Running your own business is no piece of cake. Neither is raising a family. These 10 single moms, all of whom have built successful companies, manage to do both with a mix of intelligence, creativity and sheer determination.

For some of these mompreneurs, starting a business was a means of creating a better life for their kids; for others, the kids themselves inspired the business idea.

All of them have learned critical lessons along the road to success. Check out their top 10 tips and get inspired.

1. Own your single-mom status.

Angela Benton is the founder and CEO of NewME. Since launching in 2011, NewME has accelerated over 300 startups and helped them raise over $17 million in venture capital funding. Having her first child at 16 has never slowed Benton down as she has made a name for herself in the world of design and technology, appearing on Ebony magazine’s Power 150 in 2010, Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2013 and Marie Claire’s 50 Women Who Rule in 2013.

Her advice: “Being a single mom is NOT a setback. Nestled somewhere in the pages of a storybook is the idea that entrepreneurs “hustle,” “crush it,” “grind” and whatever other word you can come up with to describe working really, really hard on your business 100 percent of the time.  Out here in the real world we know that’s not true.

Don’t get me wrong, entrepreneurship is a ton of work. However don’t let the perception of this lifestyle count you out before you even count yourself in. Being a single mom comes with a wealth of skills that do well in entrepreneurship like: multitasking, creativity, managing and/or operating on a budget, and problem-solving to say the least. I don’t know about you but I’d put my money on someone with these skills rather than a new college grad.”

2. Ditch toxic influences.

In 2005, Lisa Stone co-founded BlogHer. Today, the female-focused media platform has an audience of 100 million. BlogHer also hosts the largest U.S. events for women who blog and use social media, and an award-winning social hub at BlogHer.com. Through BlogHer’s growth, Stone has learned how to succeed as an entrepreneur both as a young, divorced and single mom and now the working mother of a three-kid Brady bunch (ages 26, 18 and 14).

Her advice:  “Ban toxic people from your life. You don’t have enough time already, right single mom or dad? So if you are living or working or worshipping around a toxic person or people who invade your confidence and bring you down, you MUST remove them from your life.”

3. Include your kids in your business.

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