Surprising split between “Dreamers” vs. “Doers” regarding work-life balance, finances and business challenges
A recent survey from PicMonkey reveals that mom entrepreneurs, ‘mompreneurs’, feel held back by obstacles, but those who have taken the leap and started their own businesses are glad they did.
August 22, 2019 — SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PicMonkey, a leading cloud-based image editing and design platform, today announced the results of a third-party survey which reveal that starting and running a business could be less difficult than aspiring mom entrepreneurs – or ‘mompreneurs’ may think. Although four out of every ten businesses in the United States are owned by women, many aspiring mompreneurs are held back from launching their own businesses, due to perceived challenges such as lack of time and financial risk. The survey probed the reasons why women start their own businesses, the key challenges they face, and the benefits of being a mompreneur.
With responses from more than 1,000 working moms – half who have already started their own businesses (doers) and half who want to (dreamers) – the survey revealed disparities in attitudes between dreamers and doers, and variations by age cohort:
- Nearly 80% of dreamers are concerned about the financial investment associated with starting their own businesses, but only 57% of doers actually experienced this as an obstacle
- 70% dreamers believe they won’t be able to find the time to run their business, whereas fewer than half of doers (47%) actually struggle with time management
- Approximately 75% of dreamers are concerned about monetizing their products/services, versus 60% percent of doers
Go Instagram
When it comes to marketing channels, 79% of the youngest group of mompreneurs (aged 18-24) cite Instagram as the most important, while Facebook and having a website rank highest among the older age groups.
“We hope that the doers’ responses encourage dreamer mompreneurs to make the leap and start their own businesses, since the data shows that it may not be as hard as it seems,” said PicMonkey CEO Frits Habermann. “For example, 64% of dreamers cite creating promotional materials as an area of concern, versus only 44% of doers. Small business owners can quickly learn to leverage visual design tools like PicMonkey; we’re here to help people of all experience levels to promote their brand and business.”
Respondents were uniform in describing the advantages of being a mompreneur, with financial freedom rating highest, followed by the benefit of having to focus on their own goals and ambitions, and cultivating valuable skills to pass along to their children.
A copy of the complete survey findings can be found here. The Mompreneur Survey comes on the heels of PicMonkey’s release of real-time collaboration features, which empower people to access, edit simultaneously, and leave comments directly on shared files and designs. With visuals shared in one central location, PicMonkey’s collaboration features eliminate the traditional pain, cost, and added steps of using multiple applications to design, provide feedback, and store files.
Survey Questions
How many children under the age of 18 do you have living at home at least 50% of the
time? What is the age of your youngest child?
How interested are you in starting your own business, including doing independent
contract work?
When you think/thought about starting a new business, how challenging are/were
each of the following aspects?
How important are/were each of the following aspects of starting/when you started a
new business?
What would you say were/are your top three obstacles to starting your own business?
Which answer best represents why you started your own business / why you’d want to
start your own business?
If you waited / have been waiting to start your own business, choose which answer best
represents you, and why:
- Financial freedom
- Having my own business forces me to carve out time for myself to work on
my own goals and ambitions - Learning valuable skills that I can pass along to my children
- The connections I can make with other mom-preneurs
- Other
How likely are you to promote your business via the following channels?
- Personal website
- Email promotions
- Print/Digital advertising
How old are you?
What is your employment status?
Which of the following regions do you live in?
Read the full survey here.
For more information, visit PicMonkey.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About PicMonkey
PicMonkey is built for people and businesses to create stunning visuals for social media, digital marketing, advertising, and beyond. PicMonkey’s continually-refreshed library of effects, graphics, templates, and fonts, plus a resource center with tips and tutorials, makes content creation easy and inspiring. With headquarters in Seattle, Washington, privately-held PicMonkey is backed by Spectrum Equity.
Survey methodology:
The survey was conducted by independent research firm Sapio, and queried opinions from over 1,000 mompreneurs and aspiring mompreneurs nationally in August of 2019.
