As a “mompreneur” Kim DeYoung brilliantly blends motherhood with entrepreneurship and teaches others how to do it as well as a business coach. Kim is indeed the original “Metromom,” which is the company she created providing a unique place for moms to connect, learn and build their businesses.

Dr. Randy Kamen Gredinger and Kim DeYoung

Kim and I met by chance at a tea party in Manhattan. We engaged in each other’s stories and quickly found a connection over the passion we share for our families and the work that we do. Kim immediately struck me as a compassionate, smart and fierce warrior, determined to find the balance that nurtures her family, her soulful home-based business and the many women she serves.

Motherhood and establishing her own business

Living in Connecticut with her three children and husband, Kim knows what it means to juggle her family, home, business, workouts, friendships and love of decorating. Her life is full, rich and sometimes off kilter. Good mentors and a capacity for great insight provide Kim the knowledge of how to regain her sense of balance.

Kim and family

With the birth of her first child, Kim began to make the shift from corporate to entrepreneurial life. She decided early on that she would not sacrifice her family to succeed. Instead, Kim designed a work/life balance on her own terms and started a company that helps other women do the same.

Kim’s mission is helping women to think smarter, plan better and live richer. “I want women to be empowered to do what they want to do, with whatever provides them joy, income and flexibility. I also believe it’s critical to prepare the next generation to do the same. I want to teach kids to dream big AND make it happen—have a business idea, envision it fully, and see it through completion.”

When Kim was in the throes of growing her Metromom business, her husband was laid off. The stress of building her business and raising her family without the cushion from her husband’s income became a major challenge. With the support of friends, family, colleagues and mentors, Kim made it through intact. She says the challenge of this difficult time has made her stronger, more compassionate for the women she serves and more realistic about her relationship with money.

Kim and her husband

Kim also founded a company called “Get it Done University.” This business is dedicated to teaching entrepreneurial women specific tools and strategies to help them get their ideas out of their heads and into the marketplace. They learn how to make more money, serve more people and make the difference they know they can make.

The role of “teacher” is a powerful and meaningful one to Kim. She considers it an honor to finally fully embrace herself as the “teacher.”

“Integrity and connecting with others are my core values. I always need to be coming from those places to feel good about myself,” Kim shares.

Persevering with the development of her businesses – even when in debt and seriously discouraged by others – Kim believed in herself and stayed the course. She says that one of the greatest challenges in her life has been “being open to the evolving nature of my business. Not getting upset when things ‘fail.’”

Kim believes that the difficult or “dark” side of challenges leads to opportunities. Getting support from others while immersed in difficult times is one of the keys to moving forward. It is always a choice to either remain in the “dark” or to take positive action and find the “light” according to Kim. Her vision is teaching others what she is learning along her own life journey, balancing love, work and fun.

Metromom group with Kim DeYoung

Recently Kim won the Connecticut SBA’s Women in Business Champion of the Year. She says “I think back over the various ‘obstacles’ that could have prevented me from getting this award, such as completing a very comprehensive application process. I realize that at each moment I had a choice to make. Was I going to show up or not? Was I going to do it or was I going to make an excuse? This experience was a huge wake-up call for me and a reminder to show up fully and not make excuses. You just never know where the small moments will lead.”

Kim positioned herself in recent years as a local and national media expert. She blogs regularly both in print and on video and collaborates with other experts in the entrepreneurial world.

How can women learn to be better entrepreneurs?

Kim explained that, “being an entrepreneur means acknowledging that you are in business for yourself. You are the CEO of your own company. It requires a mindset shift to step into that place.

“The doing requires you to determine your priorities for your business, to get clear on how to do what you need to do, to set time aside to do it, and to be open to the evolutionary process of what works and what doesn’t so that you can course-correct.”

She asks her clients, “What are you tolerating in your business or life that you don’t want to tolerate? That is where the opportunity lies. That is where the shift needs to occur. I’m not in business just to make money. Most importantly, I need to feel like I am adding value to others and having a good time. That’s when I feel enlivened and my juices are flowing.”

Kim’s authenticity comes through in her way of teaching, coaching and all of her conversations. She teaches her clients that their marketing needs to be aligned with their core values. This is how being an entrepreneur differs from big business.

In her quintessential program, The Get it Done Challenge, Kim encourages women to “Grow their businesses one project at a time.” She provides them with the tools to make sure that happens.

Kim’s favorite quote is taken from Notes from the Universe (Tut.com):

Kim and friends on Martha's Vineyard

“The real reason so many have trouble with the baby steps – doing all they can, with what they’ve got, from where they are, no matter how humble or seemingly futile – is because they haven’t yet grasped that the baby steps trigger unseen forces that throw wide the floodgates of unstoppable momentum, infinite abundance, and eternal life.”

Most women seem born with the innate ability to juggle. It is no wonder that more than 10 million women-owned businesses in the United States generate close to three trillion dollars in annual revenue according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.

Women are starting businesses at almost twice the rate of men with mothers joining these ranks every day. The newly coined name for these entrepreneurial mothers is “mompreneurs.”

Mompreneurs are mothers raising their children full-time while running their businesses at home. Women have long faced the conflict of family versus career opportunities. In the past choosing a career meant a compromised or nonexistent family life.

Moms typically chose professions like teaching and nursing, which gave them the flexibility to take care of their families. Part-time administrative positions, door to door sales (Avon ladies), home party companies (Tupperware) were other options that allowed women to create their own schedules and work around the needs of the family. Women that did choose full time career paths and raised families almost inevitably felt guilty and inadequate on the job or at home or both.

Today the landscape for women in home-based businesses is expanding steadily in the United States. Women are reinventing ways to become serious breadwinners and to fully embrace their creativity and business savvy as they parent their children.

The biggest issue the mompreneur faces is figuring out how to balance both business and family demands. Mompreneur clubs and websites are cropping up all over the Internet, providing women with the opportunity to learn skills, connect, network, share ideas and resources, market and promote their products and services.

The explosion of social media outlets and new means of communication help to create the appearance of a professional, full blown operation run from a home office, kitchen or basement.

One of the biggest issues for a mompreneur is scheduling – finding ways to delegate so that you can clear the path to either being with your children or concentrating on your business. Creating a support system involving your partner, friends, family or other working moms can lighten the load and make managing a business and a family more pleasurable.

Balancing requires time and effort, but the payoff can be huge. Being there to watch your children’s first steps, carpool them to their play dates and activities as you realize your potential professionally can be deeply fulfilling. While being a mompreneur can be challenging, it is a compelling alternative from the limitations that until recently had been imposed on women seeking to have both a family life and meaningful career.