There’s this unspoken rule that success looks like a 9–5 job, a full calendar and a fancy job title. But if you’re a mum, that version of success can feel completely out of reach and if I’m honest, it nearly broke me trying to chase it.
Before I started BabyBeats, I was a mum of three, trying to earn a living without losing myself. I’d gone from teaching back to back fitness classes to earning £40 a month on maternity allowance. Sending my children to nursery or a childminder would have cost more than I made. I felt trapped, invisible and completely lost in being “someone’s mum.”I loved my children more than anything but I missed me.
That’s when I stopped trying to fit into a version of success that didn’t fit me anymore and decided to create my own.
For years, I thought success meant climbing the ladder, taking on more clients, more hours, more everything. But when you’ve got a baby on your hip and a toddler tugging at your leg, that ladder doesn’t feel so steady anymore. You start to realise you don’t want to climb higher you just want to stop falling behind.
So I redefined success. For me, it became about freedom. Being able to pick my children up from school, watch the nativity and still build something that felt meaningful and powerful.
And maybe that’s the thing we forget: success doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. It can look like working during nap times or choosing to finish at 2.30pm. It can look like creating something that grows with you, instead of drains you.
When I first started, I didn’t have a business plan, or a studio, or even a clue how it would work. I had four new mums in my living room and an idea that women deserved more support after birth. We were crammed into my tiny lounge, yoga mats squished together, babies wriggling, toys everywhere. It wasn’t polished but it was powerful. It worked not because it was perfect but because it was real.
That’s what I want you to know: you don’t need to wait for perfect. There’s no magical “right time.” The children won’t suddenly stop needing you, the money won’t just appear, the confidence won’t land out of nowhere. You build those things by starting small now.
I used to think the busier I was, the more successful I’d be. But I learned that being busy isn’t the same as building something that lasts. I wanted a business that worked for my life, not one that stole from it. So I started putting boundaries in place. I built systems. I said no when I needed to. And do you know what? The world didn’t end. The washing still got done. The business actually started to run smoother because I stopped trying to do everything, all at once, all the time.
That’s the reality of being a working mum, it’s not about balance, it’s about boundaries. You can’t pour from an empty cup, no matter how pretty the cup looks on Instagram.
And the biggest thing I’ve learned? You need your people. Motherhood can be lonely. Business can be lonely. But when you put the two together, it can feel isolating if you don’t have community. That’s why I built my business as a network of women first and a business second. The women who join us aren’t competition; they’re teammates. We share ideas, frustrations, small wins and big dreams. When one of us succeeds, we all do.When I first started, I obsessed over how things looked, the logo, the branding, the perfect Instagram grid. But all of that fades if your purpose isn’t strong enough. BabyBeats became a movement when I stopped chasing the image and focused on the impact.
Now, every time a new mum walks into a class exhausted and leaves smiling, that’s what success looks like. Every time one of our franchisees tells me she’s earned an income around school runs, that’s what success looks like. It’s real, it’s meaningful and it matters.We’ve gone from a few mums in my living room to a national brand, a bestselling book (I’m Fine: The Truth About Becoming a Mum) and a model that helps women across the UK build businesses that fit around family life. But at its heart, BabyBeats is still the same, women supporting women.
Success doesn’t always look shiny. Sometimes it looks like late nights, messy notepads and cold coffee. But it also looks like purpose. It looks like choice. It looks like freedom.
So if you’re a mum wondering if you can build something for yourself, you can. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t need to wait for the right time. You just need to start.Because success isn’t something you find it’s something you create.