I recently attended a lively presentation at the Women In Business conference by Sheila Heinze, Founder of SM Consulting. At $70M in revenues and over 500 employees, she runs the largest woman-owned business in Baltimore. Although I interviewed Sheila for my book, I had never heard her present her story in person. Interestingly, she used the same analogy with her business that I do in my book: start ups as babies, progressing to school-age years, and then, where she is now, the teen years. In my book I go a step further to ‘letting go’, but Sheila isn’t ready for that just yet.

She made a profound statement that I think surprised some of the women listening: even at $70M in revenues, she has no posse. Entrepreneurs, in general, do not get a posse. There is no one there to carry Sheila’s luggage or pick up her dry cleaning. In fact, she relayed a humorous story that occurred just that morning. She had a meeting in the afternoon so she and her husband were trading cars so that he could pick up their daughters after school. He loaded the car and left to take the girls to school. Shortly after he departed, Sheila realized she had left her umbrella in her car and, with the pouring rain, had to find a replacement. Wouldn’t you know – the only one left in the house was her 4-year-old daughter’s. Without any choices and late for her meeting, she grabbed it and ran. So not only did she NOT have someone to carry her umbrella, she went into a meeting carrying a pink Cinderella umbrella with pretty ruffles. A true mark of a ParentPreneur…

So if you’re considering going into business for the status of it, you should really reconsider. Just like being a parent, the outside gratification for a job well done is almost always delayed. Don’t do it for the posse…you’ll get wet in the rain waiting for someone to carry your umbrella. Just grab Cinderella and go!