Entrepreneurs are passionate, driven business people. Entrepreneurs who are also mothers? Superwomen.

Meet Fuchsia McInerney, CEO of Pearse Street Consulting Inc., a successful web development & design company on Boston’s north shore.

In her own words, this “a work-obsessed, baby-lovin’ CEO” manages a team of designers, programmers and marketing experts with the end goal of creating high-end websites and social network websites for businesses, non-profits and independent clients.

Balancing a newborn on one hip, she took the time to talk to me about her company, social networking, and the 3 marketing hooks every entrepreneur should know:

1. You recently celebrated 5 years of Pearse Street Consulting. Give us 3 lessons to take away? Anything you would have done differently?

Many of my learning experiences I would qualify as “growing pains” resulting from exponential business growth in a short time frame. In the whirlwind of managing that kind of growth, I learned a few things that I would have done differently.

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in a high-growth industry, I would advise to approach growth enthusiastically but also cautiously. Try not to bite off more than you can chew with delusions of grandeur, otherwise, if mismanaged, the experience can end up causing major set backs, the opposite of positive growth. Being too conservative can be just a damaging, so it’s best to challenge yourself, but not get in over your head if you can avoid it.

When you are met with a growth opportunity that you want to pursue, don’t always assume that throwing more staff and money at the project will necessarily achieve the desired results. Your first step should be to take a good, hard look at your current team, processes and workload and realistically plan how you can take on new business with minimal structural changes to your team and business. Always know that drastic changes and a lot of new, untrained staff put a lot of pressure on your current crew and could have negative results if you try to do too much too soon.

Stay passionate about what you do and why you started on this wild journey. Always maintain your standards for professionalism and integrity, and believe that good things will come to good people!

2.What trends should 85 Broads entrepreneurs be aware of in social networking beyond using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter?

One major trend I would look for, which we’re already seeing signs of, is the integration of leading social networks with the rest of our online experiences. Because of the incredible success and popularity of major social networks, the social networking “concept” will soon no longer be relegated to our Facebook or Twitter accounts, but will gradually find its way to other sites that we regularly frequent to enrich the user experience.

Right now we have the ability to use Facebook Connect or Twitter Connect to streamline our experience with other sites, and I believe this synchronicity between our social network identities and activity on other sites, such as news sites, blogs, etc. will continue to evolve over time.

3. Entrepreneurs report, “being able to focus,” as a crucial characteristic of entrepreneurial success. How do you make sure you are focused to take your business in the right direction?

I think that for new entrepreneurs, it’s much more difficult to know exactly what to focus on and whether or not you are actually taking your business in the right direction. As a new, budding entrepreneur there is so much uncharted territory, so many directions to potentially pursue and so many lessons to be learned.

Five years into my current business, what keeps me focused now is simply a commitment not to make the same mistakes twice. I am regularly running my daily decisions through the database of lessons learned to guide me in the right direction.

When in doubt, obviously ask for advice, research, meditate (whatever works!) but know that your decisions can make or break the future of your company, so always weigh them carefully and thoughtfully.

And never ignore or underestimate your instincts! No one knows your company and what’s best for it better than you do.

4. What are the top 3 marketing hooks should entrepreneurs build into their websites to attract customers?

-Branding. Consistent and strong branding, with a clean and professional design, can communicate so much to your audience and potential clients. Visual identity and consistency of that visual message should never be short-changed. It will aid you with repeat and viral marketing efforts, as well as position you as a professional to be taken seriously in the industry.

-Testimonials. Anyone can have a sexy website and win the trust of prospective clients on looks and good copy, but demonstrating a successful track record through client testimonials, client logos and/or case studies can be very legitimizing during those first few seconds when a visitor is deciding whether or not to learn more or keep looking. I’d strongly recommend integration at least one if not all three on your home page in some capacity to maximize that first impression.

-Social Media. I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize the importance of not only having a presence on major social network sites for professional purposes, but additionally the importance of promoting that presence prominently on your website and microsites. Make sure your website visitors can follow, fan or friend you with one click to encourage the growth of those communities.

5. Give us 3 strategies on building an effective team.

For me, building a solid, effective team has involved a lot of trial and error. We have always had a pretty intimate team of 15 people or less, and trying to find that harmonious and productive group dynamic with this sized team has been a learning experience. Here are a few pointers I have identified along the way.

-Identifying Talent. Skill and talent are critical in my industry, however in some cases it’s difficult or even impossible for me to personally identify if a prospect will fit the bill from a technical standpoint. Having my top team members weigh in on potential hires is critical. Whether it is reviewing code or even requesting short code/design tests to assess efficiency and real-time results, at the end of the day if the prospect becomes an employee, they need to work seamlessly with our existing team. Bringing key players into that process is not only empowering for them, but ensures that they are sharing the responsibility of accepting and training new team members.

-Mentorship versus Hierarchy. Long ago I learned that powerful titles don’t always add up to equally powerful positions in the workplace. In fact sometimes they can backfire when an employee doesn’t end up living up to their senior responsibilities, or conversely when a lower ranking employee excels beyond senior staff and inequity can lead to resentment and workplace “drama”. In a small company such as ours, “senior” and “manager” are now associated with employees who know the most and do the most, not who are liked the best, paid the best, or have been here the longest. While we do all hold titles, they don’t mean much in terms of hierarchy when each of us contributes our part to a project and is many ways, master of our own domain. “Senior” employees tend to do much more mentoring and teaching than delivering orders and task lists.

-Sharing the big picture. As my company has honed its systems and processes, everyone has been involved in learning about how a project runs its course, from lead generation to refining production techniques to launching a final product. Being able to understand the business, as an entity with many moving parts and understanding each team member’s role in keeping things in motion has been important. Everyone knows his or her role has value and as a result, I think a lot more heart goes into our every day work.

6. You are an entrepreneur and a mom. What do you think of the term “mommy-preneur?"

I don’t mind the term, because I celebrate being a mother to young children while growing and running my business from the ground up. I usually describe myself as a baby-lovin’ work-obsessed CEO, so I’m not sure if another term would be more appropriate than mommy-preneur. Both roles are all-consuming, extremely taxing and equally rewarding. I’m thankful that as a woman I am able to do both.

7. What’s next for you?

On the personal front, I am looking forward to becoming a mother for the third time, any day now. Afterward, I’ll be anxious to get into a routine with our new addition, and start pursuing some of my other personal goals the field of blogging and publishing, and of course taking care of my “other” baby, Pearse Street.

Pearse Street has been launching some exciting niche communities and website projects which I know we’ll continue to do. We’re also looking forward to branching out into specific markets in the coming months, specifically education and political communities, as well as corporate intranets.

Since we spoke, Fuchsia gave birth to a beautiful & healthy baby girl Eva Rose. You can check out Pearse Street consulting at [pearsestreet.com]. To learn more about Fuchsia go to her personal blog: [fuchsiamac.com].