Mum Means Business

Epizodes

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  76: We Do Not Argue With a Slug; Shann Jones MBE on Living Systems and Leadership 15.09.2026 52min

  Shann Jones MBE built Chuckling Goat from her kitchen table into an international natural health brand serving over 300,000 customers, but the story behind it began with a goat, an overproduction of milk and a desperate act of love when her husband Rich’s life threatening MRSA infection left doctors with nothing more to offer. In this episode, Shann shares how she rejected the language of war used throughout medical literature and instead turned to the principles of living systems, covering Rich in kefir in an instinctive experiment that ultimately saved his life. From that crisis grew both a thriving family business and a profound philosophy on leadership, connection and why living systems, including our own bodies and businesses, never argue with a slug. A rich, moving and genuinely fascinating conversation about resilience, nature and starting before you feel ready.
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  75: My Brain Mistook a Webinar for a Hungry Lion 11.09.2026 10min

  In this solo episode, recorded from the uneasy stretch of a launch lull, I look back at the stories that delayed the launch of my Print Over Pixels course for nearly two years and the very first webinar I ever delivered to just two photographers that left me needing a shower afterwards to wash the anxiety away! This is an honest look at the battle between a brain wired to keep us safe and the growth that only happens when we override it anyway. From imposter stories to the realisation that ready is a decision rather than a feeling, this episode is a reminder that you don’t need anyone else’s permission to take up space. The only approval that matters is your own.
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  74: Why It's Not You, It's the System with Leila Ainge 08.09.2026 1h 11min

  Leila Ainge is a psychologist and doctoral researcher whose work explores belonging, identity and psychological safety in online freelance communities. In this episode, she shares the anxiety-fuelled corporate exit that led her into business with no plan whatsoever, and makes a compelling case for why we should be talking about imposter phenomenon rather than imposter syndrome... a shift that moves the responsibility from the individual to the systems and cultures around us. From the surprising ways women reproduce old patterns even in supportive female communities to the deep discomfort so many feel around discussing profit and pricing, this is a rich, research-backed conversation that will make you question how many of the limiting stories you carry were ever really yours to begin with.
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  73: I Don't Care What Sarah Jane Is Up to Anymore 04.09.2026 16min

  In this solo episode I’m going behind the scenes of the fourth launch of Print Over Pixels, my signature course for family photographers. But first, I take you back to where it all began with a lonely maternity leave, a podcast episode about a $35,000 course launch and 17 years of running my photography business exactly like everyone else in the industry, chasing the going rate and wondering why I was so busy and yet so broke. This is the story of the pivot that changed everything: discovering in-person sales, learning to lead with print over digital files, and finally feeling like my experience actually matters. I don’t care what Sarah Jane Photography up the road is charging anymore and I want every photographer listening to feel the same way about their own work.
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  72: The Accidental Entrepreneur; Building a Global Tuition Business Around Motherhood with Jane Bilham 01.09.2026 58min

  Jane Bilham’s tutoring business started with no plan at all, just a way to reclaim a small piece of her identity after stepping away from a senior leadership role in education following the birth of her son. What began as £25-an-hour sessions in a local library has grown into Vireo Tuition, a global business with over 60 tutors, alongside Vireo Academy, which has helped over 1000 British tutors access the same daytime flexibility that transformed Jane’s own family life. In this episode, she shares the honest, organic story of that growth, the identity crisis of leaving a career she loved, and the sleepless night that followed when her sister-in-law pointed out something she had never quite let herself believe: that she was, in fact, running a business. A relatable, encouraging conversation about confidence, pricing, delegation and building something extraordinary without ever having a five-year plan.
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  71: When Is Enough Enough? Burning The Midnight Oil This Summer 28.08.2026 9min

  Back in episode 59 I laid out my plan for surviving the summer holidays as a self-employed parent. Now, in the final week, I’m checking in honestly about how that plan actually held up against six weeks of real life... the interview-free zone that lasted about five minutes, the unexpected Meta ads win, the course modules that still haven’t been re-recorded and three surprising nights of proper sleep in a campervan in Pembrokeshire. This is an audibly tired, honest debrief on the ongoing tension between being present with my kids and finding myself back on the laptop once they’re asleep, and the question I’m still sitting with: when you run a business around your children, when is enough actually enough?
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  70: Kindly Blunt; Helen Bullen on Business, Cancer and the Power of Doing It Your Way 25.08.2026 1h 10min

  Helen Bullen built two successful osteopathy clinics, wrote four books and became one of her local Chamber of Commerce’s most decorated business owners, all while raising two children through divorce and navigating a stage three cancer diagnosis with remarkable humour and resilience. In this episode, she shares the honest story behind it all, from air beds and a bucket for a fridge in the early days of single motherhood, to naming her chemotherapy line Percy and her boobs Agnes and Bea! Known for her trademarked ’Kindly Blunt’ approach, Helen offers wise, funny and genuinely moving perspective on building a business that flexes with every chapter of motherhood, why perfection is overrated and why doing it your way is always the right way.
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  69: Turning the Volume Up; What My Human Design Revealed About Playing It Small 21.08.2026 20min

  After recording episode 68 with human design practitioner Emily Armitage, I was curious enough to book my own alignment session. In 90 minutes she gave me an unnervingly accurate map of my personality, my patterns and the real reason my marketing has felt stuck. In this solo episode I share what I learned: 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. Most powerfully, I discovered that my ideal audience wants disruption, not palatability and that turning the volume up rather than down might be the shift my marketing has needed all along. An honest, personal episode about what happens when you finally give yourself permission to be exactly who you are.
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  68: Astrology With Knobs On; Human Design for Financially Ambitious Women with Emily Armitage 18.08.2026 1h

  Emily Armitage is a business and identity strategist who uses human design to help financially ambitious women build businesses that work with their energy and in their season of life. In this episode, she unpacks what human design actually is, how it differs from other personality frameworks and why it has become such a powerful tool for helping women cut through the noise of advice that was never designed for someone in their particular season of life. She also speaks with remarkable honesty about her own journey through early motherhood, an autism and OCD diagnosis and the deeply personal reason financial independence sits at the heart of everything she does. A rich, fascinating and genuinely illuminating conversation about self-discovery, visibility and building a business that finally fits who you are.
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  67: SEO, GEO and Why I Asked Claude to Fix My Invisible Website 14.08.2026 12min

  In this solo episode I share what happened when a last minute photography inquiry through Google Maps sent me down a long overdue rabbit hole into the visibility of my own website. Spoiler: it was essentially invisible. From a nostalgic look back at the early days of blogging and SEO to a crash course in GEO - Generative Engine Optimization - and a surprisingly productive late night conversation with Claude, this is the honest, unglamorous account of a solopreneur trying to get her head around a fast-moving topic during the summer holidays. If your website has been quietly gathering dust while you pour all your energy into social media, this one might just be the nudge you need.
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  66: F*** Mum Guilt; Leila Green on Breaking Up with the Inner Critic for Good 11.08.2026 50min

  Leila Green is the founder of the F*** Mum Guilt movement, mother of triplets and one of the UK’s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs and she is on a mission to take mum guilt seriously. In this episode, she shares her remarkable journey from six-figure solo founder to navigating two miscarriages and a triplet pregnancy and explains why the casual way we talk about mum guilt is masking a genuine maternal mental health crisis. With 95% of mothers experiencing it and one in four avoiding leaving the house for fear of judgement, this is not something to laugh off over coffee. A conversation about compassion over comparison, drowning out the noise and finally trusting yourself as both a mother and a woman in business.
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  65: The One Where We Had 9 Months to Raise £450k 07.08.2026 19min

  In 2018, with no fundraising experience, no budget and an entry deadline just weeks away, I sent an email to the RHS proposing a commemorative show garden at Chelsea to celebrate the Normandy veterans of the Second World War. What followed was nine months of relentless fundraising, unexpected allies, a 75 Reasons campaign I am still proud of and a garden that somehow came to life against all the odds. In this solo episode I share the full story of the D-Day 75 garden - from the first wild idea to the moment on the final day of Chelsea when I realised we had actually done it and the single most important lesson the whole experience taught me. The trick is to ask.
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  64: Making Dark Chocolate Fun; Positive Psychology and Trusting Your Instincts with Ella McKay 04.08.2026 1h 2min

  Ella McKay is the co-founder of FATSO, a premium dark chocolate brand born from a lockdown conversation about why dark chocolate had become so boring and built in just three years into a product stocked by retailers around the world. In this episode, she shares the story of going from corporate marketing to full-time founder, the values-led decision to partner with a purpose-driven Colombian chocolate grower and the role that positive psychology and maternal instinct have played in shaping both her business and her approach to motherhood. A warm, energising conversation about trusting yourself, following what lights you up and why letting go of the shoulds might just be the best business decision you ever make.
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  63: Van Life with Little People; the Unglamorous Reality of Working and Travelling with Kids 31.07.2026 9min

  In this solo episode, recorded from a converted VW Crafter somewhere in northern France, I’m pulling back the curtain on the unglamorous reality of van life with two small children. From a £50k build that definitely wasn’t budgeted for to a penguin potty making a comeback and a business that has largely had to fend for itself, this is the honest version of what working and travelling with little people actually looks like. It is also a love letter to the chaos — the memories being made, the rituals bedding in and the particular magic of seeing France through the eyes of two small girls who are simply happy that everyone is together. A reminder that sometimes the content can wait, the emails can wait and the moments you are making right now are the ones that matter most.
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  62: Emma Bardwell on Mum Guilt vs. Role-Modelling and Building a Business in a Man's World 28.07.2026 48min

  Emma Bardwell left a career in recruitment in 2015 with two small daughters and a desire for flexibility, and built what is now a multi-location recruitment business specialising in security and facilities management, including a 24-hour operations centre in India. In this episode, she speaks with refreshing honesty about the realities of those early years: three phones, Christmas Day shift-filling and the particular kind of mum guilt that comes from being physically present but mentally elsewhere. She also reflects on what her daughters, now 17 and 19, actually remember and it turns out they don’t remember her being absent, they remember her being busy and chasing her dreams. A conversation about role-modelling, backing yourself in rooms full of men and what a decade of building something from nothing really looks like.
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  61: The Podcast Turns One; Lessons, Downloads and a Glass of Wine in Brittany 24.07.2026 12min

  The Mum Means Business podcast has turned one and I am marking the occasion from a bench on the shoreline of Brittany with a glass of wine and a slice of chocolate gateau. In this solo episode I share the three biggest lessons the past year of podcasting has taught me - taking action when you feel stuck, the power of finding your people and why things simply take time. I also share my download stats openly, because I could not find enough of this kind of transparency when I was starting out and I want to be that resource for someone else. From 1000 downloads at four months to nearly 5000 at the one year mark, this is the honest, unfiltered version of what year one of building something from nothing actually looks like. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been along for the ride.
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  60: Stop Calling It a Side Hustle and Start Building a Real Business with Beth Heyer 21.07.2026 1h 3min

  Beth Heyer launched Babysitting Connection from her kitchen table in Texas six weeks before COVID hit and rather than folding, she scaled to over 700 families across six locations and was named Austin Businesswoman Employer of the Year by 2022. In this episode, she shares the story of going all in from day one as a single mum, the power of delegating early and the membership model that gave her predictable recurring revenue without hustling her kids’ lives away. From validating your business idea with real customers before touching your branding to building an abundance mindset that embraces rather than fears competition, Beth’s energy and conviction are impossible not to catch. A conversation for every woman who is ready to stop calling it a side hustle and start treating her business like the real thing it is.
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  59: Sliding into the Summer Holidays as a Business-Building Mum 17.07.2026 15min

  In this solo episode, recorded on the first day of the summer holidays, I’m getting real about what this season actually looks like when you are a mother with a business to run. From a van packed for France to a course that needs re-recording and a boundary I already broke before the holidays even started, this is the unfiltered version. I share what I will and won’t be doing over the summer, what the Meta ads wobble taught me about paying attention, and the one promise I am making to my daughter for August. If you are sliding into the summer holidays feeling underprepared, a little guilty and nowhere near ready to switch off, this episode is for you and you are very much not alone.
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  58: Why Wanting More Money Doesn't Make You a Bad Mum with Claire Hill 14.07.2026 1h 12min

  Claire Hill is the Queen of Self-Belief and founder of the Bank programme, and she is on a mission to help women stop leaking money, energy and power so their income can finally match how brilliant they are. In this episode, she shares her 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 and unpacks why wanting more money does not make you a bad mum, a selfish person or any of the other things we have been quietly conditioned to believe. From the pasta theory of money as energy to the concept of honey money and warrior energy, this is a rich, confronting and deeply liberating conversation for any mother in business who is ready to create a little space and let abundance in.
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  57: Behind the Rebrand; Threads, Squiggles and Letting Go of Perfectionism 10.07.2026 12min

  In this solo episode I’m pulling back the curtain on the rebrand of the Mum Means Business podcast and my photography business and sharing what the process taught me about confidence, perfectionism and finally trusting myself enough to launch before everything is perfect. Working with graphic designer Liz Mosley of Building Your Brand, I discovered a concept that changed the way I see everything I do: threads. Motherhood, business, family, freedom, flexibility, community, connection and impact — all running through every strand of my work. This episode is as much about the slow, quiet rebuild of confidence after early motherhood as it is about squiggles and colour palettes, and I hope it resonates with any mother in business who has ever waited to feel ready before sharing what she has built.