Caitlin Connolly Interview for Mormon Mompreneur
Caitlin Connolly
What advice would you give a Mormon Mompreneur who was just starting out?
There’s no such thing as failure. If you are a mormon and believe in eternal life then you are now apart of this beautiful journey called progression. Financial success or not, business success or not – how ever you would define success – is not nearly as important as the question of personal progress – what am I learning from this experience and how am I progressing personally?
What has been the hardest part of being a Mompreneur and how do you overcome it?
It always comes back to me.
It is exhausting that it always comes back to me. I wish often someone could pick up the burden for a time, finish a painting for me while I take a nap. It’s beautiful that I created this thing and sometimes I wish I could just break away from it for a period of time. I have employed assistants and my husband runs most of the online store, so my burden has been eased in those ways, and yet it’s still my baby, my thing, it can’t be run by anyone else and I feel the weight of that.
What is your biggest accomplishment in motherhood?
Nuturing things, bringing them to life.
I feel very much an active participant in motherhood while at the same time recognizing having children isn’t something I’ve experienced yet. Through not receiving the blessing of child rearing immediately the void has caused me to reflect and ponder on motherhood deeply. I feel like it’s something that’s in me, a part of me. Kids are something you may or may not “have” but motherhood feels apart of me and something that isn’t conditional.
It’s been a joy to paint and paint figures. When you are in my studio if you look around there are faces and figures everywhere. It can be very overwhelming and even crowded. I get to nurture these beings into existence that wouldn’t have come to life if I hadn’t done so. I labor over them, cry over them, loose sleep over them, and hope for them. It’s a very vulnerable and if I may say so, maternal, process.
I also enjoy mothering my two dogs. I serve as the Young Womens President. I decorate my home. There are so many ways I have found joy by tapping into this deep current of womanhood that runs through me.
What is one thing you wish every Mompreneur knew?
Find your calling(s). Your calling is more important than your career. And passion precedes success. Money may bring happiness but passion brings joy. If your passion also happens to be a successful career than that is beautiful, and they don’t have to be the same thing. Keep your focus on the gifts you can offer to others, listening to the spirit, and you will find joy.
