I recently had the privilege of speaking at the Fort Worth chapter of the eWomen Network. As always, the room was filled with women entrepreneurs—most of them mompreneurs—eager to dive into the core strategies of Guerrilla Marketing.
The classic book The Best of Guerrilla Marketing–Guerrilla Marketing Remix by Jay Conrad Levinson (the Father of Guerrilla Marketing) and his wife outlines 20 monumental secrets, which were highlighted in Entrepreneur Magazine back in 2010. I’m honored to have been personally trained by Jay and certified as a Guerrilla Master Trainer before his passing a few years ago.
I call these the monumental secrets for mompreneur success—though I’ve added a 21st secret that’s crucial for truly enjoying your achievements. Each secret is a single word ending with “ENT.”
Jay often said that a mediocre marketing plan backed by commitment will outperform a brilliant plan without it, because commitment drives action. As mompreneurs, we frequently call our business “our baby.” When we pour that same level of dedication into our dream, it becomes real.
If you’ve seen Catch Me If You Can, you might recall the powerful moment when Frank Abagnale Sr. tells the story of the two mice:
On any worthwhile journey, we feel like giving up. But just as you wouldn’t abandon your marriage or motherhood, you should quit everything else before you quit on your purpose!
Marketing—when done correctly—is an investment that pays off. You must allocate time, energy, effort, money, and other resources to nurture your business.
When I started, I worked over 40 hours a week as a single mom of two toddlers, living below the poverty line. I decided to invest $10 a month and 10 minutes a day toward the freedom of mompreneurship. Thirteen years later, here I am.
Do you know a mompreneur who changes her elevator pitch every time she introduces herself at a conference or networking event? Or one who has rebranded her blog and changed her Instagram handle multiple times in the past year? No need to judge her, but ask yourself how much you would trust her products, services, or advice.
It’s tempting to change your branding, marketing approach, or advertising because it becomes boring to you and familiar to those close to you. But it takes time for potential readers, customers, media, and brand partners to build trust. Two powerful mantras: restraint and repetition.
Congruent means “in agreement” or “in harmony.” This principle works in two ways: 1) All pieces of your marketing, branding, and positioning must align with each other; and 2) your message must be congruent with your values and the value you offer.
Incongruence often happens when your branding is developed by one person, your website by another team, your social media graphics by a third, and your PR by yet another—and none of them talk to you or to each other. A truly successful mompreneur takes time for self-reflection, masterminding, and providing feedback on projects, rather than delegating her entire message to someone else.
Your audience craves substance, not just style. Many advise you to “sell the sizzle, not the steak,” but today’s prospects can tell the difference.
Your ideal audience is sophisticated, smart, and selective. To stay in business and succeed as a mompreneur, you must demonstrate that you provide useful, helpful, and valuable answers and solutions.
No single marketing weapon works alone. To succeed as a mompreneur, you need a powerful strategy that combines the best tactics for your industry to reach your audience.
One of the biggest mistakes mompreneurs make is undervaluing our worth—thinking that offering the lowest price, giving services away for free, or offering huge discounts are the only ways to attract customers and partners.
A nationwide study on why people buy found that price ranked fifth. A whopping 86% said price didn’t really matter. Selection came fourth; service third; quality second; and confidence took first place.
People do business with individuals, brands, and companies they feel confident in. As you become congruent, consistent, and committed in your mompreneur business, you will trust your offering, and others will trust you too.
Your small business requires as much patience as a two-year-old. Patience is essential for practicing any of the success secrets we’ve discussed.
Results take time—it’s a reality we must accept and a universal law we must align with to see our vision materialize. You may look at your efforts and think you should be further ahead, but as Steve Jobs said of Pixar: “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”
People don’t pay attention to what you do unless it grabs their attention. Step outside the box and share your authentic self to add a touch of amazement to everything you do. It will make a difference!
As moms and entrepreneurs (and all the other hats we wear), we know that time isn’t money—it’s far more valuable. Time is life! To succeed as a mompreneur, you must value, respect, and save people’s precious time. Make it easy for them to contact you, partner with you, and pay you!
Raise your hand if you’ve met someone at a conference or networking event, only to come home and be bombarded with emails you never signed up for. A successful mompreneur practices permission marketing by obtaining consent before sharing information. Having an opt-in strategy can certainly help you get started!
Involvement leads to commitment. To succeed as a mompreneur, you must be in the business of building relationships. Think of ways to engage your audience interactively, letting them know you want to be part of their lives. I always say: to convert, you must converse.
To succeed as a mompreneur, realize that profits don’t happen when you make a sale—they happen when you get repeat and referral business. The sale is where real marketing begins. As they say, “the fortune is in the follow-up.”
A successful mompreneur doesn’t compete because true success comes from cooperation. Fusion marketing, affiliate marketing, tie-ins, and collaborations are brilliant ways to profit more while investing less.
Armament means “the equipment necessary to wage and win battles.” Invest in technology that moves your success forward. Technophobia has no place in a successful mompreneur enterprise.
To succeed as a mompreneur, you must be willing to experiment so you can discover what works and what deserves your investment and commitment. The three most important marketing tasks: test, test, and test!
When you experiment, you risk a little for the potential of huge profitable results.
Projecting, tracking, and measuring may not sound exciting, but you can double your profits by measuring your marketing results. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t, and how to proceed.
Seeking information, wisdom, insight, awareness, and instruction is how you improve personally and professionally—and it will reflect in all areas of your life, including your mompreneur enterprise. To gain enlightenment, strive to be coachable!
Becoming a successful mompreneur requires you to augment your “attack,” making it more powerful and profitable. I started with $10 a month and 10 minutes a day, but gradually invested more time, money, and effort as it made sense to continue growing and reaping results.
Nothing changes if nothing changes. These secrets will only work if you implement them and take strategic action. That’s probably why they’re secrets!
And finally, as a bonus for mompreneurs, the last secret of mompreneur success is empowerment. As you take personal responsibility for who you are and why your mompreneur business exists, you gain the strength to keep practicing these secrets. What you do for your family is already remarkable, and you’ve survived 100% of the battles you’ve faced so far. I believe you’ve got this if you believe it!
Now that you know these success secrets, you can see they all revolve around your mindset. As you set purposeful intentions, invest in prioritizing your success, and detach from any tension that comes your way, you will achieve the success, prosperity, and fulfillment you desire in your mompreneur enterprise!
Which mompreneur success secret do you already practice? Which one will you focus on next? Share what makes you successful as a mompreneur in the comments below!
© Elayna Fernández ~ The Positive MOM
