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Starting Small
"The tendency, in leadership, is to want to start something big. But what you want to go for is impact, and that is best attained by starting small and growing out." (Kerri Weems)
God gifted me with a vision in the Fall of 2012 while I slept. Very vividly I saw the name MomPro, repetitively written, and scrolling across a computer screen. I woke-up knowing that this vision, unlike a few others I've had, was meant for me. I ran downstairs to the basement, where our make-shift office was set-up, (next to our hot water heater), and did a search for MomPro. Nothing came up! The .com, and all other dots you can think of, were available! My husband helped me scoop up the ones we thought would be most valuable to us, moving forward, and MomPro began.
I assumed MomPro would need to be made up of more than just me. I assumed that I would need a team of writers. I assumed that MomPro, in order to come to life, would be like a puzzle
and I would need to have God help me fit all of the pieces/people in just right to make it work, to make the hidden image, of what was yet to be, seen. And, so I began recruiting a team of volunteers.
Born to lead, (Yep, I'm one of those #BossyGals, as they affectionately say in the Twitter-sphere), I thought a team, made up of individuals passionate about sharing their faith and words, would be easy to take on. Time-consuming but easy. And, at first, it was. However, as time went on, and through many talks with my husband, I realized that starting MomPro big wasn't gelling with our home-life.
First and foremost, I'm a Child of God, then, I'm a Wife and a Mommy, (and a home-schooling one to boot), now I'm an entrepreneur/mompreneur, writer, CEO, business woman whose net-working her tush off? Wow! I had my hustle on, and that's a good thing. No one is going to succeed at a start-up if they're not putting the long hours in and sacrificing sleep. However, I was also having to sacrifice time with my kiddos too, in order to keep up with correspondence, editing and publishing my team's articles, mitigating behind-the-scenes issues on our initial, WordPress site, keeping up a healthy social media presence, etc. Now mind you, my kids were in the same room with me, but I was distracted and not fully present. Thankfully, I had a schedule I attempted to keep, meaning that MomPro was part-time and motherhood remained full-time; however, something had to give and I needed to right my ship before it took on water and sank.
And, so, the organizational aspect of MomPro, in regards to team-building, had to be reorganized to not be organized, i.e. no official team now exists. There is freedom. I am still the Founder and CEO but currently a solopreneur. Outside of my husband, (who freely gives of his time to work on IT things I have NO expertise in), MomPro is me and I am MomPro. This allows me to wake-up at 4 a.m., working my MomPro swag professionally until I switch hats and work it personally with my children. Now, I'm able to spend the majority of my day with my kids, present and distracted no more, just as it was before MomPro was brought into existence.
As I wrote a former team member, this is what I came to understand from the initial vision God gave: "MomPro was a name that God was giving me to lift me higher.
That I am a MomPro despite what others might think; a name to live up to and aspire to be. Not a name to belittle me, a name to grow me. And, MomPro's involvement of others, in the here and now, has more to do with feeding His flock, providing guidance, encouragement, assistance to those He brings to the site/social media pages than it necessarily does in regards to the involvement of a team of people making it work." Hard to let a team of people down; however, there is a time and a season for everything under heaven and now is the time to start small before, someday, growing out.
Giving my all to raise you up!
Jennie Louwes
P.S. Former team members, as well as those who follow MomPro, (who are interested in faith-based writing), may still submit their articles and stories for guest-post appearances, and cross-traffic opportunities; I hope people respond! May we all lift each other higher as we pursue our individual dreams and goals.