BusinessEntrepreneurshipExplicit

Mum Means Business

Victoria Phipps

For women juggling pitches and play dates!

Hosted by Victoria Phipps MBE, the Mum Means Business is the podcast for ambitious Mothers navigating the beautiful chaos of building a business while raising a family. Each episode shares honest conversations and inspiring stories from real Mums growing heart-centred, purpose-driven businesses designed to make this world a better place for our children.

Whether you’re working during nap time, burning the midnight oil or squeezing strategy sessions between school runs, this is your space. A space to feel seen, supported and inspired.

Join us as we celebrate the wins, unpack the challenges and remind ourselves that while tackling motherhood and entrepreneurship at the same time can be a wild ride, we don’t have to do it alone.

Because motherhood isn’t a barrier to success - it’s a superpower.

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#72
Tuesday · 58 min
72: The Accidental Entrepreneur; Building a Global Tuition Business Around Motherhood with Jane Bilham
Jane Bilham is the founder of Vireo Tuition, an international tuition business that began with one tutor working in a local library and has grown into an oversubscribed global business with a team of over 60 tutors supporting families worldwide. A former Assistant Vice Principal in an outstanding UK secondary school, Jane worked nationally as a Specialist Leader in Education before the birth of her son in 2013 prompted her to step away from senior leadership in search of a more flexible way of working. Over the last decade, her business has grown and evolved alongside her family life in a way that was never planned but always responsive. In this episode, Jane shares the honest, organic and often accidental story of how a bit of pocket money tutoring in a local library became a global business, the identity crisis that came with stepping away from a career she loved and the pivotal moment her sister-in-law shone a light on what was possible. 💡 "For a long time I didn't feel like business was something that somebody like me did. Nobody in my family runs a business. But I just want to help people. And I suppose that's what any business owner wants to do." - Jane Bilham In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How Jane's tutoring began with no plan and no vision board, simply as a way to reclaim a small piece of her identity after becoming a mother and stepping away from a senior leadership role she loved ✨ The stark identity shift from silencing a challenging classroom with the raise of an eyebrow to struggling to get a toddler to put their shoes on, and what that revealed about the real cost of the transition into motherhood ✨ Why the business grew entirely through word of mouth, from one student to £100 a week, without Jane ever consciously framing what she was building as a business ✨ The pivotal family conversation when her sister-in-law pointed out that she was, in fact, running a business, and the sleepless night that followed as Jane began to see what it could become ✨ How a single phone call from a contact in China transformed the business by opening up daytime tutoring hours, solving the problem of evenings and weekends that had never quite fit around her children ✨ The confidence work behind pricing a service-based business, from charging £25 an hour in a local library to understanding that clients are paying for expertise, experience and transformation, not just time ✨ What it took to hire her first tutor and delegate for the first time, and the anxiety of checking her phone through those early sessions to make sure everything was going well ✨ The rapid growth from one or two tutors to a team of over 60 in just twelve months, and what that pace of expansion demanded of Jane both practically and emotionally ✨ The honest reality of bringing her children along for the ride, including the moment she overheard her daughter proudly describe her as a businesswoman to a friend, and the harder moments when the balance has tipped too far towards work ✨ Why Jane founded Vireo Academy to help other tutors and parents access the same daytime flexibility that transformed her own family life, and what it means to her to accelerate that journey for someone else About the Guest: Jane Bilham is the founder of Vireo Tuition, an international tuition business supporting families worldwide with a team of over 60 tutors and Vireo Academy, through which she has supported over 1000 British tutors to access daytime international tuition opportunities. A former Assistant Vice Principal and Specialist Leader in Education, she has represented UK education on international trade missions on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade. Jane is a mum of two who believes ambition and motherhood can be firm friends, given the right environment in which to flourish. Visit the Vireo Tuition website for more information or can connect with Jane directly on Linkedin. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#71
August 28 · 9 min
71: When Is Enough Enough? Burning The Midnight Oil This Summer
Back in episode 59, I shared my plan for surviving the summer holidays as a self-employed parent... what I would keep going, what I would let go of and where I hoped to find some balance. Now, in the final week of the holidays, it felt like the right time to check in and be honest about how that plan actually held up against six weeks of real life. This episode is an audibly fatigued debrief. What I stuck to, which boundaries I broke almost immediately, the surprising wins and the ongoing tension between wanting to be fully present with my kids during the day and finding myself back on my laptop once they are asleep. It is also a question I am still sitting with myself: when you run your own business around your children, when is enough actually enough? I reflect on: ✨ An honest recap of the summer holiday plan from episode 59 and how it played out, including the interview-free zone that lasted all of about five minutes before four interviews happened anyway ✨ What it was like recording solo episodes from a dark beach after bedtime or in a sweltering van, and why stripping everything back to just a microphone and a phone was more liberating than expected ✨ The re-recording of the Print Over Pixels course modules that did not happen this summer, and why some jobs genuinely need two uninterrupted days that simply do not exist in the school holidays ✨ The unexpected win of Meta ads performing brilliantly all summer, bringing a consistent stream of photographers into the world of the course without much active attention ✨ The last minute maternity shoot that broke the no bookings rule and why it was completely worth bending it for ✨ The psychological rollercoaster of trying to post from energy rather than obligation on social media, including the guilt that creeps in after a few quiet days and the temptation to post just to prove you are still there ✨ Three consecutive nights of eight to nine hours sleep in the van in Pembrokeshire and what that unexpected win revealed about how much rest her body actually needs ✨ Why burning the midnight oil is sometimes necessary and even welcome, especially when work feels like the first moment of the day that nobody needs anything from you, but why the hope is not to still be doing this in five or ten years ✨ The honest, open question for listeners: is working late at night a regular part of your routine, or is sleep something you protect fiercely, and where is your own line between enough and too much. Takeaway for Mums in Business: "As women, as mothers and as business owners, we cannot do everything, nor should we expect ourselves to. Some seasons call for burning the midnight oil, but it is always worth asking yourself - again and again - where your own line between enough and too much actually sits." About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#70
August 25 · 1 hr 10 min
70: Kindly Blunt; Helen Bullen on Business, Cancer and the Power of Doing It Your Way
Helen Bullen is a business mentor, speaker and award-winning author who works with solo business owners who want to make a living doing what they love. In 2020 she retired from clinical practice as an osteopath, having single-handedly built Fine Fettle Multi-Healthcare, a large, multi-award-winning clinic with over 20 practitioners and a full reception and admin team. In June 2021, following a routine mammogram, Helen was diagnosed with stage three triple negative breast cancer. After nine months of intense chemotherapy and surgery, she was given the all clear, completing treatment and reconstruction in 2023. She kept a diary throughout, which informed two deeply personal books about her experience. In this episode, Helen shares the full story of building two clinics whilst raising her children through divorce, the moment she decided to close her practice just before her cancer diagnosis and how humour, resilience and a refusal to dwell for too long in the hard moments have carried her through every chapter. It is a wise, funny and genuinely moving conversation about doing business and life, entirely your own way. 💡 "You have to think of your business like a shop on a high street. If the blinds are down and there's no open sign, why are you expecting somebody to buy from you? You have to put yourself out there." — Helen Bullen In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How Helen built her first osteopathy clinic from nothing, learned to embrace marketing despite hating it, and went on to found Fine Fettle Multi-Healthcare, a business she remains deeply proud of to this day ✨ The reality of building a business through divorce as a single mother with no financial support, including the honest and moving story of air beds, a bucket for a fridge and the moment her daughter's too-small shoes became the motivation to find two or three more clients ✨ Why necessity became one of the most powerful drivers of her success and how she looks back on that period with pride rather than regret ✨ The old-school marketing that built her business before social media existed, from community involvement to genuine relationship building, and why those principles still matter today ✨ Why authenticity beats perfection every time and Helen's refusal to pretend to be anything other than exactly who she is, on stage or on camera ✨ The decision to close her clinic just before lockdown, the negotiation that got her out of her lease with no penalty, and why the timing turned out to be extraordinarily fortunate given what came next ✨ The full story of her cancer diagnosis, the humour she found even in the hardest moments, and why she named her chemotherapy line Percy and her reconstructed body parts Agnes and Bea ✨ Her philosophy on emotional resilience, giving herself permission to have a proper meltdown before deliberately choosing to move forward, and why this is not about suppressing emotion but about not staying there too long ✨ How motherhood evolves through every chapter, from nappies to sports days to becoming a granny, and why ring-fencing what matters first and building your business around it is the only sustainable way to do this ✨ Her current mission to get on more stages as a midlife woman in business, the frustration that sparked it, and why she believes we should all lean into the things we are naturally good at rather than hiding them About the Guest: Helen Bullen is a business mentor, speaker and award-winning author who helps solo business owners build sustainable, profitable businesses around the lives they actually want to live. Having built and closed two successful osteopathy clinics and navigated a stage three cancer diagnosis with characteristic humour and resilience, she now focuses entirely on mentoring through her membership community, mastermind and retreat programme. Known for her trademarked Kindly Blunt approach, she is also the author of four books and host of the podcast Exactly That. Helen is a mum of two grown-up children and a stepdaughter, and a proud new granny. You can connect with Helen on Instagram and LinkedIn or via helenbullen.com. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#69
August 21 · 20 min
69: Turning the Volume Up; What My Human Design Revealed About Playing It Small
After I finished recording episode 68 with Human Design practitioner Emily Armitage, I was so fascinated by what came up during our conversation that I booked my own 'Alignment Hour' with her. It actually turned out to be an 'Alignment 90 Minutes', during which time Emily gave me an unnervingly accurate breakdown of my personality, my patterns and shone a light on the very thing that could be hindering my marketing efforts for my business. This week's solo episode takes you inside that session. I walk through what I learned about my Human Design, from my overall energy type to the specific chart elements that explain why I have spent years feeling multi-passionate, scattered and afraid to say what I really think. It is an honest and personal account about what happens when you finally get permission to be exactly who you are. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The specific block I identified before the session — leads and money — and why after 17 years in photography the issue was never the offer but always the marketing ✨ What it means to be a manifesting generator and why being told I am here to follow my passions and desires felt so validating after years of guilt about jumping between projects ✨ How sacral authority reframed a lifetime of being called impulsive or stubborn into something Emily called healthy self-trust ✨ The five one profile, the heretic and the researcher, and how it explained everything from a habit of chasing qualifications to being labelled a fixer in couples therapy ✨ Why ready is a decision, not a feeling, and how that realisation could have saved years of delay before launching the Print Over Pixels course ✨ The North node insight that my ideal audience wants to disrupt the status quo, and the realisation that I have been playing it too palatable and too safe in my own marketing as a result ✨ What it means to have an open head, an undefined solar plexus and an undefined root, and why these frictions explained a tendency towards people pleasing, overthinking and absorbing pressure that was never mine to carry ✨ The superpowers side of the chart, including a defined throat and G Center, and what it revealed about being designed for communication, direction and helping others find their way back to joy ✨ Why the whole experience has shifted how I want to show up in my marketing going forward, and my decision to stop being meek and apologetic about my own opinions *Go back and listen to my conversation with Emily Armitage in episode 68 for the full picture on human design. Takeaway for Mums in Business: "If you knew what you were designed to do, what you were here to do, wouldn't you feel validated to just go and do it? Knowing your human design might help you unlock a path forward. On this occasion, it did for me." About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#68
August 18 · 1 hr
68: Astrology With Knobs On; Human Design for Financially Ambitious Women with Emily Armitage
Emily Armitage is a business and identity strategist for financially ambitious women building service-based businesses. Having become a fully fledged business owner and a mum at exactly the same time, she understands firsthand the particular chaos of building a business and a family simultaneously. She uses human design to co-create legacy businesses that work with her clients' energy and in their season of life, believing that misalignment in business has a measurable cost to our impact, our energy and our income. In this episode, we explore what human design actually is and why Emily describes it as astrology with knobs on, how it differs from Myers-Briggs or Disc, why visibility is the block she encounters in almost every client and how her own journey through motherhood, neurodiversity, OCD and financial abuse shaped the work she now does in the world. It is a rich, honest and genuinely fascinating conversation about self-discovery, self-trust and building a business that actually fits who you are. 💡 "You're allowed to be how you are. That's not a bad thing. That's not a wrong thing. You're allowed." — Emily Armitage In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Emily's entrepreneurial origin story - from contracting out household chores at age five with full terms and conditions to accidentally stopping a production line at a pump factory and realising quite quickly that admin was not her zone of genius ✨ How she discovered human design through a client in 2020 and why it was the first framework she had ever encountered that captured the depth, nuance and duality of who she truly is ✨ What human design actually is, why Emily describes it as astrology with knobs on and how combining astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah, the chakra system and quantum physics creates a genuinely useful business tool rather than a vague personality label ✨ Why misalignment in business has a real and measurable cost and how understanding your energetic blueprint can help you cut through the shoulds, the industry norms and the advice that was never meant for someone in your season of life ✨ How Emily uses human design to help clients reframe their relationship with visibility — because visibility does not have to mean a spotlight on a stage and there are so many other ways to show up that might suit your design far better ✨ The connection between self-discovery, motherhood and business building and why navigating both at the same time is one of the fastest routes to rediscovering who you actually are beneath all the conditioning ✨ Emily's own experience of being diagnosed as autistic with OCD after becoming a mother and how losing her coping mechanisms overnight forced a level of self-awareness she had never had to develop before ✨ The deeply personal reason financial independence sits at the heart of everything she does and why she believes shifting money towards women who have done the work will shift the balance of power in society ✨ Why money is largely emotional and has almost nothing to do with maths and how our stories, relationships and experiences shape our relationship with it far more than any spreadsheet ever could ✨ What she would say to her eight year old self and why the permission to simply be who you are is something so many of us are only discovering in our thirties, forties and beyond About the Guest: Emily Armitage is a business and identity strategist who uses human design to help financially ambitious women build legacy businesses that work with their energy and in their season of life. A mum of one, she brings her own experience of neurodiversity, OCD, financial abuse and early motherhood to her work with enormous honesty and depth. Her mission is rooted in economic feminism and the belief that when women have more money and are doing the work, the world gets better for everyone. You can find Emily at emilyarmitage.co.uk and connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#67
August 14 · 12 min
67: SEO, GEO and Why I Asked Claude to Fix My Invisible Website
This week's solo episode started with a last minute photography enquiry that came through a Google search the day before we hit the road in the van. It led to a beautiful golden hour maternity shoot that evening and a very welcome reminder that people still use Google to find local service-based businesses. It also sent me down a rabbit hole I have been meaning to explore for a while. My website, it turns out, was essentially invisible on Google. In this episode I share what I found when I finally went in and looked properly, what I learned about the difference between SEO and the newer concept of GEO and why I ended up exporting all my data and having a very long conversation with Claude about what to do next. This is not a technical deep dive. It is the honest account of a time-poor, business-building mum trying to understand a fast-moving topic and take the next right steps without spending a fortune or losing her mind. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The last minute photography inquiry that came through Google Maps and reminded me that organic search still matters, especially for local service-based businesses ✨ A trip down memory lane to the early days of my photography business, when blogging and SEO felt effortless and a single post about a whiskey pilgrimage to Islay led to two Scottish weddings ✨ How switching from WordPress to Squarespace during maternity leave and starting from scratch cost me years of backlinks and blog history, and why baby brain and big business decisions are not always a great combination ✨ What happened when I finally checked my Google Analytics in spring 2025 and discovered my website was not ranking in the first ten pages for anything ✨ The six hour SEO audit I invested in and what it taught me, including the revelation that H tags are not just decorative and that pages on your website can quietly compete against each other ✨ What GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, actually is and how it differs from traditional SEO in a world where AI tools are increasingly answering search queries directly without sending anyone to your website ✨ Why I took all my analytics data and shared it with Claude, what that process looked like and the surprisingly useful list of prioritised next steps it gave me ✨ Why AI explaining AI felt like the most time-efficient solution for a solopreneur in the summer holidays who does not have hours to spend on YouTube upskilling herself in things that are not her zone of genius ✨ What is actually on my to-do list now and why I will be reporting back in six months to let you know whether any of it moved the needle Takeaway for Mums in Business: "If your website isn't working as hard for you as you'd like and SEO/GEO are not your zones of genius, you do have another tool at your disposal... and yes, that's AI." About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#66
August 11 · 50 min
66: F*** Mum Guilt; Leila Green on Breaking Up with the Inner Critic for Good
Leila Green was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, started her first business at 26 and grew it to six figures without any outside investment. Then came the curveball that changed everything. After two heartbreaking unexplained miscarriages, she became pregnant with triplets. Fast forward and Leila is now a mum to three threenagers, the founder of the F*** Mum Guilt movement, one of the UK's Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs and a co-author of Stacey Dooley's book on motherhood, Dear Minnie. In her TedX talk, she identifies the epidemic of mum guilt simmering beneath the surface of modern motherhood, reporting that 95% of mothers feel it and one in four admit they avoid leaving the house with their children for fear of being judged. In this episode, we explore why mum guilt is far more than something to joke about over coffee and what it truly takes to break up with it for good. 💡 "I call it the should show. You should baby-wean, you should breastfeed, you should co-sleep, you shouldn't co-sleep. It's a people pleaser's nightmare!" - Leila Green In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Leila's journey from starting her first business at 26 to growing it to six figures, navigating the pandemic and then facing the life-changing experience of two miscarriages followed by a triplet pregnancy ✨ What it felt like to go from being a footloose and fancy-free entrepreneur to building a business with three babies at her feet and how her whole relationship with ambition and time was forced to evolve ✨ How the F*** Mum Guilt movement was born and why Leila felt so strongly that the casual way we talk about mum guilt was masking a genuinely serious problem for maternal mental health ✨ The statistic that should stop all of us: 95% of mothers feel mum guilt and one in four avoid leaving the house with their children for fear of being judged ✨ Why societal pressures, throwaway comments from strangers and the rise of the parenting guru have created an environment in which mothers are set up to feel like they are never enough ✨ The myth of the perfect baby and why so much of the advice mothers receive ignores the reality that every baby and every family is completely different ✨ How social media amplifies the pressure on mothers and what Leila believes we can do to protect our mental health and reclaim our own instincts ✨ Why compassion over comparison is the antidote and what it actually looks like to put that into practice in the messiness of real motherhood ✨ How Leila balances her own significant ambitions with the reality of raising three children at the same pace and what self-belief has to do with making it work ✨ Her future aspirations for the F*** Mum Guilt movement and why she believes the conversation is only just getting started About the Guest: Leila Green is the founder of the F*** Mum Guilt movement, one of the UK's Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs and a co-author of Stacey Dooley's book on motherhood Dear Minnie. A serial entrepreneur who built her first business to six figures without investment, she is now a mother of triplet threenagers and one of the most important voices in the conversation about maternal mental health and mum guilt. Her TedX talk How to Break Up with Mum Guilt for Good has reached thousands of mothers and her work has been featured across Sky News, BBC Radio, Stylist, Metro and OK! magazine. You can find Leila on Substack and on Instagram at @tripped_up_mama. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#65
August 7 · 19 min
65: The One Where We Had 9 Months to Raise £450k
This week's solo episode is a little different. It is the story of a project that pretty much took over my life in 2018 and 2019. A project I have been thinking about sharing ever since a recent visit stirred up a lot of mixed feelings. It is the story of the D-Day 75 Garden, a commemorative show garden at RHS Chelsea in 2019, conceived to celebrate the Normandy veterans of the Second World War on home soil during what would be the final milestone anniversary with any significant number of veterans still here to tell their story. It is the story of how "we" (I go into who we is in the episode) with no fundraising experience, no budget and a very big idea found the right people, asked for what they needed and somehow made it happen. And I hope it is a story that gives you permission to pursue the mad idea that will not leave you alone. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The backstory of D-Day Revisited, the charity my dad and I co-founded, and why the 75th anniversary felt like the moment to do something extraordinary on home soil to celebrate the veterans who had given so much ✨ How the idea for a commemorative show garden at RHS Chelsea came to me during the 74th anniversary trip to France in 2018 and why I almost talked myself out of pursuing it ✨ The moment I discovered the entry deadline was just weeks away and sent that email to the RHS anyway, which set everything in motion ✨ How garden designer John Everiss and fundraiser Peter Deaman came into the project and why neither of them should have said yes to two people with no money and no experience, but did ✨ The 75 Reasons campaign - one of the ideas I am most proud of - and the moment in conversation when it all clicked into place in a way that still gives me the chills ✨ What it actually felt like to be in front of a camera for the first time with no training or experience, because the promotional video had to be made and someone had to do it ✨ The relentless reality of fundraising - seeking 75 sponsors at five thousand pounds each with no guarantee and no one big cheque to save the day and what that process taught me about courage and asking ✨ The story of Bill Pendell and Joe Cattini, the two veterans at the heart of the garden, and why losing Bill in December 2018 only made us more determined to see it through ✨ The moment during the Chelsea Flower Show when I looked around and realised we had actually done it and what that felt like after nine months of not knowing if we ever would ✨ How the garden was moved to Arromanches in Normandy overlooking Gold Beach and what it was like to visit it seven years on, still there, still sparking conversations ✨ Why the greatest lesson from this whole experience is simply this: the trick is to ask Takeaway for Mums in Business: You can have mad ideas that nobody expects to come to fruition and you can make them happen. You can look at what seems to be an impossible sum of money and you can find it. You can be brave and ask for what you need to make your dream a reality. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#64
August 4 · 1 hr 2 min
64: Making Dark Chocolate Fun; Positive Psychology and Trusting Your Instincts with Ella McKay
Ella McKay is a self-proclaimed food obsessive, a marketing professional turned entrepreneur and the co-founder of FATSO, a premium dark chocolate brand on a mission to prove that dark chocolate can be every bit as fun, flavourful and full of personality as its milkier counterpart. The idea was born in lockdown from a conversation about how boring and overly serious dark chocolate had become. What started as a side hustle to shake up the category quickly revealed Ella's entrepreneurial instincts and she soon left the world of big corporate brands behind to drive momentum behind FATSO full time. In this episode, Ella shares the story of how it all came together, what the leap from corporate to founder actually felt like and how positive psychology, maternal instinct and a willingness to trust herself have shaped both her business and her approach to motherhood. 💡 "Instinct is your most powerful tool when becoming a mother. Don't be afraid of marching to the beat of your own drum. Don't be afraid of being different." - Ella McKay In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How a lockdown conversation about the sorry state of dark chocolate became the seed of a global brand and what those early side hustle days looked like before Ella took the leap full time ✨ The decision to leave a successful corporate marketing career behind to back herself and FATSO and what gave her the confidence to make that call ✨ Why partnering with Luker Chocolate in Colombia was about more than supply chain - it was about finding a partner whose values and purpose aligned with the kind of business Ella wanted to build ✨ The reality of navigating early motherhood and entrepreneurship simultaneously and how she found her footing across both ✨ How Ella approaches the balancing act of work and family life and why rigid rules have never been her style ✨ The role of instinct in both parenting and business and why millennial mothers in particular need to reconnect with their intuition after a lifetime of being told what they should do ✨ How positive psychology shapes the way Ella leads her business and her family and why that philosophy feels like a natural fit for both ✨ Why embracing individuality in motherhood matters and what she would say to any mum who feels like she is doing it wrong ✨ The advice she would give her younger self and what it reveals about confidence, identity and trusting the path that lights you up About the Guest: Ella McKay is the co-founder of FATSO, a premium dark chocolate brand built on the belief that dark chocolate should be as fun, flavourful and full of personality as any other kind. With a background in marketing for some of the world's biggest brands, she brought both commercial expertise and genuine passion to building FATSO from a lockdown side hustle into a globally stocked product. Ella is a mum who leads with positive psychology, trusts her instincts and believes that doing so is one of the most powerful things you can model to your children. You can find FATSO chocolate at sofatso.com and connect with Ella on LinkedIn. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#63
July 31 · 9 min
63: Van Life with Little People; the Unglamorous Reality of Working and Travelling with Kids
This solo episode is coming to you from a converted VW Crafter in Tours, France - heavily loaded with me, my partner and two small children with all their associated paraphernalia, snacks galore, an expanding laundry bag and a portable penguin potty! Van life has this idyllic reputation, doesn't it? The footloose digital nomad, laptop open, bikini on, six figure launches via personal hotspot as the sun sets behind the screen. This is not that. It is the reality of van life as a mum of two on her way to being middle aged, who has not yet figured out how to do a four figure launch from her own home, let alone from a converted campervan in a French heatwave. In this episode I share the backstory of how our van came to be, what life on the road actually looks like with little people in tow and why, despite all of it, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I reflect on: ✨ The backstory of the van - from secondhand shell bought on a loan in September 2024 to a 95% finished camper that has cost significantly more than anticipated and means we must now holiday in it forever to justify the expenditure ✨ Why the reality of van life with small children looks nothing like the digital nomad fantasy, from a swollen knee on day two and abandoned makeup by day three to a routine that shifted three hours in either direction because of the heat ✨ Why working on the road as a solopreneur is considerably harder than imagined, with campsite wi-fi that is reliably hopeless, personal hotspot that drops at the worst moments and an audience of two in the back seats with a constant stream of demands ✨ The unglamorous reality of being primary caregiver, chief navigator, planner, referee and cook whilst also trying to keep a business ticking over, and the moments when you realise none of your own basic needs have been met since you got in the van that morning ✨ Why the chaos is absolutely worth it - the memories being made, the rituals slowly bedding in and the joy of seeing it all through the eyes of two small girls who are simply happy that everyone is together ✨ How the van creates a unique opportunity for genuine reconnection as a family and why Hold On To Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté has shaped the thinking behind it ✨ Why curiosity, adventure and showing your children that different people live in different ways is one of the most powerful things you can give them, even if right now it mostly means fresh baguettes from the boulangerie every morning Takeaway for Mums in Business: When you run your own business, if you stop, the business stops. But sometimes stopping is exactly what you and your family need. The content can fall off a cliff for a week. The emails can wait. The memories you are making right now cannot be recreated. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#62
July 28 · 48 min
62: Emma Bardwell on Mum Guilt vs. Role-Modelling and Building a Business in a Man's World
Emma Bardwell is the founder and managing director of BardWood Support Services, a fast-growing recruitment business specialising in security and facilities management. Driven by a desire to create flexibility for her young family, she left her career in recruitment in 2015 and began building her business from the ground up with two daughters aged two and five and no guarantee of where it would lead. What began as a way to be at the school gates has grown into a well-oiled, multi-location business with operations across the UK and an international support centre in India. In this episode, Emma shares the honest story of building BardWood from nothing, navigating a traditionally male-dominated industry as a woman with two small children and the guilt that came with those early years of phone-in-hand, always-on entrepreneurship. She also reflects on what her daughters actually remember and what it has meant for who they are becoming. 💡 "My girls don't remember me being absent, they just remember me being busy." - Emma Bardwell In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How Emma spotted a gap in the security recruitment market through a chance Facebook conversation and went from zero to her first major client in a matter of weeks ✨ Why she made the bold decision to leave her first business relationship behind to pursue an industry accreditation that would open much bigger doors, with no client waiting on the other side ✨ The reality of those early years of growth - from managing three phones and spreadsheets at her grandfather's hospice bedside to filling shifts on Christmas Day while her daughters opened their presents ✨ Why being a woman in a male-dominated industry turned out to be a breath of fresh air rather than a barrier and how her honesty, hunger and can-do energy set her apart from the egos in the room ✨ The moment she realised she needed to bring in a business partner and how handing over control to someone she trusted transformed both the business and her capacity to be present for her family ✨ Setting up a 24-hour operations centre in India and why trusting her partner Nilesh to make it happen was one of the best decisions she ever made for the business ✨ The identity shift from founder and micromanager to strategic leader and ideas generator and why that transition was as hard as it was necessary ✨ Her honest reflection on mum guilt, being physically present but mentally elsewhere and why the early years looked very different to the flexibility she had imagined when she started ✨ What her daughters, now 17 and 19, actually remember about their mother's years of building and why it turns out they don't remember her being absent - they remember her being busy ✨ How watching their mother build a business in a man's world has shaped both daughters' belief in what is possible for them as women About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#61
July 24 · 12 min
61: The Podcast Turns One; Lessons, Downloads and a Glass of Wine in Brittany
This solo episode is coming to you from a bench on the shoreline of Brittany, recorded after a day of full sun, a generous glass of wine at dinner and several failed attempts to get the usual tech setup working from a campervan. It was a perfectly imperfect way to mark the first birthday of the Mum Means Business podcast. A year ago I was a 39 year old mum of two with tech overwhelm, raging imposter syndrome and a glint of excitement pressing publish on the very first episode. I had no audience, no downloads, no financial backing and no real idea what I was doing. All I had was a healthy fear of regret and a hunch that I would love it. In this episode I reflect on the three biggest lessons the past year of podcasting has taught me, share my download stats because I wish someone had done this transparently for me when I was starting out and say a very heartfelt thank you to everyone who has chosen to listen in. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Why starting the podcast felt like the scariest and most necessary thing I could have done at 40 and how the decision to take action when I felt stuck changed everything ✨ The moment I bought Jenna Kutcher's podcast lab, took my first small steps and how those thoughts of who are you to start a podcast have grown quieter with every passing month ✨ Why we were never supposed to do this alone and how this podcast has helped me find and connect with women who truly get what it means to build a business whilst raising small humans ✨ The antidote that honest, unfiltered conversations about the messy reality of entrepreneurship provide to the curated and filtered version we are sold everywhere else ✨ The download stats I am sharing because I could not find enough of this kind of transparency when I was starting out - from 1000 downloads at four months to nearly 5000 at the one year mark ✨ Why the quote about overestimating what you can do in a year but underestimating what you can do in a decade has never felt more relevant and what building the D-Day Revisited charity over 11 years taught me about the long game ✨ Why things take time, why that is okay and why focusing on the journey rather than the destination has made this whole experience all the richer Takeaway for Mums in Business: You overestimate what you can do in a year but underestimate what you can do in a decade. Things take time. If you can take action, stretch your comfort zone and find the people who truly get what you are trying to do, the rest will follow. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#60
July 21 · 1 hr 3 min
60: Stop Calling It a Side Hustle and Start Building a Real Business with Beth Heyer
Beth Heyer is a single mum who launched Babysitting Connection from her kitchen table in Texas in January 2020, six weeks before the world shut down. By 2022 she had scaled to over 700 families across six locations and been named Austin Businesswoman Employer of the Year. She has since expanded her vision with Petsitting Connection and now dedicates a significant part of her time to empowering other women to step into entrepreneurship with the same audacity and commitment she brought to her own business from day one. In this episode, Beth shares the full story of how Babysitting Connection was born, how COVID transformed it within weeks of launch and what it has taken to build a well-oiled, data-driven business that supports her life as a single mother rather than competing with it. It is a conversation about delegation, abundance, going all in and why no man has ever called his business a side hustle. 💡 "No man has ever called his business a side hustle. Women don't give themselves the courage to say, this is it. This is going to be what pays my bills. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but in five years, this is it." - Beth Heyer In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How Beth launched Babysitting Connection six weeks before COVID hit and why the pandemic, rather than derailing her, accelerated the business in ways she could never have planned for ✨ Why she hired a social media manager and a sitter onboarding specialist before she ever paid herself, and what that decision reveals about investing in your zone of genius from the very beginning ✨ The power of delegating the tasks you hate or are not good at and why thinking carefully about what your time is worth changes everything ✨ Why Beth went all in on Babysitting Connection from day one with no other eggs in any other baskets and why she believes women in particular struggle to give themselves the audacity to do the same ✨ The word she hates almost as much as mum boss and mamapreneur — side hustle — and why no man has ever used it to describe his business ✨ How the membership model creates predictable recurring revenue that takes the anxiety out of the ebbs and flows of running a service-based business and allows you to plan, staff and scale with confidence ✨ Why you should validate your business idea with real customers first before perfecting your brand, building an app or fine-tuning your business plan ✨ How five years of data has allowed Beth's team to predict seasonal trends, staff accordingly and run a business that fills 99.9% of its sits every month ✨ The abundance mindset that has defined Beth's approach to her industry — sharing openly with competitors because when the waters rise all the ships rise ✨ Why Beth is building a business she intends to keep until her kids tell her they don't want it and what that vision reveals about a more feminine, purposeful approach to entrepreneurship About the Guest: Beth Heyer is the founder of Babysitting Connection and Petsitting Connection, membership-based childcare and pet care agencies operating across six locations in Texas. A single mum of two, she built her business from a kitchen table investment and grew it to serve over 700 families while maintaining clear boundaries for her children and herself. She now works with other women in the childcare industry to help them launch, streamline and scale their own agencies. Beth is a passionate advocate for the membership business model, the abundance mindset and women backing themselves with the same boldness they would encourage in everyone else. You can find Beth at bethheyer.com, babysittingconnection.com and petsittingconnection.com. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#59
July 17 · 15 min
59: Sliding into the Summer Holidays as a Business-Building Mum
This solo episode lands on the first day of the summer holidays for most children across England and it feels like exactly the right moment to talk honestly about what this season actually looks like when you are a mother with a business to run. As you'll hear there are no perfectly scheduled content calendars, completed to-do lists or clean skirting boards here! Just the reality of sliding into six or seven weeks of summer with work still very much on the agenda, a van packed for France and a promise made to a five year old that this summer will count. If you are heading into the summer holidays feeling anything less than prepared, this one is for you. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Why the build-up to the summer holidays can feel as pressured and frantic as Christmas and how the stories we tell ourselves about having to be ready can make it worse ✨ An honest breakdown of what I will still be doing over the summer — from publishing episodes and nurturing my email list to checking in on Meta ads, doing my day job and re-recording the entire Print Over Pixels course for a September launch ✨ Why I have already broken my one summer boundary of no podcast recordings and what that reveals about the ongoing work of actually holding the limits we set for ourselves ✨ The Meta ads lesson learned last month about what happens when you stop paying attention to something you are spending money on and why checking in weekly is now non-negotiable ✨ Why I am pressing pause on the photography business for the whole of August and why choosing what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do ✨ The thing I will not be doing this summer - giving myself a hard time and why that is the most important promise on the list ✨ The Instagram versus reality piece and why the golden hour summer holiday content you are scrolling through is not the full picture for most of us ✨ My slightly embarrassing but genuinely effective tool for shifting comparison energy involving a silent disco and Celine Dion ✨ The one promise I am making to my daughter for August and why four full days just the two of us feels like the win worth working towards Takeaway for Mums in Business: If you're working more than you'd like this summer, you're not alone. If you wish you could press pause and be entirely present with your kids but can't quite get there yet, you're not alone. We are all at different stages of this game and that is okay. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#58
July 14 · 1 hr 12 min
58: Why Wanting More Money Doesn't Make You a Bad Mum with Claire Hill
Claire Hill is not your usual business coach. She identifies as the 'Queen of Unstoppable Self-Belief' and works specifically with the "I thought I'd be making more money by now" crew - teaching women in business how to stop leaking money, energy and power so their income can finally match how epic they are at what they do. A mum of one, Claire understands the real, messy, powerful reality of building a business alongside motherhood, and her deep knowledge around money mindset means she quickly identifies the beliefs that keep brilliant women playing small - including the idea that wanting more money somehow makes them selfish, less present or worst of all, a bad mum! In this episode, we explore Claire's remarkable journey from a childhood shaped by loss and financial hardship through six business ventures to the coaching practice she was always meant to build. It is a conversation about money as energy, warrior energy, honey money and the radical act of creating space in your life so that abundance has somewhere to land. 💡 "There is no space in a busy life for money energy to come in. If you want more money, you have to create room for it." - Claire Hill In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Claire's journey from a childhood marked by the loss of her father at eight, young caring responsibilities and financial hardship to becoming a multi-business founder and the Queen of Self-Belief ✨ Why money is simply one form of energy and how reframing it as pasta — yes, really — can dissolve some of the shame and fear that keeps women from wanting it openly ✨ The stories handed down through generations, religion and patriarchy that make women feel that wanting money is greedy, selfish or incompatible with being a good mother and why those stories are worth dismantling ✨ How our upbringing shapes our money mindset in ways we often don't recognise until we start building a business and the blocks show up in real time ✨ What warrior energy actually means, why every mother in business needs a full pot of it and how to transfer worry energy into the kind of drive and resilience that sustains you ✨ Why the hardest work in business is not doing more but getting clear on what you actually want to be known for and giving yourself permission to do only that ✨ The concept of honey money and why becoming your most vivid, authentic self is the thing that makes money want to stick to you ✨ Why doing less, saying no more and creating genuine space in your life is not laziness but the strategic move that allows money energy to actually get in ✨ The business leaks test and how identifying the patterns that are quietly draining your energy, confidence and income is the fastest way to start making more ✨ Why self-worth is the foundation of everything and the unexpected moment that shifted Claire's relationship with her own About the Guest: Claire Hill is the Queen of Self-Belief and founder of the Bank programme, a money mindset and business coaching experience for women who know they should be making more money and are ready to find out exactly what is getting in the way. With a background spanning social care, education and six business ventures, she brings both lived experience and deep intuitive insight to her work. A mum of one, Claire is on a mission to help women stop leaking money, energy and power and start building businesses that feel as powerful as they are. You can find Claire on Instagram at @iamclairehill, via her website clairehill.uk or binge her content on the No Rest for the Vivid podcast. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#57
July 10 · 12 min
57: Behind the Rebrand; Threads, Squiggles and Letting Go of Perfectionism
This week's solo episode takes you behind the scenes of one of the most fun projects I have worked on this year - the rebrand of the Mum Means Business podcast and my photography business, Victoria Phipps Photography. I share why I decided the time was right to invest in a professional graphic designer, what the process actually looked like and how working with the brilliant Liz Mosley of Building Your Brand helped me to see the threads running through everything I do for the very first time. But this episode is about more than design. It is also about confidence, perfectionism and what it means to launch something before it is perfect because you finally trust yourself enough to know that the work itself is what matters most. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Why the visual identity of both my photography business and the podcast had started to feel like a different version of me and what finally prompted me to invest in a professional rebrand ✨ How I found Liz Mosley and why the trust built through years of listening to her podcast made choosing her as a designer feel completely natural — the chocolate in the post helped too ✨ The concept Liz came back with that stopped me in my tracks — threads — and how that single idea helped me see that motherhood, business, family, freedom, flexibility, community, connection and impact were running through everything I do ✨ Why the squiggles and colours of the new brand feel like a child's drawing in the best possible way - playful, positive and genuinely cheering to work with every single day ✨ How the eight week design process unfolded, from initial concepts through font hierarchies and logo variations to a brand that could stretch across multiple businesses and platforms ✨ The decision to launch the brand on the 50th episode even though the websites were not fully updated yet and why letting go of that perfectionism felt like a genuine milestone ✨ How my relationship with perfectionism has shifted over ten months of podcasting and what that reveals about confidence, competence and the slow but real work of rebuilding yourself after early motherhood ✨ The connection between this rebrand story and Yinka Ewuola's episode on legitimacy, websites and trusting your offer Takeaway for Mums in Business: Confidence can drop off a cliff in early motherhood and for a lot of women it can feel like a struggle to get it back. I've learned that confidence builds when you take action. Starting this podcast has led to healing conversations with other women which have helped to rebuild my confidence piece by piece. Previously I'd have killed myself to get this brand fully rolled out for launch day. But even as a self-confessed control enthusiast, I promise it's possible to let go of perfectionism and trust that the quality of your work is what matters most. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#56
July 7 · 1 hr
56: From Survival Mode to Scaling Your Business with Ease with Michelle Newman
Michelle Newman is a business transformation specialist, founder of Flow Business Support and an award-winning advocate for women in business. Combining years of corporate expertise with a passion for entrepreneurship and self-care, she helps founders to streamline operations, reduce overwhelm and scale sustainably without the stress. A mum of one and stepmum of seven, Michelle's own journey into entrepreneurship was born not from a carefully laid plan but from a significant life change. What followed was years of building, reacting, pivoting and slowly, intentionally finding her way to a business she genuinely belongs in. In this episode, we explore that journey in full - divorce, sepsis, breathwork, personal branding and the moment Michelle realised she had been working for her business rather than the other way around. It is a deeply honest conversation about survival mode, self-care, celebrating small wins and what it truly takes to scale with ease when life is happening all around you. 💡 "Give yourself the grace to recognise that things are not going to happen overnight. Those shifts are going to happen, but they might be micro movements towards your goals." — Michelle Newman In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How Michelle's entrepreneurial journey began not by choice but by necessity following the breakdown of her marriage and a shared business, and what it took to keep going as a single mum with a young son to provide for ✨ The physical and emotional cost of holding everything together in crisis mode, including a hospitalisation with sepsis that became a turning point she could no longer ignore ✨ How she discovered breathwork through one of her first clients and why that single session was the moment something shifted on a level she hadn't anticipated and couldn't have planned for ✨ Why finding your one restorative ritual and protecting space for it regularly is not a luxury but an act of care for everyone around you, not just yourself ✨ The evolution of Flow from a virtual assistance service into a full digital operations consultancy, including the moment she realised she had accidentally built a business she didn't enjoy ✨ Why scaling too fast without intention can leave you feeling like an employee of your own business and what Michelle did to strip it back and rebuild it on her own terms ✨ The decision to step into personal branding after years of hiding behind a business name and why that shift finally made her feel like she belonged inside her own business ✨ The ta-da list — a simple but genuinely powerful practice of recording what you actually achieved each week rather than what you didn't, and why Michelle has turned it into a notebook you can download and use yourself ✨ Why celebrating small wins is not indulgent but essential, particularly for mothers in business who are operating under entirely different constraints to everyone else ✨ The three things Michelle tells her son to strive for every day and why they are just as relevant to women in business as they are to children finding their way in the world 🎁 Download Michelle's printable Ta-Da Lists using discount code MUMLOVE, or find her Ta-Da Notebook on Amazon. About the Guest: Michelle Newman is the founder of Flow, a digital operations consultancy offering wraparound business support to entrepreneurs who are ready to scale with ease. With a background in corporate project management and process improvement, she brings both technical expertise and deep personal understanding to her work with founders. An award-winning advocate for women in business, speaker and community champion, Michelle is a mum of one and stepmum of seven who has built her business through some of life's most challenging seasons and come out the other side with a business she truly belongs in. You can connect with Michelle via Instagram at @michellenewmanflow or visit flowbusinesssupport.com. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#55
July 3 · 20 min
55. Why Consistency Alone Is Not Enough and What I'm Doing Instead
This is an honest reflection on one of the most repeated pieces of advice in the online business world: be consistent. Show up every day, post without fail, feed the algorithm! For a long time, I did exactly that. I posted on Instagram every single day for 14 months while navigating two babies under two, a new home, financial pressure and a new version of my photography business I was desperately trying to make work. At the end of it, I had 600 followers and a lot of cringe-worthy content to look back on. In this episode I share what that experience taught me, why I took the same consistency mindset into the podcast and what I've realised now I'm on the other side of 50 episodes. This episode is about energy, capacity, messaging and the quiet but radical decision to stop doing something that is not working just because you have always been told it should. I reflect on: ✨ Why consistency in marketing matters and the arguments for it, from algorithm benefits to building trust and failing faster through testing, but why consistency alone is not the whole story ✨ The honest account of posting every day for 14 months with frantic energy, unclear messaging and a following that barely grew, and what that reveals about the difference between showing up and showing up well ✨ Why my energy was the missing piece during those early years of relaunching my business, and how that frantic, unfocused output was visible to anyone landing on my account ✨ The realisation after 50 podcast episodes that doing the same thing and expecting different results is worth questioning, and why a milestone can be the perfect moment to change course ✨ Why the power has been in the pause, in the conversations, in the connections and in the moments of genuine reflection rather than in relentless daily output ✨ The shift from consistency at all costs to marketing that feels aligned with my energy and honest about my capacity as a mother running multiple strands of work ✨ Where I am choosing to be consistent going forward - the podcast, the photography education email list and the family business marketing - and where I am giving myself permission to let go ✨ The key takeaway from *Atomicon that landed hard: doing something is not always better than doing nothing, and why that reframe changes everything ✨ Why quality in content does not mean beautiful or polished but means connection, clarity of message and the human to human moment that makes someone think yes, me too *Listen to my Atomicon 2026 debrief in full Takeaway for Mums in Business: Consistency and discipline have their place. But if you are pouring all of your spare energy into content that is not moving the needle, that is not necessarily better than doing nothing. Give yourself permission to pause, reflect and come back with the energy that is actually going to land. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#54
June 30 · 1 hr 4 min
54: Burnout, Boundaries and the Healing Power of Gardening with Kendall Marie Platt
Kendall Marie Platt is a horticultural therapist, writer, speaker and founder of Adventures with Flowers. She brings together horticultural therapy and sensory-led garden design to create spaces that don't just look beautiful but actively quieten the mind, restore the nervous system and support the body and brain in a way that no amount of productivity hacking ever could. As a mother of two who has navigated burnout herself, she brings both professional expertise and deeply personal understanding to her work supporting women to create their own garden sanctuary and step off the hamster wheel before it's too late. In this episode, we explore Kendall's path from burnout to a business built around restoration and joy, and why getting your hands in the soil might be one of the most radical acts of self-care a mother in business can choose. 💡 "I want my kids to see me taking care of myself, because I want them to take care of themselves. I have to show them because it's not enough to tell them." — Kendall Marie Platt In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Kendall's personal journey from burnout to building a business rooted in horticultural therapy and why that experience is at the heart of everything she now offers ✨ How she combines horticultural therapy and sensory-led garden design to create spaces that restore rather than just impress and what that looks and feels like in practice ✨ The link between mindfulness, nature and mental health and why the garden offers something that traditional wellness practices often cannot ✨ Why so many women tie their self-worth to their productivity and how breaking that cycle is one of the most powerful things the garden can teach us ✨ The role of self-trust and intuition in both gardening and in life and why we so often wait for permission that was never ours to give away in the first place ✨ Finding flow in nature and what the rhythms of the garden can teach us about pacing ourselves in business and in motherhood ✨ Why accessible gardening is not about having a large space, a green thumb or a formal qualification but simply about showing up and starting ✨ The importance of daily joy as a genuine act of self-preservation rather than a luxury to be earned once everything else is done ✨ How reconnecting with nature can shift our relationship with our own nervous system and begin to interrupt the patterns that lead to burnout ✨ The generational patterns that Kendall has worked to break and what she hopes to model for her children through her relationship with the garden and with herself About the Guest: Kendall Marie Platt is a horticultural therapist, writer, speaker and founder of Adventures with Flowers. She works with women to create garden sanctuaries that support their mental health, lower their stress levels and provide a daily rhythm of restoration. Through her one to one programme, garden-along sessions and membership the Seed, she offers a practical, accessible and deeply therapeutic alternative to the burnout culture that so many mothers are navigating. A mother of two, Kendall is a passionate disrupter of the story that we need permission or accreditation before we can begin to tend to ourselves. You can connect with Kendall via Instagram and the Adventures with Flowers website. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!
#53
June 26 · 23 min
53: My First Atomicon; Lessons in Focus, Fear and Showing Up
Atomicon is the largest sales and marketing conference in the UK for small businesses and this year I finally went for the first time. It was not a smooth run up. Between taking the hit on a non-refundable train ticket and a last-minute rebooking to make it home for my daughter's first ever sports day, a soft brand launch timed for the exact same day and a train journey spent trying to learn Adobe Express for the first time, it felt less like a treat and more like something I was squeezing into the cracks of a very full life. But I'm so glad I made the effort! In this solo episode I share what the day actually looked like, the talks that challenged and inspired me and the moment I had to choose between walking away or being brave enough to ask for what I wanted. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The tension between mum life and business life that played out even before Atomicon began - from sports day versus conference tickets to late night brand launches and early morning trains ✨ How Erin Thomas Wong's fringe event the evening before set the perfect tone - a smaller, more intimate space full of like-minded women that eased me gently into the bigger experience ahead ✨ Andrew and Pete's 90-10 rule and why their challenge to go all in on one clear focus landed uncomfortably for someone currently spreading energy across multiple businesses and projects ✨ The talks that stopped me in my tracks, particularly Amelia Sordell on the founder brand and why craving attention for your business is not the same as craving it for yourself ✨ The moment outside the talk where I waited 45 minutes, nearly talked myself out of it and plucked up the courage to ask Amelia Sordell if she would come on this podcast ✨ Ann Handley closing the day with a brilliant talk about the importance of knowing when to slow down in a world that is constantly telling us to hurry up ✨ Why the energy, the generosity and the sheer friendliness of 1500 small business owners in one room is something every person building a business in isolation needs to experience at least once GET YOUR 2027 TICKET HERE! Takeaway for Mums in Business: There will always be a reason not to go... the logistics, the guilt, the sense that you are squeezing it in rather than savouring it. But showing up for the connections, the inspiration and the moments where you surprise yourself with your own bravery, is almost always worth it. About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!

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