A new mother—or any working parent, for that matter—can feel like their plate is overflowing. Tired from lack of sleep, stressed from time management and overwhelmed with the piles of laundry and hours spent cleaning up after your kids, it can be easy to feel like you’re drowning in work. But there’s one place where the multitasking skills that come with parenthood can benefit your business: growing your small business.

Running a small business may feel like a job in itself, with all the hours it demands. Do you think that being a mom won’t help you run a business? Well, I’m here to tell you otherwise. Being a mom is a huge advantage for women-owned businesses. In fact, there are some serious benefits to being a mom that make our businesses grow faster, earn more money and stay stable in the long run.

But whether you started your business while pregnant or shortly after childbirth, you can use your experience as a mom to make money and have a work-life balance all at once. While maintaining a family at home, many women have taken up entrepreneurship and succeeded. 

Creating a life is as complex, challenging and rewarding as building a business. Motherhood encourages patience, long-term thinking and good stewardship. These values can be transferred into the running of a business as you seek to build an enterprise that can achieve longevity. Moms are able to see the big picture and to avoid sweating the small stuff which allows them to earn the confidence and trust of their team, clients and community. Besides making them good business leaders, this allows them to attract talented people who want to be in an environment where they are treated with dignity, respect and empathy. 

Moms get comfortable with asking and accepting help from others. This is an important quality in a business, as you will be comfortable delegating duties and also building coalitions to promote your enterprise. Motherhood also teaches you the importance of finding allies and ensuring they are empowered to be an integral part of your life. In a business environment, this can play an important role in enabling you to find the support that you need to thrive. 

Moms are typically great time managers as you have to juggle diverse responsibilities and ensure everyone in your family gets your attention. You are able to successfully engage in multitasking and ensure that they use their time wisely. Being a parent requires a lot of resourcefulness, which is also important in running a business. 

Being a mom enhances your negotiation skills as you have to navigate diverse roles. For example, you have to both be a cheerleader for your children while also setting boundaries for them. This experience can enhance your ability to negotiate with diverse stakeholders. Besides being more deliberate about valuing the talents and contribution of others, as a mom, you are more likely to pursue win-win outcomes that can enhance the willingness of many stakeholders to partner with you. 

Organizational and planning skills are vital in motherhood due to the need to practice forward planning and ensure all their priorities are met. As a business owner, moms have the ability to plan and ensure they are able to fulfill all their responsibilities. Moms are also flexible and thus able to quickly adjust to changes in their business environment. 

Moms are able to balance being fair and also being generous. This ability is important in enabling them to create a positive work environment. They are able to reward their employees and also ensure they are treated in a fair and dignified manner. Many people enjoy working for and with female business owners because of the sense of community that they effortlessly foster. They are also able to create an inclusive work environment as they understand the needs of different employees and are more supportive. 

While being a mom and also venturing into business can be a challenging and humbling experience, the success of others moms should be a source of confidence in the utility of the skills and lessons acquired as a mom. You should actively seek to learn from both your own experience and that of other mom entrepreneurs.