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The rate of AI adoption in small businesses is quicker than the creation of regulations. Chatbots respond to customers 24/7. AI creates marketing content, evaluates candidates, sets prices and analyzes consumer data on numerous small platforms, and most business leaders don’t properly audit it.

That speed has led to a disparity. Few small businesses possess a legal department, compliance manager or IT personnel who review the AI applications prior to launching them. However, privacy laws, consumer protection legislation and laws on automated decision-making systems often affect small businesses in the same way they affect a big company.

These laws come in the same size, but the resources necessary to comply with them vary greatly.

Why this matters more in 2026

There is no exception for AI. If the disclosure would be misleading in the mouth of an employee, then the disclosure is also misleading when made by the AI. It is up to the company, not the company that developed the AI, to make sure the AI is truthful.

There are additional data privacy laws as well. More than 20 states currently have their own privacy laws, and some already have requirements to disclose that a customer is communicating with a bot, not with a human.

Also, there are updated rules for automated decision-making systems. California’s automated decision-making technology regulation took effect on January 1, 2026, and applies to all systems that process personal information and significantly influence decisions on matters such as lending, hiring and eligibility.

Colorado canceled the AI Act before it was ever enacted and replaced it with the new automated decision-making law in 2026. Thus, businesses using AI to make decisions on hiring, lending, pricing and eligibility need to track the latest updates, because rules from last year could become obsolete very soon.

The NIST AI Risk Management Framework has been adopted by many regulators and customers as the framework that defines responsible management of AI risk. It is voluntary, but becomes the standard practice that defines reasonable governance.

Why small businesses carry more risk, not less

The assumption that governance of AI technology belongs solely to large corporations is not uncommon. However, it affects small businesses disproportionately:

• They use AI applications in their entirety, accepting the standard configurations of the software provided by vendors without any legal or information technology analysis of its performance regarding decision-making or processing data.
• Deceptive claims related to AI or a mistake in the management of a data breach result in equal penalties for both large and small organizations.
• Customer data and AI applications are usually processed on the same integrated systems of small businesses, which fail to provide segmentation required by regulations concerning data security.
• The owner is usually the only person who examines vendor agreements; thus, there is no separate governance process.

As such, the choice of vendor plays an extremely important role in terms of governance of AI. The platform designed to perform governance tasks provides more automation compared to checklists.

Best practices

1. Implement a written information security program: This needs to include an identified individual for information security, multi-factor authentication on any system containing customer data, encryption in rest and transmission, and a tested breach response plan.
2. Consider each AI output as though it came from the company: The company should not make any guarantees that cannot be backed by the business, and there should be a way to address mistakes internally and to the customer.
3. Make sure customers know when they are interacting with AI: Increasingly, many states require disclosure. Even without this requirement, transparency protects against liability and helps build trust with the customer.
4. Control consent for automated messages: Automated text messages and phone calls fall under the requirements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Consent needs to be documented and managed, including immediately honoring any opt-outs.
5. Map AI involvement in customer decisions: Identify all points at which AI impacts a decision made on behalf of the customer or applicant, and verify that the technology is capable of providing necessary disclosures and opt-out capabilities.
6. Screen AI providers the same way as you would a financial institution: Ask how the vendor manages identity authentication, data encryption, incident response and safeguards against false promises.

Marketers and business leaders can effectively implement these best practices by building an AI governance framework.

A real-life example

The practice of these concepts can be illustrated through small independent car dealers, who are an example of such entities working in a regulated sector. Independent dealers fall under the classification of financial institutions because they offer financing services, thereby putting additional requirements for data security.

According to Get My Auto, independent car dealers are most vulnerable when it comes to compliance because they lack a compliance department despite being subject to the same laws from the FTC and the states as larger groups of dealers under one roof.

These governance principles, security programs, bot disclosure, consent management and accurate claims of AI are directly related to how the chatbot, CRM and website of a dealership deal with their clients.

AI has the ability to make your small business operate faster and more efficiently as well as respond to customer needs. On the other hand, AI is able to turn small errors into public ones in no time because all claims or decisions issued by AI are considered just as valid as those issued by people who work for your company. Businesses that consider proper AI literacy and AI governance as an integral part of the implementation of AI technologies will be able to gain benefits without risks.

The rate of AI adoption in small businesses is quicker than the creation of regulations. Chatbots respond to customers 24/7. AI creates marketing content, evaluates candidates, sets prices and analyzes consumer data on numerous small platforms, and most business leaders don’t properly audit it.

That speed has led to a disparity. Few small businesses possess a legal department, compliance manager or IT personnel who review the AI applications prior to launching them. However, privacy laws, consumer protection legislation and laws on automated decision-making systems often affect small businesses in the same way they affect a big company.

These laws come in the same size, but the resources necessary to comply with them vary greatly.

Today, global expansion requires founders to navigate shifting economic conditions, supply chain pressure, regulatory complexity and consumer expectations that vary widely from one region to another. A strategy that performs well in one market may stall in another — not because the product is weak, but because the founder assumed scale meant duplication rather than adaptation.

Global growth is not about forcing a single model into many markets. It is about building a business strong enough to evolve without losing its purpose. For founders, especially those building in wellness, consumer products, biotechnology or other highly personal industries, expansion has to be handled with care. You are not just entering new markets. You are entering new cultures, new systems and new conversations about trust. Here is what I have learned from taking my brands global.

Don’t replicate — reevaluate your model for each market

One of the biggest mistakes founders make when expanding internationally is assuming that success in one region automatically translates elsewhere. Consumer expectations, regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and communication style can differ dramatically from country to country. The product may remain the same at its core, but the way it is positioned, distributed, explained and supported may need to change.

This became especially clear when expanding into parts of Europe, where regulatory frameworks and consumer expectations around wellness products differ from those in the United States. The shift required more than basic compliance updates. My team had to adjust labeling, refine communication about the science behind the products and place greater emphasis on education. We partnered more closely with local experts to build trust and understanding.

The goal is not to dilute the brand. It is to make the brand relevant where it is trying to grow.

Build resilience into your strategy from the start

Uncertainty is not a temporary condition in global business. It is part of the operating environment.

Founders who expand internationally must plan for disruption across logistics, regulation, labor markets, consumer demand and geopolitical conditions. Supply chains can shift. Shipping costs can rise. New rules can change packaging, claims, ingredients, data requirements or distribution models.

That does not mean you should avoid global expansion. It means you should build resilience before pressure exposes the weak points. I now approach global strategy with the expectation that change is constant — which means diversifying suppliers, strengthening relationships across multiple regions and ensuring the business does not rely on a single point of failure.

Resilience is not only about surviving a crisis. It is about creating systems that keep moving when conditions change. That may include working with multiple manufacturing partners, developing backup logistics plans, investing in compliance expertise early and building financial models that account for volatility.

Stay close to the local while leading globally

A founder can have a global vision and still miss what is happening on the ground. That is why local leadership and regional insight are essential. Centralized decision-making creates consistency, but it also creates blind spots. Leaders too far removed from local realities overlook cultural nuance, consumer hesitation, market timing and regulatory concerns.

Consumers are watching for this. According to McKinsey’s 2025 State of the Consumer, 47% of consumers globally identify locally owned companies as important to their purchase decision, and 36% of those who prefer local brands cite a desire to support local businesses. Brands expanding globally have to earn that credibility in each market, which means understanding the cultural expectations, regulatory environments and consumer behavior that shape it.

That is why we learned to treat local leaders as strategic partners, not just operators. Their insight shapes product positioning, partnership strategy, customer support, event presence, retail relationships and market entry decisions. For entrepreneurs, this requires a shift in mindset. Global leadership is not about maintaining total control from the center. It is about creating a clear vision and empowering the right people to adapt execution locally.

Anchor growth in mission to maintain clarity and trust

The faster a company expands, the easier it becomes to lose focus. New markets bring new opportunities, but they also bring new distractions. Founders may feel pressure to chase every partnership, adjust messaging too far, launch too many products or make short-term decisions that weaken long-term trust.

I use a clear mission as a stabilizing force. Teams need to understand why the company exists, not just what it sells. Consumers need to feel that the brand’s purpose is consistent, even when the execution is tailored to their market.

Purpose is sometimes considered a brand exercise, but in global expansion it is also an operating tool. It helps founders decide which opportunities to pursue, which compromises to avoid and how to communicate through uncertainty. When markets shift, mission keeps the business from reacting blindly.

Move with intention, not urgency

Founders considering international expansion often feel pressure to move quickly, especially when competitors are entering new markets or consumer demand appears to be growing. But global expansion built on urgency leads to costly mistakes.

Uncertainty will always exist, so waiting for the perfect moment is not realistic. Focus on preparation instead. Understand your markets, build strong partnerships and make sure your foundation is solid before expanding. Move forward with intention, not urgency.

Is the business operationally ready? Does the market understand the category? Are the compliance requirements clear? Are local partners aligned with the mission? Can the supply chain handle disruption? Is the brand prepared to educate, not just sell?

In uncertain times, founders need more than a market-entry plan. They need an adaptable model, resilient systems, local insight and a mission strong enough to guide decisions across borders.

Today, global expansion requires founders to navigate shifting economic conditions, supply chain pressure, regulatory complexity and consumer expectations that vary widely from one region to another. A strategy that performs well in one market may stall in another — not because the product is weak, but because the founder assumed scale meant duplication rather than adaptation.

Global growth is not about forcing a single model into many markets. It is about building a business strong enough to evolve without losing its purpose. For founders, especially those building in wellness, consumer products, biotechnology or other highly personal industries, expansion has to be handled with care. You are not just entering new markets. You are entering new cultures, new systems and new conversations about trust. Here is what I have learned from taking my brands global.

Don’t replicate — reevaluate your model for each market

One of the biggest mistakes founders make when expanding internationally is assuming that success in one region automatically translates elsewhere. Consumer expectations, regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and communication style can differ dramatically from country to country. The product may remain the same at its core, but the way it is positioned, distributed, explained and supported may need to change.

I love talking to entrepreneurs whose mission goes far beyond profits — they genuinely want to improve people’s lives. McCall McPherson, founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic, has done exactly that, redefining thyroid and metabolic health diagnosis and treatment through nationwide telemedicine. She built the business from a solo brick-and-mortar practice in Austin into a 16,000-patient network with 10 clinicians and three physicians in leadership — all self-funded and with zero marketing spend. Her team uses proprietary lab ranges and treatment protocols, with documented remission of Hashimoto’s disease. And because she speaks from lived experience (she was debilitated for a year) her story offers a lesson entrepreneurs can’t afford to ignore: when your customers’ pain is real, mission turns into strategy.

Dan Bova: Can you give us the elevator pitch for Modern Thyroid Clinic?
McCall McPherson: Modern Thyroid Clinic started as a brick-and-mortar medical practice in Austin, Texas. And the demand was so large that a few years ago we expanded nationwide. We serve women and men, but a lot of our patients are women who have complex thyroid disorders who are just not able to get the help and the care that they need in the traditional medical landscape, which for thyroid conditions is quite antiquated. Modern Thyroid Clinic serves those people so that they can actually not only get their lives back and thrive, but have improvement in long-term health outcomes and chronic disease prevention.

What inspired you to start it?
When I was 27, I was already practicing medicine as a PA. I had a long-time thyroid condition myself, and I was spending 16 hours a day in bed. I went to my doctor, he ran one panel and told me, “Your thyroid’s fine… eat less, exercise more. Also, here’s a cholesterol medication for you at the age of 27.” I was sent away and really grappled with the fact that I knew this was thyroid symptoms. Eventually I got on a wait list for a physician who dealt with thyroid issues more progressively. He ran a more in-depth thyroid panel. He didn’t just look at one of six markers, he looked at the entire picture and it was very clear what was going on. He put me on a completely different class of medication, the kind that less than 10% of Americans ever are offered in the thyroid world. He completely changed my life. And from that, Modern Thyroid Clinic was born.

Why is it so hard to get treatment in the first place?
Medicine looks at hypothyroidism in a very, very simplified way. In medicine, we’re trained to see people in about eight minutes. And it’s really hard to deal with complex medical issues that aren’t procedures in eight minutes. We’re trained to run one lab, glance at the sheet, and if it’s normal, tell them they’re fine. Or treat them with one class of medication that around 91% of people are offered. And we’ve sort of resigned ourselves to: if they don’t get better, it must be something else. But that particular treatment will never work for a huge percentage of people — just like cholesterol meds. If it doesn’t work, you need to change it. That’s the piece that’s missing.

How did you build a business model that solved the time problem?
Number one, we spend an hour with our patients. We’re not trying to herd them in and herd them out in a small amount of time. We’ve created enough time to inform, empower, educate these people, talk them through the whole process and do a thorough job, which is what people deserve. We don’t take insurance for that consult, but we accept insurance for everything else, for labs, for medication. It’s an exchange of time for dollars, and it’s worked really, really well.

You started as a solo clinician. What’s the story from “one office” to where you are now?
I started as a one-woman show in a one-office building as a single mom to two girls, my youngest daughter is disabled. That put a fire under me to really figure it out. When you have a niche that impacts people quickly and makes them feel better so quickly that they keep coming back and want to spread the word naturally and organically, that creates its own momentum. 

The waitlist hit 9,000 women seeking help — without ever spending a dollar on marketing — and that’s when I launched a national telehealth network. Currently, the network has grown to 16,000 patients, led by me, with a full medical staff including 10 clinicians and 3 physicians in leadership. And all of them have personally dealt with thyroid-related health issues.

If people don’t feel good and they don’t know why, what are the first steps they can take?
I’m a big advocate for data. Get a full thyroid panel. We share our optimal lab ranges so people can understand exactly where their labs are versus where they should be.

For men, they also should be checking testosterone, free testosterone, and total testosterone. And find a partner who is looking outside of the box — someone who’s not sitting with you for eight minutes and seeing if anything’s “in bold or off to the side.” 

Sometimes paying out of pocket is an investment. But every dollar people spend on their health, I tell them they’ll get a hundredfold back in productivity. Investing in health is the biggest return on investment for entrepreneurs. Without it, you’re working half-mast and you’re not going to get the outcomes you would if you were thriving.

You’re also a leading voice on GLP-1 microdosing. What is that exactly?
Microdosing GLPs is a different way of taking them. Many of the side effects people hear about in the media are related to taking too much medication and not eating enough food.

When you make these medications available in smaller doses — microdose means a dose lower than the lowest available dose — we use doses an eighth or a quarter of the lowest dose in our weight loss program. People still get the benefits of weight loss, but GLPs also have incredible longevity benefits documented in the literature. And when we run lab data on these microdoses, we find the same benefits as standard doses with a fraction or none of the side effects.

What do you wish people would stop repeating as health advice?
Two things. Number one: society is still stuck with the calories-in versus calories-out construct, and that somehow magically we are all biologically created equal. Many people are metabolically dysfunctional — thyroid conditions, hormone conditions, pre-diabetes — and at a certain point, they can’t actually lifestyle their way out of it anymore. 

Number two: A link between thyroid cancer and GLPs. There’s a black box warning because in rat studies given 20 to 100 times the equivalent dose, they developed medullary thyroid carcinoma. But humans don’t have the same receptor pattern in their thyroid. And the data in human studies has been pretty darn clear: GLPs do not, in fact, cause thyroid cancer.

How can people learn more?
Learn more at our website and you can always find me on social. I love to like educate and empower people. And I have a book coming out with Penguin Random House in 2027 called Take Back Your Thyroid. 

I love talking to entrepreneurs whose mission goes far beyond profits — they genuinely want to improve people’s lives. McCall McPherson, founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic, has done exactly that, redefining thyroid and metabolic health diagnosis and treatment through nationwide telemedicine. She built the business from a solo brick-and-mortar practice in Austin into a 16,000-patient network with 10 clinicians and three physicians in leadership — all self-funded and with zero marketing spend. Her team uses proprietary lab ranges and treatment protocols, with documented remission of Hashimoto’s disease. And because she speaks from lived experience (she was debilitated for a year) her story offers a lesson entrepreneurs can’t afford to ignore: when your customers’ pain is real, mission turns into strategy.

Dan Bova: Can you give us the elevator pitch for Modern Thyroid Clinic?
McCall McPherson: Modern Thyroid Clinic started as a brick-and-mortar medical practice in Austin, Texas. And the demand was so large that a few years ago we expanded nationwide. We serve women and men, but a lot of our patients are women who have complex thyroid disorders who are just not able to get the help and the care that they need in the traditional medical landscape, which for thyroid conditions is quite antiquated. Modern Thyroid Clinic serves those people so that they can actually not only get their lives back and thrive, but have improvement in long-term health outcomes and chronic disease prevention.

What inspired you to start it?
When I was 27, I was already practicing medicine as a PA. I had a long-time thyroid condition myself, and I was spending 16 hours a day in bed. I went to my doctor, he ran one panel and told me, “Your thyroid’s fine… eat less, exercise more. Also, here’s a cholesterol medication for you at the age of 27.” I was sent away and really grappled with the fact that I knew this was thyroid symptoms. Eventually I got on a wait list for a physician who dealt with thyroid issues more progressively. He ran a more in-depth thyroid panel. He didn’t just look at one of six markers, he looked at the entire picture and it was very clear what was going on. He put me on a completely different class of medication, the kind that less than 10% of Americans ever are offered in the thyroid world. He completely changed my life. And from that, Modern Thyroid Clinic was born.

Gen Z is increasingly choosing not to date because of the high cost of going out. 

According to a national research project from Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, more than half of single young adults ages 22 to 35 cite financial struggles as their biggest obstacle to dating. 

The survey, released earlier this year, found that only about 30% of young adults are dating at all, and just 31% say they date at least once a month. Nearly three-quarters of young women (74%) and almost two-thirds of young men (64%) reported they hadn’t dated or had dated only a few times in the past year.

For a generation just starting out, financial reality can interfere with plans to meet people and connect. Dating feels almost impossible when confronted with a lackluster job market and rising costs of living, according to a recent New York Times report. 

In cities like New York, that pressure intensifies. A high cost of living can cause an expensive dinner date to break the bank. A survey from BMO Financial Group found that Gen Z spends more than $200 on an average date night, including the cost of transportation and getting ready. 

Gen Z isn’t willing to pay the price

Gen Z has expressed interest in relationships but is disillusioned with the current expensive dating landscape. 

“I definitely do want to get married and have kids,” Grace Sakellariou, 27, a single woman who lives in Astoria, New York, told the Times. “But that just feels so unattainable. I can’t even think about affording a wedding.”

She added that it was “discouraging” to encounter men who asked to split the bill on early dates. “I think it’s stunted our growth that everything’s so expensive,” she said. 

Josh Timmins, a 25-year-old who intends to go to law school next year, is choosing not to date because of the high price of going out. He characterized dating apps as a “bit soulless.” “It’s hard to find actual connection,” he told the Times. 

Couples can save on rent

According to the Times, Gen Z increasingly faces a problem: They need a partner to survive the economy, but they can’t afford the cost of finding one. 

In Manhattan, the priciest New York City borough, sharing a one-bedroom with a partner can cut rent by more than $25,000 a year. It’s the biggest savings gap in the country, according to StreetEasy’s 2025 analysis of median asking rents.

When couples split the rent check, it gets easier for them to pay down student loans and save up for a down payment. They can also take a chance on a big career move, like switching jobs, starting a business or going back to school. 

Benjamin Goldman, a labor and public economist at Cornell University, posed the following question to the Times: Could the drop in dating and marriage be part of why so many people in their 20s and 30s feel so economically stuck in New York and other big cities? “It’s one piece of this that’s been under-discussed,” he told the outlet. 

Gen Z is increasingly choosing not to date because of the high cost of going out. 

According to a national research project from Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, more than half of single young adults ages 22 to 35 cite financial struggles as their biggest obstacle to dating. 

The survey, released earlier this year, found that only about 30% of young adults are dating at all, and just 31% say they date at least once a month. Nearly three-quarters of young women (74%) and almost two-thirds of young men (64%) reported they hadn’t dated or had dated only a few times in the past year.

Your business is ready for growth. You are past the launch phase. You have hired your first employees. You are ready to grow monthly revenue. But how? What are the next steps with the best ROI for the right kind of growth?

Many companies, new and long-established alike, say they are ready to grow, ready to hire more and ready to open a new office or expand into a new market. Few are actually prepared for it.

Being unprepared for growth is rarely a matter of effort. Growth stalls because of misdirected investment — too many companies spend on ads, sales pushes and visibility campaigns without first repairing the strategic foundation underneath.

If your company is serious about growth, and not just activity for the sake of hard work, these six moves will deliver the fastest and most sustainable return.

Secure the base with a customer journey map that reflects how buyers actually decide

Growth accelerates when friction disappears. Most customer journey maps are built on internal assumptions rather than real customer behavior. Even ideal customer personas do not move in a straight line, and your strategy should not assume they do.

A useful journey map accounts for continual market disruption, the decision moments that matter most and how those moments shift over time. It captures current buying patterns, points of friction and capacity gaps that slow conversion from consideration to purchase.

Ask yourself where prospects drop off — and how those drop-offs are quietly capping the ROI of every dollar you spend on marketing, brand and PR.

Clarify your customer personas or keep guessing

If you are talking to everyone, you are persuading no one. Personas that are too generic — or that ignore the emotional drivers behind real decisions — produce generic messaging. And generic brands do not scale.

The most valuable personas go beyond geography, buying power and reachability. They surface the behavioral and emotional drivers that move a customer from “nice to have” to “cannot live without.” Brands that invest in understanding those drivers waste less spend and sharpen their targeting, messaging and positioning.

Invest in advocacy, not just more acquisition

Your fastest growth channel is already paying you. Existing, satisfied customers are one of the most undervalued growth assets in most companies. Yet too many brands overspend on acquisition while under-investing in the customers who could sell for them. A Google review or the occasional testimonial does not count as advocacy.

Real advocacy starts with a system. Identify which customers are the most credible ambassadors for your brand. Figure out what would motivate them to advocate publicly. Then design an advocacy program with incentives that align with — rather than undermine — their credibility.

De-risk your market position before you scale it

Scaling a weak position just accelerates failure. Growth amplifies whatever already exists — strengths and gaps. Before you invest more in acquisition, ask whether your positioning is genuinely clear or simply convenient to your current operations. Would the market miss your brand if it disappeared tomorrow?

De-risking means stress-testing four things: relevance, differentiation, value and credibility. Brands that skip this step tend to confuse awareness with demand — and pay for the mistake at scale.

Protect your real differentiators before competitors copy them

If it is not protected, it is temporary. Most brands assume they are differentiated until a competitor or new entrant says the same thing, only louder. True differentiation is more than a claim. It is a position that can be clearly articulated, is hard to replicate and is reinforced across every touchpoint in the customer journey.

If your value proposition can be copied in a week, it is not defensible. The goal is ownership of the position, not dominance of the awareness game.

Enforce strategic trade-offs

The most important question in any growth plan is also the hardest: Where do we say no?

Strategic trade-offs sharpen positioning, create clarity inside and outside the company and ultimately drive growth. Brands that scale well are intentional about what they will not do. They focus on the efforts that reinforce what the brand is for, and resist the distractions that dilute it.

Trying to be the brand for everyone reduces your capacity to be the brand for anyone.

Growth is a strategic decision, not a spending one

The brands that scale fastest grow with intention, guided by a winning strategy. Real growth requires alignment between customer experience, clearly defined positioning and defensible differentiation.

Growth does not start with spending more. It starts with deciding better.

Your business is ready for growth. You are past the launch phase. You have hired your first employees. You are ready to grow monthly revenue. But how? What are the next steps with the best ROI for the right kind of growth?

Many companies, new and long-established alike, say they are ready to grow, ready to hire more and ready to open a new office or expand into a new market. Few are actually prepared for it.

Being unprepared for growth is rarely a matter of effort. Growth stalls because of misdirected investment — too many companies spend on ads, sales pushes and visibility campaigns without first repairing the strategic foundation underneath.

“You’re just a mom with a side hustle.”

His words shook me to my core.

Our client was canceling his contract with us. In the discussion and feedback about our work, he shared his perception of me. Not of our results. Not our strategy. Not of my 18 years in business. This was his perception of me — my identity. In one sentence, he reduced everything I had built to a hobby project run between nap times. His perception became a business reality. As leaders, we have two responsibilities: one, understand perception, and two, decide intentionally whether to reinforce or challenge it.

I had been the breadwinner for my family for more than half a decade. We were nine months into scaling our second company, navigating a new agency model. I was also a mom to two boys who were then seven and three. And from the outside, my personal brand featured a lot of mom content, because that is the role I love most. Even though, as a female founder, you’re apparently not supposed to admit that.

Studies show that when women discuss family and personal matters publicly, they are perceived as less business-focused. It’s a reputational consequence men don’t face when they drop the #prouddad posts. Worse, lab experiments published across multiple disciplines find that mothers are consistently evaluated as less competent and less committed than equally qualified women without children. Not because our work is different. But because of the perception of our priorities.

Researchers call it “the motherhood penalty” — a persistent societal bias in which mothers are stereotyped as prioritizing caregiving over career commitment. It follows women into entrepreneurship, too. Research from the Wharton School found that mothers disproportionately leave traditional employment to start their own businesses specifically to escape this bias, only to find that digital platforms replicate it, penalizing caregiving breaks with lower visibility scores and reduced professional standing.

There’s even a dominance penalty layered on top: The more successful a mother becomes, the less likable she is perceived to be. The system, in other words, has built a no-win architecture around the multi-hyphenate mom-female-founder. Be seen as a capable founder, or be seen as a mother. Rarely both. Either way, we lose ground that dads never have to give back.

My client’s words weren’t simply one person’s opinion. They reflected a pattern researchers have been documenting for decades.

The leadership identity shift hiding in motherhood

Motherhood reshapes your identity. It shifts how you make decisions, how you lead, what you’re willing to fight for and what you’re finally willing to let go. Science, not sentiment, explains why.

Research on fetal microchimerism confirms that a baby’s cells literally migrate into a mother’s body during pregnancy, cross the placental barrier and embed in her organs — her heart, her brain, her liver — where they can remain for decades. A Tufts University geneticist found that fetal cells still present in a mother’s blood 27 years after she gave birth. You don’t just carry your children. Science says you are, in some measurable way, permanently altered by them. And when your biology changes, your leadership often does too.

You begin asking different questions. Not simply: How do I build a successful company? But what am I building this company for? Success becomes less about optimizing for status and more about optimizing for both presence and legacy. Decisions once made solely through the lens of efficiency become filtered through stewardship, values and the world your children will inherit.

That’s the shift we’re watching play out across an entire generation of entrepreneurial mothers.

Then Covid blurred the boundaries between work and home in ways few of us expected. Entrepreneurial families began redesigning their lives around greater proximity rather than greater separation. Homeschooling has grown by more than 50% over the past six school years, according to The Washington Post, reflecting a broader shift: Parents are increasingly choosing intentionality over default systems.

Rather than outsourcing more of motherhood, many entrepreneur parents are redesigning their lives so they can participate in it more fully. They’re building location-independent businesses, choosing flexible work over traditional career ladders and, increasingly, rethinking not just where they work, but how their children learn.

More than 3.4 million children in the U.S. are now homeschooled — a figure that has grown more than 50% over the past six school years, far outpacing both public and private school enrollment growth. At the same time, world-schooling and hybrid education models have exploded among entrepreneurial families who are choosing to integrate education into the rhythms of business, travel and real-world experience.

Entrepreneurial parents are redefining proximity as an advantage rather than a distraction. They’re choosing intentionality over default systems and embracing the kind of education no institution can fully replicate: one delivered by someone who has everything to lose if that child doesn’t thrive.

How motherhood is redefining leadership for women entrepreneurs

I never thought not to integrate motherhood into entrepreneurship. I’m a second-generation entrepreneur. My playroom was also the home office of my parents’ tree company, which my mom ran while my dad was out in the field. Business and life, work and family, ambition and motherhood weren’t competing identities in our home. No one taught me that becoming a serious business owner meant leaving part of myself at the door.

So I didn’t. I shared both. Proudly. It wasn’t until someone else’s perception collided with that worldview that I paused to ask whether I had somehow blurred the lines between motherhood and leadership. For a moment, I considered that possibility, because every entrepreneur has a responsibility to examine how they’re perceived. I took that responsibility seriously.

But the more I reflected — and the more I researched — the more I realized this wasn’t simply about my messaging. It was about the lens through which motherhood itself is viewed in business.

For generations, women have been handed an impossible standard: be ambitious, but not too ambitious; be devoted mothers, but never visibly so; work, but don’t appear distracted by your family; stay home, but never become dependent. No matter the choice, we’re judged against the one we didn’t make.

The mom-founders I’ve watched succeed didn’t compartmentalize motherhood. They stopped treating one of the most defining experiences of their lives as something to be concealed. Motherhood sharpened their discernment. It clarified what they were building, why it mattered and who they wanted to become in the process.

The moment a woman realizes those aren’t competing identities but harmonious, complementary ones, leadership stops requiring fragmentation and begins drawing strength from integration. That’s when the assumptions built to shame women begin to lose their power. Mom-entrepreneurship is a revolution.

The permission we never needed

If you are a founder and a mother reading this, here is what I invite you to consider:

Stop measuring the value of your labor only in revenue. The work you do inside your homeisn’t separate from leadership. It refines it. Before 7 a.m., for moms, you’ve practiced negotiation, emotional regulation, conflict resolution and long-term thinking, sometimes even before coffee. Those aren’t soft skills. They’re executive skills.

Stop apologizing for showing your children. In a marketplace saturated with AI-generated sameness, your humanity is your competitive advantage. The late-night feedings, school pickups and business calls from the parking lot aren’t distractions from your brand. They’re part of the story no algorithm can replicate.

And if someone ever calls you “just a mom with a side hustle” — let them finish the sentence. Then whip out the receipts.

Motherhood isn’t the reason you can’t build the business you’re imagining. It might be the very reason you build something that ripples into generations. You already have, mama.

I first noticed this pattern during my career in nuclear power operations. A licensed reactor operator could be lost through a resignation, transfer, medical issue or career move. But replacing that operator required years of screening, training, qualification, testing and licensing.

The loss could be sudden. The gain was never sudden.

I later saw the same pattern in my investment advisory business. New client relationships often developed slowly, sometimes with months or years between meaningful additions. But exits could be abrupt and unexpected. One signed transfer form could end a relationship that took years to build.

Then something different began happening in my tax business.

Prospects started appearing already interested. Referrals arrived from unexpected places. Clients stayed because the service was specialized, relevant and hard to replace. Losses became rare and understandable. Gains became surprising.

What changed?

As I studied what had changed, I realized the most valuable assets in that business would never appear on my balance sheet. The reversal did not come from cash, software, furniture or equipment. It came from invisible assets: positioning, reputation, niche expertise, referral networks and trust.

Context still matters, of course. Some markets and environments, such as licensed reactor operators, require a long runway no matter how strong the processes may be. But in many client-driven businesses, these invisible assets can dramatically change the timing and frequency of replacement.

Every business owner and accountant understands the assets they can count. Cash, receivables, equipment, inventory, software and real estate are easy to identify because accounting is built to capture them.

But accounting records are far less useful at capturing the assets that change the direction of a business. Accounting may vaguely refer to goodwill, but it rarely explains what creates that goodwill in the first place.

A balance sheet will not tell you whether the market trusts you. It will not reveal whether prospects understand what makes you different. It will not show whether your expertise is becoming more valuable with each client served. And it certainly will not measure whether your referral network is quietly working on your behalf.

Yet these are often the assets that determine whether a business becomes harder to grow with time, or easier.

PRINT assets

Over time, I came to think of these as PRINT assets: positioning, reputation, insight, networks and trust. They do not appear on the balance sheet, but they leave an imprint on the market. They shape how prospects understand the business before the first conversation, how quickly trust forms, how often referrals arrive and how difficult the company becomes to replace.

Positioning is the work of making your expertise easy for the market to understand. Done well, positioning allows the right prospects to recognize themselves as suitable clients while also allowing poor-fit prospects to screen themselves out. That matters because time is one of the owner’s scarcest resources. Strong positioning helps ensure more sales conversations happen with qualified prospects who already understand why the business may be relevant to them.

Reputation is broader than simply being known. It is the market’s accumulated judgment of your competence, reliability and character. Business owners should develop a reputation for doing hard work well and delivering what they promise. But they should also build a reputation for being easy to work with. Clients love “easy” when they are trying to solve difficult problems.

Insight is when deep niche expertise becomes visible to the client. It is what allows a specialist to recognize patterns, identify problems before they become expensive and explain complicated issues in simple language. When a business can clearly describe a client’s problem before the client even recognizes it, the business immediately separates itself from generalists.

Networks create reach that the owner could never manufacture alone. In some markets, especially those where prospects are busy, skeptical or difficult to reach, referrals from existing clients may be the only reliable way in. Owners should also look beyond clients and get to know the non-competing professionals who already serve the same niche. We found a payroll provider who shares our niche. Believe me, those relationships can become powerful sources of opportunity.

Trust is built or damaged in every interaction. Do what you promise, when you promise it. When delays happen, communicate early. When mistakes happen, own them. Take responsibility, make the situation right, and avoid hiding behind excuses. In the short run, that may cost money, time or pride. In the long run, the benefits are immeasurable.

The worthy goal

The goal is not to eliminate surprise losses. No business owner can do that. Clients leave. Employees move on. Markets change. Competitors improve. Referral sources go silent. The unexpected is part of business. It is part of the uncertainty that keeps business interesting.

The worthy goal is to build a company that is not badly damaged by those surprises. Better still, build one with durable intangible assets that help replace what is lost and create new opportunities faster than before.

That is where PRINT assets matter. Positioning, reputation, insight, networks and trust do more than help a business grow. They make the business more durable. They reduce the damage from normal losses while increasing the odds of unexpected gains.

A poorly positioned business chases every new opportunity and catches few. Early on, mine certainly did. A well-positioned business gets found. A business with a weak reputation has to keep proving itself from zero. A business with a strong reputation starts the conversation with credibility. A generalist waits for the client to discover the problem. A specialist often sees the problem first. A business without a network depends on its own direct outreach. A business with a network has other people carrying its name into rooms it could never enter alone.

None of this appears neatly on a balance sheet.

But these invisible assets change the behavior of the business. They make growth less dependent on brute force. They make client acquisition less random. They make losses less frightening. Over time, they can turn a business from something fragile into something far more resilient.

The balance sheet tells you what a business owns. The invisible assets tell you whether the market would miss it if it were gone.

I first noticed this pattern during my career in nuclear power operations. A licensed reactor operator could be lost through a resignation, transfer, medical issue or career move. But replacing that operator required years of screening, training, qualification, testing and licensing.

The loss could be sudden. The gain was never sudden.

I later saw the same pattern in my investment advisory business. New client relationships often developed slowly, sometimes with months or years between meaningful additions. But exits could be abrupt and unexpected. One signed transfer form could end a relationship that took years to build.

Home equity is one of the biggest, most underused assets most investors have. It’s sitting there, tied up in the walls of a property, while cash-out refinances take weeks and traditional home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) come with paperwork, appraisals, and closing costs that can make the whole process feel like more trouble than it’s worth.

That’s the gap Aven is trying to close. BiggerPockets is excited to welcome Aven as our newest Pro perk partner, and the timing makes sense: More investors are looking for ways to access capital without taking on a new mortgage or waiting weeks for funds to hit their account.

What Aven Actually Is

Aven’s core product is a credit card backed by a home equity line of credit. In practice, that means you get a card you can use anywhere, for anything, but the credit line behind it is secured by your home’s equity rather than your credit history alone. Because the line is secured, Aven can typically offer rates well below what you’d find on a traditional, unsecured credit card.

For homeowners, that opens up a few practical use cases:

• Consolidating higher-interest debt onto a lower rate
• Funding a renovation or repair without pulling cash out of a deal
• Covering a large expense without applying for a separate loan
• Having a flexible credit line on hand for whatever comes up

The application process is designed to be fast and mostly online, which is a meaningful shift from the multi-week timelines that have historically come with home equity products.

Why This Matters For Real Estate Investors

Investors tend to have more of their net worth tied up in property than the average homeowner, which also means they have more equity sitting idle. A tool that makes that equity easier to access, without refinancing a low-rate mortgage or taking on a second loan with a lengthy approval process, is worth understanding, even if you don’t use it right away.

That doesn’t mean a HELOC-backed credit card is the right fit for every situation. Like any credit product secured by your home, it’s worth understanding the terms, the variable rate structure common to HELOCs, and how it fits into your overall financial picture before applying. But for investors who want more flexibility with the equity they’ve already built, it’s a tool worth having in the toolbox.

The Pro Perk

Here’s where the partnership gets interesting for BiggerPockets Pro members specifically: If you apply and get approved for the Aven card, Aven will give you a $400 statement credit when you spend $400, the same amount as an annual Pro membership.

It’s one of a growing number of Pro Perks we’ve added because our members told us they wanted more than education and tools. They wanted partnerships that put real money back in their pockets.

Worth a Look

Aven joins the lineup of Pro Perks built to help members put their real estate investments to work in more ways than one. If a lower-rate, home equity-backed line of credit is something you’ve been curious about, this is a straightforward way to see what you qualify for.

Click here to see if you qualify for the Aven card.

Terms and conditions apply. Approval for the Aven card is subject to Aven’s underwriting criteria, and statement credit terms are set by Aven. Review the full offer details before applying.