Helping Moms Juggle: Juggling Mother Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of Flexjobs (Part 7)

SM: Your business gives options back and allows really talented people to have their career and their family.

SS: Some of the biggest challenges in our society are parents not being there for their kids. They are not there for dinners, outdoor activities, or teaching kids how to be healthy. Kids are facing challenges with drugs, violence and education and need parents to be more involved; yet, if parents are more involved it means time away from work, but our society would benefit.

With all of the technology development that has happened, people work more hours as opposed to fewer. People never used to check email at night, but that is just common now. When I am letting my son cry it out at 3AM, I am working while trying to teach him to sleep through the night. That didn’t used to happen.

There is a term ‘mompreneurs’. Everything is redefined when you have a child. It brings into question where you are spending your time. If you are working and you do not believe in it or are not passionate about it, it is just going to drain you that much faster. Companies that do value employees give them that flexibility to allow mothers to stay challenged even while they are raising families. Those are the companies that keep their employees longer and are really beneficial overall. There are just not a whole lot of them.

SM: It sounds like you are saying that if there were a way of harnessing the talent that wants to engage with the working world in a more balanced format, it would benefit society.

SS: Exactly.

SM: You have done something else with yourself which I find very interesting. You came back as an entrepreneur. That gives you control over your destiny. Can you speak to the merits and disadvantages of that?

SS: Overall it has been a fantastic experience. I had not planned to start a company while starting a family. It has been very empowering and I am passionate about it, which has helped a lot. I am in a great situation because the investors and our team work very well together. I would say 90% of the people in the company are work-from-home parents. When I had my second son I had to take two months off and only work five or 10 hours here and there. In a lot of situations that would not have worked for an entrepreneur, but I had backup and a very supportive team to lean on.

SM: Would you recommend the entrepreneurial path you have taken to other women in your situation?

SS: If they feel passionate about it, yes. When you are going through any phase where you re-evaluate your situation, there should be some creativity there. You have to take a step back and re-look at everything. You need to see if you are looking for something that is more than what you had, for something that makes the change worthwhile. I guess that is why there is the term mompreneurs; I have never heard of dadpreneurs.

Motherhood is so creative in and of itself that if you are going to do something, just be sure you are passionate about it. That is easy for mothers because once you have kids, you find all kinds of little things that you wish existed for them, so it would be really easy to do a product-based business. Motherhood generates creative energy. I have had a lot of friends who created companies when they had kids, and some of them were small companies.

SM: There is nothing wrong with small companies.

SS: No, it is fantastic. It is a great outlet, but I know entrepreneurism is not for everyone.

SM: There is no one answer for everybody. It has to be a personal answer.

SS: If I had guessed my story, this is not how I thought it would be. I thought I would consult and work part time more, and ideally I would like to get back there eventually. Right now I am definitely full time and loving it. I am completely motivated and inspired right now. Down the road there will be a time when I would like to spend a little more playtime with my kids. If there is anything I have learned through all of this, it is that women are really strong and amazing. We can juggle a lot and handle a lot. I do think we tend to sacrifice ourselves a lot.

SM: Thank you, that is a good story.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Helping Moms Juggle: Juggling Mother Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of Flexjobs
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