(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-07 09:34

　　
Members of the Mumtrepreneurs meet at a Beijing bar for their monthly meeting. Guo Yingguang

A group of self-employed women in Beijing have found managing motherhood and entrepreneurship can be tricky business.

"It's like walking on a high wire, hoping not to fall off," says Israeli Dana Elraviv, a mother of two who runs feng shui consultancy A Matter of Chi.

"Both jobs are extremely important; your children and family are the most precious thing you have, but so is your self-fulfillment and feeling as if you are contributing on a greater scale. It's just very difficult to balance between the two."

Elraviv says she's found it easier since she joined the Mumtrepreneurs, a support group of eight mothers who run their own businesses in the capital. The group holds closed monthly meetings, in which every member gets 20 minutes to present the latest business challenges she is facing for group feedback.

"Women power is underrated," Elraviv says. "These are very bright, educated and efficient women who have a lot to contribute. That fact that they are also struggling to balance their roles as career women and moms makes them an inspiration for me."

She says that in addition to providing a sounding board for ideas, the group helps her cope with feelings of "constant guilt" that come with juggling her family, business and personal time.

"Most of the other moms I know in Beijing are stay-at-home moms; their whole day is geared around their kids," Elraviv says. "This makes me feel even guiltier; I don't need to work, but I have chosen to. It's nice to be around other women who are ambitious and doing the same."

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