs and isolation

isolation, mumpreneurs
Calendar planner agenda schedule concept. Woman working in her office, working, planning. Maternity leave planning

Mumpreneurs throughout Australia experience isolation across many areas; geographical, industry, competition and relationships. There is a growing trend of women in small business enterprises; choosing to work from home, raising children on their own terms, providing a family income, gaining freedom and independence.

As with every upside, there’s a downside and too often, loneliness can relate to mental health issues. ABS data confirms females as the leaders in experiencing mental health conditions, with 22 per cent versus 18 per cent for males, contributing annually to the rise in the number of women experiencing anxiety and depression.

24-year-old Zoe Hayes manages a property in the remote mid-west region of Western Australia, while raising her four-month-old baby and running her merchandise business on the side, as a sole parent. Zoe explains how she copes with solitude.

“I found that when I started publicly revealing my personal story on social media, the more others shared their stories with me. My own little community grew and I realised that many other women were struggling with isolation. This pushed me out of my anxiety bubble to cope with isolation, forcing me to seek companionship and friendship as my balance in life”.

Zoe is a great example of resilience, content in the world of loneliness.

We all face hurdles but our biggest barriers are the ones inside our heads. Struggling with frustration and feeling overwhelmed while trying to make everything perfect, makes us feel anxious when things don’t go the way we planned. This leads to the fear of imperfection, so we avoid situations where we might make mistakes, which can take over our lives. 

For mumpreneurs living in rural and regional centres around the nation, the feeling of remoteness increases tenfold and with anxiety and depression on the rise nationwide, Mumprenueurs suffer due to lack of support. The online Mumpreneurs Magazine launch highlighted the need for small business owners to avoid seclusion and increase their ability to network with each other.

The need to change the mindset from a competitive to collaborative business strategy, became the key motivator for Toowoomba magazine co-creators, Emma Mogg and Tammie Pike. When responding to why the group and magazine were created, Tammie explained “What we have in the Toowoomba Mumpreneurs group and magazine was the medicine that we needed that we didn’t have, when we were experiencing issues of isolation in business. We know what other women will benefit from”.

Toowoomba Mumpreneurs offer the support of like-minded women and a mentorship to help others achieve their vision and coach them how to believe in themselves.

Emma explains, “it gets so competitive because women in our area believe that someone else will undercut their business. If you’re in that mindset of scarcity, it can be damaging to your own business growth, therefore collaboration is key to help grow and sustain successfully.”

We can’t always choose the situations in our lives, but we can choose our response to them. Open the gate to your isolation and start feeling comfortable in the turbulence of life. You can start building your resilience by jumping out of your comfort zone and meeting other like-minded people.

Tracy Tully, motivation and resilience for women mentor, www.mrwcoaching.com