Let me start by writing, this post applies to Dads too, it's just Father Hustler doesn't sound as cool as Mother Hustler, and you know Mama's got some street cred going on right here so stick with it (ha, as if).
...I mentioned being a hustler, baby, at a talk at BritMums Live last summer, where I was speaking on a panel about making blogging your career.
I received lots of tweets, in person (actual 3D) comments and even emails about that.
People, and mostly women it seemed (but remember the majority of my readers are women) said they felt empowered by my use of that word.
That the JUGGLE that is parenting, career/new businesses and just going for your dreams, unashamedly and bravely, meant HUSTLING.
The hustle was REAL. Necessary.
Believing in yourself, promoting your work/ blog/ business and going after the contacts, connections, gigs/commissions.
For me, it relates to yielding confidence and presenting confidence when I don't feel it (hustling).
Becoming a mother, with its scary initiation process, as many will relate to, no doubt, BROKE me down before it could build me up, leaving me feeling, right now, STRONGER than ever.
Motherhood showed me what I was capable of.
That not only could I bring a person into the world, but I could survive it, and so could they and for the most part we live happily ever after.
The fact I could overcome adversity (a traumatic birth in my case), was able to regain control through a digital career (after working as a TV director), in a job I loved and that suited family life made me feel KICK-ASS awesome.
The hardest things teach us the most, right and nothing feels harder than the mess that is sleep deprivation meets the hormonal mash-up and loss of life as you know it, to truly discover where you want to be in life.
Having kids made me FOCUS. I want to achieve, succeed and be happy for them as much as myself now. They are my driving force.
And to do that, I have to hustle, I have to not be scared to put myself out there, to share my own life, my fears, my honest take on the world right here and to pursue what I want from life.
You see we're all hustlers and jugglers whether we are trying to get our kids to sleep, send that email, create a business plan and importantly make others believe in us-what we are capable of and can bring to the table.
No more so, when we've lost our confidence and must coax it back so we can become contenders again after kids- be it getting back into the workplace after maternity leave or starting a new business/blog.
I lost all confidence after Oliver. I didn't fit into my old world as I thought I would post-child. I changed and so did my aspirations and what I wanted from life.
And I'm not alone.
There are now more than 1.2 million entrepreneurial mums according to the Office for National Statistics, women who saw a gap in the market on maternity leave, or a window of opportunity to finally get their dream businesses/careers off the ground.
I always say that everyone, parents or not, need a 'maternity leave' to grow and nurture a new business, and blogging and online businesses from eshops and beyond, have given us all the freedom to work in a way that works for us and our family-a flexible, empowering and fulfilling way to be a #Mumboss (and a #Dadboss too).
I'm a hustler, baby. Are you?
Read more posts over on: Honest Mum