My mother, Jill du Preez, was the ultimate Mompreneur her entire life – she raised 3 children, with tremendous love and patience (she was an awesome Mother… the BEST of the BEST), while making money from home.
…my Mom was very creative and a brilliant seamstress…
It helped that my Mom was very creative and a brilliant seamstress, and my Dad was a carpenter (and Presbyterian Minister).
My earliest memory of one my Mom’s ingenious products was baskets she and my Dad made together, out of wooden hangers and fabric. They were perfect for storing magazines or newspapers, or knitting, crocheting etc, and very decorative. This was in the 70’s, and they were very much in vogue at the time. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo. Wish I did.
A couple of years later my parents sold hundreds of round tables, that fitted perfectly next to a lounge suite. Once again this was a joint venture, my Dad making the round tables and my Mom making the table cloths and overlays.
,,, everything my Mom tried her hand at, turned to Gold
After this phase, my Mom tried her hand at oil painting, then découpage, making the most beautiful place mats and coasters. Again, wish I had pictures. I always felt that everything my Mom tried her hand at, turned to gold.
Fast forward to the 80’s. My Mom became an Aerobics Instructor and started a Gym in the Church hall at my Dad’s church in the little town where we lived. As always, she was tremendously successful. My Mom is a people person, and a really happy one at that. She has the ability to make everyone she meets feel wonderful about themselves. She knew half the town by the time we moved to Cape Town. She opened up a new Gym in my Dad’s new church hall, which was also a rip-roaring success. We could hardly go anywhere, without her bumping into “one of her gym girls”. We used to giggle at her on long trips, because she would practice new routines in the passenger seat of the car.
She has the ability to make everyone she meets feel wonderful about themselves
In the 90’s my Mom had a spinal fusion and had to give up Gym. But she already had a back-up plan, as she had been building a Direct Selling business on the side. She was selling cosmetics to all her friends and making heaps of money, as well as earning the most amazing overseas trips and cruises for being one of the Top Selling Beauty Advisors in the country.
In the late 90’s she started her own business, called Lexies, making really unique garments for people with disabilities. Around the same time my Mom built a couple of network marketing businesses.
Do Mompreneurs ever retire?
Now my Mom has 7 Grandchildren. As a Granpreneur, she makes the most magnificent quilts and dresses, does machine embroidery and designs gardens. Do Mompreneurs ever retire? Not in my experience. I’ve found they simply graduate to Granpreneurs.
My Mom was the Inspiration for this section of our site. More Granpreneurs to be featured soon…