Twenty-five years ago I gave birth to a little boy and a business. Looking back over a quarter of a century of solo entrepreneurship, here are the lessons I’d pass on to anyone starting out.
1. Don’t give up your day job.
Years ago I mentored a young woman who was miserable in her role. I asked her, “If you could wave a magic wand, what would you rather be doing?” “Photography,” she said.
She already had a camera and showed me beautiful photos she’d taken of her equestrian club. When she said, “But I don’t have a website,” I told her she didn’t need one. What she needed was a simple offer:
- Basic package
- Premium package
- Framed and edited package
Within a week she’d made three sales. We then sat down and worked out exactly how much she’d need to earn to go part-time in her current job.
Entrepreneurial blogs often glorify sacrifice telling you that you must give up your firstborn and twenty years of your life to start a business. It’s just not true. A side hobby can be joyful, or it can be monetised, but it doesn’t require selling your house.
I started my business on maternity leave with a $100 investment. I told my husband, “For the first two years, we’ll call it a hobby. After that, it becomes my job.” Starting small allowed me to test the market, build relationships, and grow organically.
2. Know what you value.
My goal was clear: earn a comfortable income while being present for my children. I designed my business around school holidays, delivered half-day workshops so I could do school pick-up, and managed home life while my husband was travelling for work.
I still remember sitting at the kitchen table with a large sheet of paper while my baby slept, mapping out what my business could look like. I did a SWOT analysis on my skills, identified what was genuinely monetisable, and used a version of the Ikigai model to check for alignment.
Everything I’ve done over the years has come back to this, to my values and what I was looking for with my business.
3. Test the market, then test it again.
Assumptions are the enemy of good business. Before entering a new market or investing money, make sure there’s demand and a return on investment.
A redundancy package gave me breathing room, so I spent my first two years testing, refining, and building. My mother would say, “I hope you’re not off having cups of coffee.” I was, because my business was built on relationships, conversations, and real-time feedback. Coffee catch ups were cost-effective market research.
4. Never stop learning.
One of the joys of being a solo business owner is the freedom to keep learning and evolving. One of the frustrations is that you have to be across everything.
In 25 years, I’ve developed content, mastered accounting software, BAS payments, social media, blogging, cybersecurity, and now AI. The internet has democratised information, which means staying current is not optional, it is an essential part of the job.
5. Know when to delegate.
Not every weakness needs to become a strength. Sometimes the smartest move is to double down on what you’re brilliant at and outsource the rest. Your time and energy are your most valuable assets. Being in business is a marathon not a sprint. Ensure you spend your time and energy where it matters.
And lastly – don’t believe people when they say you must scale.
One of my core values is autonomy, and staying intentionally small has allowed me to remain lean, flexible, and resilient. My overheads are minimal, and when COVID hit, that simplicity became a strategic advantage. I could pivot to online, ride out the rough patches, without the stress of a large team or heavy fixed costs.
I love that I can still follow my passion, work with incredible people across diverse industries, and keep my business fresh by evolving in the directions that genuinely interest me.
Define your own success, build a business that works for you and keep in mind that growth doesn’t have to mean bigger, sometimes it just means better.
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