If the shoe fits
‘Mompreneurs’ supplement family income, balance home life. I didn’t know it before now, but apparently I’m a “mompreneur.”
I work as a freelance writer for various publications from home. By doing this, I get to keep a firm hand in my profession, supplement our family income and balance home life in a way that, for the most part, works for my family.
Until my conversation this week with Calgary shoe designer and mompreneur extraordinaire Jessica Jacobs, I’d never considered myself in this light.
To her, my mompreneur leanings are obvious. But if you ask me, she falls into an altogether different league. Her company, which started as a home business and has blossomed into something much bigger, has become the primary income for her family.
I initially met Jacobs at my children’s school a few years ago. Although the family has since changed schools, I’ll never forget how she dressed her kids. None of this “pink is for girls and blue is for boys” nonsense. Think sumptuous, European-style clothes. Bright colours. Layers. Stripes and polka dots.
She frequently arrived just before the bell, dressed to kill with shoes to match, a Tim Hortons coffee in hand. (“It’s definitely an addiction,” she confesses.)
“Shoes” would be the operative word here. Jacobs — whose company is called Little Soles — is a shoe designer. I know this now because I once commented that she seemed a little tired and I discovered that she manufactures her shoes in China, which requires late-night business hours, given the time difference.Evidently, her sleepless nights began to pay off and two years ago, her company Little Soles began supplying retail stores in Canada.
