Dadpreneur: myth or man?

I recently wrote a blog about my experiences combining my most recent adventure (motherhood)with my ongoing passion for business. A bit daunted with the slightly different take to what I usually blog on I sent it to some fabulous working mums I know to proof and give me their opinions.

A fabulous entrepreneur and mum – Tina Tower from Begin Bright wrote back and some of her comments really stuck with me.

Tina wrote: “A notable change is before in media I could be referred to as a 'young gun woman in business' where as now I get 'Mumpreneur' in everything! I figure I am showing my sons that a woman can be good Mum, a good wife and have great self fulfillment through running companies. The balance I find is never perfect, (you) just have to do what works best for you and family.”

Tina hit the nail on the head with the balance aspect that I’m struggling to find now. The other thing that struck me when Tina mentioned “Mumpreneur” is that I hear that term a lot these days, but didn’t think I’d ever heard the term “Dadpreneur”.

Take Donald Trump: like him or loathe him, I find one of the most amazing things about the Donald is that he seems to have raised his children with an amazing work ethic and appreciation for education. Where other children growing up in households of great wealth have gone off the rails or live out their days on trust funds, Ivanka and his other children impress me with their business nouse and what appears to be extreme level headedness. That said, can you imagine anyone describing Donald Trump as a “Dadpreneur”?

So my next challenge was to find an out and proud Dadpreneur.

Facebook search asked me if I meant “mompreneur”… hrm… not encouraging. Twitter’s @dadpreneur is an inactive user… back to the drawing board there.

So, I googled “Dadpreneur” and the top links were to a blog that hadn’t been updated since 2008 and a website that didn’t work.

Link number three however was more encouraging and was an article about Chris Pegula’s (@chrispegula) business “Diaper Dude” (making nappy bags Dad’s want to be seen with) and on top of being a spunk, Chris is a father of three with a nifty looking website who’s getting some great press right now.

Dadpreneur found! And while it’s unlikely Bill Gates (father of three Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe) is ever going to be described as a “Dadpreneur” they’re out there.

Now… as to how I’ll feel if I start getting described as a “Mumpreneur”… we’ll have to cross that bridge when and if we come to it!

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments