Happy 12 months of mompreneur life / serial pivoting to me!
Exactly a year ago, I officially left my 9-5 to try to take the path less traveled and build a business myself.
Little did I know that it would be the most confrontational and anxiety-inducing experience ever felt and made me question all of my life decisions.
Here’s me resigning in August 2025 (nerves and all!) loool
“Are you planning to go back to a full time job?” was a question that came up several times and honestly I actually never felt the need to say “yes” to it hahaha
Even when there was no money entering my bank account for days…*cough* months… I knew things would be okay.
(Aka I had the most supportive partner cheering me on and paying off of my credit card bills buhahaa - thank you slam!!)
Also my kiddo wasn’t in child care full-time so I actually couldn’t even work full time even if I wanted to!
So yes, I rarely looked at job postings unless I stumbled upon one that offered part-time hours which eventually was something I found.
But this article will be a reflection on all of the things I’ve learned in the past 12 months and offer some advice for people who are looking to start something on their own.
Let’s go!!
Build the foundations first
In early 2025, I worked with a business coach to help me build the foundations of building a business. This included:
Choosing a business name
Creating brand guidelines
Crafting a lead magnet
Developing an email nurture flow (which included 14 automatic emails)
Building a digital product/course
Testing the digital course (with real people!)
Iterating the digital course
Promoting the digital course
Iterating the entire process (e.g. sales, marketing, product, etc.)
We didn’t dive too deep into marketing & sales on our calls but I was proud to have set up the foundations of a business up myself.
It was actually easier than I thought it would be to get everything up and running. The main thing that was holding me back (and postpone all of my launches) was my “perfectionism” - YUCK.
I spent way too much time tinkering with the course that I didn’t move onto the (more important) next steps which was acquiring customers.
So huge tip: Get things to 80% complete and just LAUNCH IT - you can always go back and change things if needed! Also, there is NO SUCH thing as “perfect” so stop striving for that and just move onto the next thing :)
Beta test your products (your first few paid clients + biggest fans will end up being the beta testers)
I gave free access to a group of people to test out my course and provide feedback on it.
Surprisingly, some of my beta testers ended up being paid clients (!!) for my additional 1:1 career coaching services.
I was HONOURED to be their career coach and was wondering why anyone would pay me when they already had access the course for FREE!
But I guess that customised 1:1 support is something people desperately needed.
So if you ever gave me your hard earned money, THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU! Thanks for believing in me. 🥹🥹
Strangers will support your business more than your friends and family
Don’t get me wrong, I do have a lot of support from my friends and family but we all work in different industries, so sometimes it’s hard for them to understand what I’m going through and what I’m doing.
But the past year, I’ve been able to connect with female entrepreneurs who are also building businesses to support their families and lifestyles and it’s nice to have support from people who get it.
Also, my fave is when I meet someone who also has a baby/toddler to raise as well as we often share the same struggles.
Word of mouth is so powerful
When I was sick with hand, foot, and mouth (YAaaaAY) and was unable to attend events, I was sorely disappointed. But I had the BEST supporters out there and had people raving about my services for me at product events I couldn’t attend. They were basically my sales team indirectly hahaha
People started spreading the word and recruited new career coaching clients at different events and I am forever grateful for that!
Word of mouth is so powerful because it’s trusted advice from a reputable human and your potential clients don’t even have to spend months watching you share content on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok to see if you are the “right” coach for them.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure some of my clients don’t follow me on social media and that’s probably why they hired me (LOLLL - cause idk, my content might get a bit cray sometimes, hahaha)
Consume only enough for you to take action and then take a break
At one point of my life, my calendar was filled with free informational webinars and dozens of emails telling me to join a new community or buy a product or service.
I was addicted to LEARNING as much as I could so anytime I stumbled upon something that sounded interesting to me, I gave them my email in exchange for whatever they were providing.
It might have been a 1 hour webinar on how to create a purposeful and sustainable business, 2 hours of how to grow your LinkedIn community, 1 hour of how to sell without social media…
I started signing up for WAY TOO many online events that I ended up just skipping the free sessions altogether.
I was OVERWHELMED.
What was the point of attending these events if I didn’t take action after?
It was a vicious cycle of making you “look productive” but not actually implementing the strategies to help you grow your business.
Tip: Only sign up to these sessions when you are ready to fully focus and consume with intention. And make sure you take action after and watch your business thrive!
Join challenges and pay for products and services when you are mentally prepared for it
One of my favourite challenges I joined was a 2-week challenge to help me build my email list.
It cost $197 AUD and was probably the fastest I paid for a product/challenge that I thought would benefit my business.
I stumbled upon the founder randomly on a women’s business Facebook group, listened to her podcast, resonated with her stories as a mompreneur, and kaboom! Decided to join the challenge as I know how important it is to grow your email list.
The challenge itself was amazingly organised and had about 20+ female entrepreneurs working towards the same goal so it felt intimate and local too (most were from Australia!).
I absolutely love being a part of communities filled with like-minded folks and everyone was so sweet and supportive so although it felt like we were in uni finishing up school projects every day (with all of the actions required from us!), we were all in it together!
Definitely love joining challenges to learn how it’s run, what I love about them, and what can be improved. One day I’ll host something - not sure what just yet. ;)
OH, and I WON a prize at the end of the challenge too (guess what award I won!?)
OF COURSE I WOULD WIN THE CHEERLEADER ONE! hahaha
Pivot, pivot, pivot but also enjoy the process
From career coach to mama finding her spark again to writing newsletters on LinkedIn to getting into personal branding + website design, ya girl pivoted a LOT of times (WHEE!).
And my latest pivot included me joining an energy startup doing product design + marketing thangs (YAY!).
Y’all you don’t know how chaotic, fun, and slightly overwhelmed I was throughout these past 12 months lol
This video captures the last 12 months in 60 seconds
Currently, I’ve been having the BEST time working with the lil startup (it’s just 3 of us!) and playing with AI to build some cool things, so I’ll probably stick around for a while haha
But I’ll continue taking on any additional freelance work as well - helping entrepreneurs with website design, personal branding, and being unhinged on LinkedIn (honestly my fave thing to do, lol).
To celebrate our first week there, we got mochi ice cream!!! YUM (did i just join the BEST team!?)
Continue to work towards your dream and build a meaningful life
Of course, I don’t want to stay stuck at one job forever (soz boss!) so my goal is to continue working towards building a self-sustaining business.
I have a better direction of what I want to do but of course, good things take time…
Still unsure of my relationship with social media…
On one hand, I know there are endless opportunities connecting with people across the world but on the other hand, I just want to live a simple life enjoying my time and not having to design things just “for the algorithm”.
Welp! That’s just a sliver of the things I learned in these past 12 months.
Cheers to more exciting things to come!
xoxo, Kim
P.S. - If you ever feel like you’re stuck in a rut, feel free to slide into my DMs @kimbocake_ on IG or LinkedIn - always happy to chat!!