MomPreneur Spotlight: A Day in the Life of Junior’s Fresh CEO Michelle Hoffmann

In celebration of Mother's Day, we invited Michelle Hoffmann, Founder and CEO of organic baby food company Juniors Fresh, to blog on a topic that she knows well - a day in the life of a Mompreneur.

Every day is a rush for a mompreneur. Junior’s Fresh provides lunch to hundreds of preschoolers in New York City every day so our kitchen gets going first thing in the morning. This is the same time when I'm getting my two boys ready for school and it’s not unusual for me to handle last minute produce deliveries on my phone at the same time as I'm packing my sons’ lunch for school. After the rush of the day at work, and then watching my boys in the afternoon, I sometimes feel like I'm busy all day but haven’t been able to do any actual work. Over the last four years running a small business I've realized that focusing primarily on one task at a time is one of my keys to success. All entrepreneurs wear many hats as they’re building their business and mompreneurs add a couple more on top of that. There’s the chef’s hat when you’re cooking meals for your family, or packing lunches for your children. Then there’s the referee’s hat when you’re managing conflicts between your kids. I added yet another one last week when I put on my fanciest hat for a small Kentucky Derby party we had at our apartment for some friends and their kids. It’s perfecting the balancing act of switching from one personality to another that truly defines the daily schedule of the mompreneur.

Quiet Time With My Business

It’s 8PM and I've almost reached the top of that daily mountain all parents climb – my boys, Walker (5) and Otis (2) are sleeping, dinner’s all wrapped up and my husband is finishing the dishes. But, I have one more peak to scale before the day’s done. Every parent’s life is a balancing act and as a mompreneur you have to make the most of your free time to keep your business growing, your family happy and yourself sane. Taking advantage of the little time I have without distractions is how I make life work as a mompreneur. That’s why the 8 o’clock hour can be one of my most productive times. Sure, I’m usually a little tired after a full day. But, it’s also a time with the least distractions. My kitchen is closed until the next morning, my clients are home with their families and my boys are dreaming of the next day’s adventures. My husband’s usually pretty content to watch the Yankees game for a bit while I finish up my work, but he sometimes gets antsy when we have a new episode of Mad Men waiting on the DVR.

Being There 100%

Whether it’s working with my clients, spending the afternoon with my boys in the park or making time for a nice dinner out with my husband I try to make the most of each moment. You can run most businesses from anywhere these days, and I take advantage of this when I can. But it’s also important to be there 100% in every situation. My sons want me to be Mom, my workers need me to be the boss and my husband married me, not my small business. I try to think of what my primary role is at different times throughout the day and keep myself from getting pulled in too many directions at once. That’s why the 8 o'clock hour is so important to keeping my business, and my life, on track. And once I've put in my work at night, I make sure there’s some extra time for just me, my husband, a glass of wine… and Don Draper.