10 Things That Kill Mompreneur Innovation & How To Avoid Them

After reading a recent Forbes article titled 10 Ways Organizations Kill Innovation, by Ron Ashkenes I realized how many mom entrepreneurs struggle with the same evils that stand in their own way of innovation and success in their businesses!

For each of the ten common inhibitors listed in the article that are proven to dampen an organization’s ability to innovate effectively, consider your own business and think about the extent to which this practice applies to your own actions (never? sometimes? often?):

1. Focus on short-term results ignores ideas that take longer to mature
   

   If you only spend time on short term results, its time to put a 1, 3 or even 5-year plan in place. You don’t have to work out all of the financials just yet but it is important to have dreams and goals for the future of your business.  Dreams and goals keep your future focused. How do you capture your dreams and goals for your business?
   
   

2. Fear of losing current business prevents investing in new ideas.

   It is very alluring to take the proverbial bird in hand, as a struggling entrepreneur.  In the early stages of growth of your business revenue and profit is very important. But it can’t be more important than spending time planning for future business and working out a business model that will provide you with big gains and long-term wealth. Many entrepreneurs fail to build a business model that they can leverage the future when building their venture. When it’s time to grow they have nothing to leverage. Spending time on a business model that focuses on your future and invests in new areas will be important to your long-range success.  What is your business model and how is situated to take you to the next step?

3. Your day-to-day business focus prevents innovative prospects.

   If this is difficult for large businesses it is even more difficult for solopreneurs.   Innovation is an area that an entrepreneur can use the services and support of a mastermind group.  If you’re interested in masterminding with other like-minded entrepreneurs, contact me. When and how often do you focus on the future and innovation?

4. No ‘bake time’ and fear of failure block great new ideas.

   One of the greatest strengths of entrepreneurs is taking action. On the other side of the equation, one of the blind spot entrepreneurs struggle with is research and development.  One of my coaches called entrepreneurs “quick starts”.  But anyone who has had a big project or business idea gnomes that innovation takes time and so does building big things.  It is important to give big ideas the time they need to grow to their fullest potential. What ideas are you rushing to market?  Have you given them enough ‘bake time’?

5. Your efficiency focus eliminates free time for fresh thinking.

   It is very easy for entrepreneurs to get caught up in the day-to-day. Many times it is important to invest in support and virtual assistance way before you feel ready or able to afford it. A very good virtual team can help your time so that you can focus on fresh ideas. What restorative practices do you build into your weekly operation?  Do you allocate time for you to eliminate work and think freely?

6. You do not standardize how to nurture or develop new ideas.

   Entrepreneurs usually have way too many ideas to implement. One of the best ways to capture your ideas is to create a capturing system using an online app or tool such as Evernote or KanbanFlow to capture all of your ideas and keep them safe until you have time to work on them. Do you have tools that help you capture your brilliant ideas?

7. Incentives maximize today’s business and reduce risk.
   

   In the pursuit of income and profit, entrepreneurs can stagnate if they only focus on what is right in front of them. The tendency to be focused on bringing in profit tends to blind your ability to look ahead. How do you manage risk-taking?  Do you stop yourself?
   

8. Mompreneurs are not trained to be innovative leaders.

   Innovation equals risk-taking. Many moms who run their own businesses are averse to risk. Many business owners struggle to manage all the needs of their families, and children, and as such tend to be the rock and the home base.  As a result, the superpower qualities of moms are often to create more homeostasis and focus on family security rather than risk taking.   How innovative are you?

9. 

   Mompreneurs tend to see flaws in new ideas rather than tease out potential.

   Meet a successful entrepreneur, and you will meet someone who’s done a lot of internal work to minimize the effect of their inner critic. Each person is born whole and learns how to criticize nearly everything they think and do.  Entrepreneurs are not immune to this basic human characteristic.  However, the successful ones put aside the inner critic and despite flaws and holes focus on potential versus perfection. How do you balance the inner critic in you?  Is it in your way?  What is your mindset?

    

10. Mompreneurs look at opportunities through internal lenses rather than starting with customers’ needs and problems.

    Being an entrepreneur can be very lonely if you do not have a support system with other business colleagues to help you. Again this is an area where masterminding and groups for entrepreneurs designed to help you work through your internal issues are worth their weight in gold.  Are you actively investing coaching and other mastermind groups to help you forward and offer new perspectives?

So where do you see yourself as a mom entrepreneur and business owner?

Do you struggle and dampen innovation in any of these areas? What can you do to put effective strategies in place to stop the burn?  Please share your struggles with innovation as a mom business owner in the box below.