Life as a Single-Mother Entrepreneur
Christie Houston, Lindsey Pfiefer, and Kelly Hunter are prime examples of women who are balancing single-motherhood and entreprenership. So how do they do it?
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Being a single mother and owning a business are both difficult, but there are many single-mother entrepreneurs in Manitoba who are successfully raising children and running businesses. Christie Houston (my mom), Lindsey Pfiefer, and Kelly Hunter are prime examples of women who are balancing single-motherhood and entrepreneurship. So how do they do it?
At 14, Christie Houston, my mom, had to swallow her disappointment when her stepdad dismissed her interest in the family business.
“My stepdad grew up in a world where a woman knows her place,” scoffed Houston. “He had three daughters and one son, but he refused to talk business with his daughters.”
His son had no interest in taking over the family business, so he sold it rather than getting his daughters involved.
Houston got her degree to prepare for her future career.
“A lot of people think that golf is typically a man’s business, and as a woman owner, a lot of people want to see me fail,” says Houston. “My biggest asset is being underestimated because I am very intelligent and strategic with my business decisions.”
I remember being 13 and sitting in one of the dim booths in my mom’s golf course lounge on men’s league night. I watched a man pat my mom on the head and tell her, “A golf course was no place for a little girl.” I have seen first-hand how much blood, sweat, and tears she has put into this golf course. But I didn’t realize then that my mom felt like many men were praying for her downfall.
Before she owned the business, Houston organized multiple fundraisers, charity events, and golf tournaments as a volunteer. Her experience led to her friendship with Gary Curtis, one of the owners of Kingswood Golf and Country Club in La Salle, Manitoba, where she lives.
Curtis and his brother asked Houston to join the team in May 2016, so she retired from her 20-year healthcare career and bought shares of the golf course.
Shortly after, Curtis and his brother retired from the course, leaving her as the full-time owner. Houston found four shareholders, her sister, and three others, making her the majority shareholder with 70 per cent.
“I went from working Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to owning and operating a year-round business that solely relied on me,” said Houston. “It was extremely overwhelming, and there were a lot of adjustments for myself and my children.”
Houston keeps three calendars on the go to manage the everyday planning. She starts the day by getting her 12-year-old son, Liam, ready for school. After dropping Liam off at school, she answers calls and emails and preps for work events. Houston then heads to work, attends meetings, and takes care of financial tasks before helping with a summer tournament or an off-season event.
Tournaments in the summer are often very chaotic for Houston. Even though she’s in charge, she has to help her employees when there’s a 200-person tournament plus regular customers. She plates tournament meals in the kitchen, serves drinks at the bar, and plays beer cart girl if someone can’t make it. Every day is different. She has many late nights in the summer.
“My work schedule can change at any time,” says Houston. “I try to stay as flexible as I can for my kids, but I can’t be in three places at once.”
Houston also coordinates her schedule with the two fathers of her children.
“Now that my kids are older, scheduling is somewhat easier,” says Houston. “When I bought the course, Ashley was 11, and Liam was five. It was much harder then.”
Houston had to navigate separate school, sports, and house schedules for both kids while managing the golf course. Despite trying her best to stay organized, she often was late.
She never knows when she will have an unexpected meeting or need extra staffing.
“I can only rely on myself. I don’t have many other people to support me,” says Houston. “I’m proud of myself for making it work so far.”
From a business point of view, Houston’s biggest accomplishment is buying the golf course and bringing it to life. It took a couple of years, but she fully renovated the golf course, giving it new floors, paint, a game room, a bar, and its new country aesthetic. She has also started multiple charity tournaments; on average, she brings in 100 tournaments per summer.
Owning a business is a challenge. One of the hardest things to maintain is a work-life balance. For single-mother entrepreneurs, a balance may mean the ability to juggle work demands and the responsibilities of being a mother. According to a book called Mothering and Entrepreneurship by Talia Esnard, “mompreneurs” commonly find a way around this by bringing their children to work, working while parenting away from work, or working around parenting times. Some moms bring their children to work to spend more time with them or because they can’t afford daycare. Not all moms have the option to bring their children to work because many workplaces aren’t suitable for kids.
After speaking to multiple single-mother entrepreneurs, I heard that finding a maintainable work-life balance seems to be one of their biggest obstacles.
Most women said they don’t have enough time in a day to do everything they need to, but Lindsey Pfiefer says that entrepreneurship often gives her more flexibility.
Pfiefer bought her salon in 1997 when she was 21 years old, and her first son was two. Within a year of buying her salon, she became an educator for Redken.
“Becoming an educator was my way of keeping up to date with everything,” says Pfiefer.
After 11 years of owning her salon, Pfiefer went to the United States to a place called Summit Salon Business Center to take a week-long management program. Throughout the program, she was partnered up with a consultant who introduced her to a school called The Salon Professional Academy.
“I was blown away by the school because we had nothing like it in Winnipeg,” says Pfiefer. “The consultant told me it was a school for cosmetology, estheticians, and hairstylists.”
When she returned to Winnipeg, she got a consultant to come down quarterly to help her implement the school program into her salon. Pfiefer went from having five staff to 16 and tripled her income. She did this by implementing a level system and a retail program.
“I realized that if you don’t have a system, you don’t have a business,” says Pfiefer. “It was a game changer for my salon.
She got information on being a franchisee for The Salon Professional Academy through her consultant. She ended up signing the franchise papers in 2010, and she opened The Salon Professional Academy in Winnipeg in September 2012. At this time, her first son Mason was age 15 and her second son Kaiden was seven.
“At the time, I had rose-coloured glasses on,” says Pfiefer. “I thought I could do anything, but I was proud of myself for opening the first of these schools in Canada,”
The school taught students the foundations needed for being a hairstylist with an element of business development built in. They also offered a makeup artistry program and boot camp. The goal was to raise the bar in the hair industry and graduate competent salon professionals.
“I’m not the best hairstylist in the world, but I’m good with people,” says Pfiefer.
As a single mother, Pfiefer started her day by getting her youngest son to school, while her oldest son got himself to school. She spent her day at The Salon Professional Academy from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and went to her salon in the evenings.
“The reality was that I was away from my kids a lot, but my older son was very helpful,” says Pfiefer.
Pfiefer wanted to become an entrepreneur because she knew she was good at managing people. She calls it “people pleasing in a good way.”
“My problem was that I didn’t like conflict,” says Pfiefer. “I ended up developing policies for my salon, which helped a lot.”
Entrepreneurship has always been a part of Pfiefer’s life. Her stepdad had his own car sales business when she was growing up, and today her son Mason owns his own water treatment company.
“Although I had flexibility, I was still busy,” says Pfiefer. “I made sure to be at my kid’s concerts, but I didn’t get the chance to be a part of stuff like the parent councils.”
Pfiefer’s greatest accomplishment was finding peace and remaining empathetic throughout her entrepreneurial experience.
Pfiefer was the Director of Operations at the school for five years while managing her salon. In 2015, she decided to part ways with The Salon Professional Academy and go back to managing her salon due to discrepancies between U.S. and Canadian business. Her former school is still open and is now called The Canadian Professional Academy. She no longer owns her salon or school, but she continues to do hair at a Salon in St. Norbert.
“My advice to other entrepreneurs would be to hire your weaknesses,” says Pfiefer. “Find people that know what you don’t know.”
According to a book called Be Your Own Boss by Matt Avery, there are many advantages to entrepreneurship, including being able to offer something new to the industry, not being stuck in an inefficient chain of command, saving time and expenses by not having to commute, and pursuing more creative work interests. Entrepreneurship is an excellent career option where can create a career that aligns with your beliefs and creates economic growth.
Entrepreneurship could be a great option for single mothers because they may have more flexibility and can potentially spend more time with their kids, earn enough money to provide for themselves and their families, and make their own rules. According to Emeritus, an organization that collaborates with universities to help teach individuals, the benefits of being your own boss include unique experiences, a rewarding career, a sense of fulfilment, and the ability to create more job opportunities.
Despite the several advantages of being a single-mother entrepreneur, it also has cons. Cons include lack of funding, isolation, greater work demands, limited time/energy, and lack of support.
Overcoming these things takes a lot of perseverance and strength. To help subside the cons of owning a business, Kelly Hunter cuddles up with her two Cavapoo dogs, Toffee and Bruiser. She calls it “pet therapy.”
Since 2004, Hunter has owned a hair salon called Salon Vendor. She started her business because she was tired of working for other people, and she wanted to share her talent through mentoring.
She starts her day at 6 a.m. when she takes her dogs for a walk, and then she gets herself ready to be at the salon at 8:30 a.m. Once she arrives at the salon, she completes paperwork and preps for her first client. On a typical day, she is busy with clients until 4:30 p.m. doing haircuts and colouring.
Although her children Jared and Amanda are now 29 and 23, raising them while operating a salon was difficult. Hunter struggled to manage her time and finances, but her biggest obstacle was when she closed her salon during COVID. During this time, she had no steady income, and she worried about her clients and having a business to re-open. Thankfully, Hunter was able to resume business once the pandemic restrictions were lifted.
“I have a lot of responsibilities when it comes to the salon,” says Hunter. “But I have never let work demands get in the way of spending time with my kids.”
Hunter has missed out on hair styling events and her kids’ events as a business owner. She thinks it would surprise people how much work you do without getting paid in this industry.
When asked about her biggest supporters, Hunter said it is her family. Specifically, her two kids Jared and Amanda. She appreciates that they are old enough to understand how hard she works.
“They are so proud of me,” says Hunter. “They finally understand the sacrifices I have made as a single mother.”
Hunter’s drive and motivation stem from her parents. They always reminded her never to give up and to try her best in everything she did. She’s most proud of winning the Canadian Championship and Canadian Colourist of the Year Awards due to her relentless hard work and talent.
Hunter’s advice to other single-mother business owners is to understand the potential risks and rewards.
“Understand that it takes a bit of work, but the rewards are great,” says Hunter. “There is a lot of self-satisfaction with running a business and seeing it succeed,” she says.
Children of single-mother entrepreneurs are well aware of the risks and rewards that come with being a business owner. They live through it, it directly affects them.
Over the years, I have seen firsthand what goes into being a business owner and how chaotic it is compared to working a regular job. It’s hard work, but it pays off. The important part is that despite managing a business all day, many single-mother entrepreneurs are still present for their kids, including Parker Hyra’s mom, Kim Sutherland. Sutherland owns a salon called Stage 6 Salon, and Hyra says he can recall countless times she has put her work aside to be present for him and his brother.
“When I was little, my mom would take me to work on the days she had to work long hours, and I would watch her work with her clients,” says Hyra. “That must’ve worn off on me because I am currently in school to be a barber, and my mom has taught me everything I know about cutting hair.”
I’m sure every kid with an entrepreneur as a mom has some fond memories of her that they truly appreciate. Mine was my 18th birthday. My mom allowed me to have over 50 people in the house for a giant party. She and some employees spent the night upstairs chaperoning the party and making everyone snacks. My mom got her employees to make appetizers, a cake, and Jell-O shots to surprise me, and she even woke up early the next day to help me clean up. She and her employees spent multiple days prepping during and after work to ensure I had a great birthday.
Another example is when she leaves her office to sit at the bar and keep me company while I work in the summer. Since I turned 18, I have been bartending at my mom’s golf course in the summers. When I work a day shift with no tournament’s scheduled, it’s slow. Whenever my mom has free time while I’m working, she sits at the bar and chats with me while I’m stocking the fridge or cutting limes.
Even with limited time and a busy work schedule, my mom, and many other moms still prioritize being a mom. She’s there for all my important moments, sick days, or boy problems. I know she will always be there for me, no matter how busy she gets.
Stories of women like Christie Houston, Lindsey Pfiefer, and Kelly Hunter inspire me. They are a prime example of this quote by Robert Collier, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
They don’t have the same level of support as working moms. They don’t have a partner to call when their kids are sick, and they experience burnout like no other.
These women have exceeded expectations and overcome stereotypes by managing a work-life balance, raising children, and operating a business. Their ability to persevere, create, and provide is worth celebrating.
