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I have spent a couple of years grappling with the same question: how do I piece together all the different elements of my business and communicate what I offer? I am a multi-passionate woman with ADHD tendencies, I love everything I do and I cannot bring myself to niche! This week, after the conversations at Wilder: Live, the brand narrative workshop with Mums Who Build and the deep work inside Pippa Goulden’s Get Known Sprint, it all started tumbling around in my head. In this solo episode, I share what finally clicked. Whether it is this podcast, my maternity and family photography, my portraits for female founders or the courses and mentoring I offer photographers, the thread running through all of it is the same: I help mums feel seen. I talk about what it is like to be a mother in 2026, how easily we lose ourselves in the early days and why I have such a beef with the word “just”. I also tell you about a decision that feels a bit scary. After months of resisting advice from Nicky Denson-Elliott, I am moving away from running two separate Instagram accounts and stepping into my own personal brand. It is about taking up space, and I cannot ask other mums to do that if I am not willing to do it myself. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Why I cannot bring myself to niche and why I have decided that money is not the only measure of success ✨ The single thread that ties the podcast, the photography and the education work together: helping mums feel seen, believe in themselves and chase their dreams ✨ What it is like to be a mother in 2026, and how our perceived value and confidence can nosedive just when we are at our most vulnerable ✨ Why I have been far more comfortable posting on behalf of a podcast or a charity than posting as myself, and what Nicky Denson-Elliott helped me see from the outside ✨ The baby step I am taking now, and the fear behind it that people will not like me if I take up space in my own name Takeaway for Mums in Business: “It’s hard to be a mother in 2026, but we can do hard things. If the conversations I’ve had on this podcast are anything to go by, and they are, we can do amazing things.” If you are carrying stories about being too much, or finding it easier to show up on behalf of a brand than as yourself, you are not alone. Take the baby step and let it feel scary. 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!

Sunaina Sinha Haldea founded Cebile Capital in 2011, boldly entering the heavily male dominated world of private equity advisory at the age of thirty. She built a diverse business where more than half of the employees were women or minorities, and her work earned her repeated spots on the Dow Jones list of the 50 Most Influential People in Private Equity. In 2021 Cebile was acquired by Raymond James, which built a brand new global division around it and named Sunaina Global Head of Private Capital Advisory. At the point of acquisition she was the only woman of colour to have completed such a deal in the history of the industry. She did all of this while raising three children, with three under five in quick succession, a global business and no family living nearby. Today Sunaina is a regular on the BBC and CNBC, holds board seats and chairs a public company board. She is also a passionate advocate for maternal mental wellbeing in the workplace and a firm believer in the power of daily meditation. In this conversation, Sunaina speaks candidly about the realities behind the headlines: hiding pregnancies from prospective clients, pumping breast milk in airports and negotiating a deal while timing contractions. She shares why her husband taught her to treat childcare as capital expenditure rather than operating expense, why she believes the idea of having it all at once is a myth and how to raise capital when you are an outsider. Throughout, she returns to one idea: we cannot control outcomes, but we can master how we show up. 💡 “You can have it all over the arc of a lifetime. Over the arc of a decade you can look back and say: I did manage to get a lot of stuff in, but just not at the same time.” - Sunaina Sinha Haldea In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How the entrepreneurial bug bit at Stanford during the first dot-com boom, and why Sunaina chose to start Cebile on her own terms at thirty ✨ Why her husband’s advice to treat spending on help as an investment rather than an ongoing burn changed the way she thought about childcare ✨ The practical systems that held their family together, from two stable nannies to the rule that she and her husband do not travel at the same time ✨ Why Sunaina believes the idea of having it all at once is the biggest disservice women have done themselves, and the advice she received at twenty that you can have it all but not all at once ✨ Choosing where to be present with her children, from breakfast and bedtime to protected weekends, and letting others meet the needs that someone else can meet ✨ The honest memories of early motherhood in a male dominated industry, from hiding pregnancies and pumping milk in airports to a first work call four hours after giving birth ✨ Why it is okay to have days when it all feels too much, and why building a village matters ✨ Three pieces of advice for raising capital: network relentlessly, find trusted mentors including a well-connected man who can open doors and consider joining forces with a connected co-founder ✨ Why every painful moment is here to teach us something, and how Sunaina runs her own lessons learned sessions ✨ Why a daily meditation practice builds the resilience of the mind, and why she believes it is the investment mums are most likely to put off About the Guest: Sunaina Sinha Haldea is Global Head of Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James and the founder of Cebile Capital, which she launched in 2011 and which was acquired by Raymond James in 2021. A Stanford University graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School, she has been named repeatedly to the Dow Jones list of the 50 Most Influential People in Private Equity and is a regular contributor on the BBC and CNBC. She sits on company boards, chairs a public company board and was an early investor in and chair of Mindful Chef. She is a mum of three and an advocate for maternal mental wellbeing in the workplace. You can connect with Sunaina on LinkedIn, where she is most active. 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!

I have always had a love-hate relationship with London. I grew up in the Northwest, only glimpsed the capital from a car window on the way to the Dover ferry and was 17 before I properly visited. I later spent my twenties up and down to London like a yo-yo, and a few short months living there in 2014 taught me that the city energises me in small doses and drains me in large ones. In this solo episode, I reflect on a busy week of networking in London and why I keep going back, even though there are perfectly good events closer to home. The answer is the women. Earlier this week I attended Wilder Live, hosted by Nicky Denson-Elliott, and the following day my first in-person MOB meetup in Stoke Newington. Both left me energised, expansive and surrounded by women who understand what it means to dance between ambition and nurture. In this episode I reflect on: ✨ Why London still feels like a playground in small doses and a drain in large ones, and why I keep making the trip for the women I find there ✨ What a year changed at Wilder Live: from walking in knowing three or four people to finding myself among friends, and why community over competition was the agenda of the day ✨ What came up in a brand narrative workshop at my first in-person MOB meetup, and the resistance many millennial mothers feel about getting visible and telling their story without centring themselves too much ✨ Why women can be cruel to one another but can also be the greatest support, and why I have seen far more of the latter since becoming a mother ✨ Why being a founder is a lot like being a mother: it is up to us to build our own village Takeaway for Mums in Business: We were never meant to parent in isolation, and nor can we build a thriving business in isolation. If nobody in your real life understands what you are building or why, there are women out there who do. Step into a room with them, online or in person, in your local town or 200 miles away. Whatever works for you. If you’re ready to connect with like-minded women, here are the communities I mentioned: Wilder Live 2027 tickets The Wilder Collective Doing It for the Kids Mums Who Build 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!

Amelia Sordell has been starting businesses since she was 13, when she began buying designer clothes from thrift stores and sample sales and selling them on eBay. At university she baked brownies, cupcakes and cookies for students on their way into lectures and at 21 she founded the fashion brand Eitherside, which grew to 15 international retailers before a series of decisions brought it to an end. She rebuilt in the recruitment industry, using personal branding to bring in quality leads, and in 2020 she launched Klowt from her bedroom while in lockdown with two children under four. Klowt grew quickly into a team of 17 and an office on New Bond Street. More recently, Amelia made the bold decision to descale, moving from delivery to consulting and building a business that fits her values rather than her ego. In this conversation, she shares the story behind each of those chapters with characteristic honesty. She explains why she jumped off the cliff having already built the boat, how small uncomfortable moments build the confidence for the big ones and why embarrassment is simply the price of entry. We talk about why women hold themselves back, what money makes possible and why the best personal brands are really about the audience. It is a conversation about doing it messy and doing it anyway. 💡 “You quitting your job and starting a business or standing on stage or doing a podcast aren’t actually the moments that make you confident. It’s all the little moments of courage that you did before that moment.” - Amelia Sordell In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Why Amelia describes herself as unemployable and how a lifelong appetite for opportunity led to businesses at 13, at university and at 21 ✨ Launching Klowt in lockdown with £1,400 in the bank, a mortgage, two children in nursery and a plan she had already tested while employed ✨ Why she believes the usual advice about saving six months of runway is flawed, and why learning on someone else’s dime is the smarter foundation ✨ Big red button moments, and why confidence is built through small uncomfortable acts long before the big leap ✨ Why embarrassment is the price of entry, and what her daughter’s fall from a horse taught them both about getting back on ✨ The gap she sees between how men and women approach visibility, qualifications and talking about money, and why she believes so much of the holding back is self-imposed ✨ Growing a team of 17, taking an office on New Bond Street and the birthday morning that made her ask what the point of it all was ✨ Why she now calls it founder-led marketing, why the best personal brands put the spotlight on other people and what she would tell her eight-year-old self About the Guest: Amelia Sordell is the founder of Klowt, a personal branding agency that helps founders, executives and their teams build revenue-generating personal brands. A serial entrepreneur who started her first business at 13, she previously founded the fashion brand Eitherside before building a career in recruitment and launching Klowt in 2020. She has since descaled the business and moved from delivery to consulting, working with founders on brand, offer and positioning. Amelia is a mum of two. Search for Amelia Sordell on any social media platform and you'll find her! She is particularly active 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!

I have been binge-listening to the Mambition podcast on the recommendation of episode 46 guest and fellow podcaster Fiorenza Rossini. An interview with Lauren Currie MBE, founder of Upfront, got me thinking about confidence, visibility and the resistance so many of us feel to taking up space. I was turning it over all day. In this solo episode I reflect on where my own confidence comes from and the moment the patriarchy added a "too" in front of the word "confident" - teaching me to read every room and make myself more likeable. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Where my confidence comes from: parents who worked hard, backed each other and took us along for the ride of their lives while still making us feel safe and wanted ✨ The "too" that the patriarchy added: too bossy, too outspoken, too big for my boots, and the habit of assessing every room and adapting to be liked ✨ Why the resistance to taking up space, hitting publish and pitching never fully disappears, and why it deserves some respect for the energy it takes to keep knocking it back ✨ How my visibility and PR work follows my energy, why showing up on Instagram every day did not work for me and what I hope to learn from Pippa Goulden's Get Known sprint ✨ Why confidence is not a fixed state, how a loving childhood can still be dented by later experiences and why the point is to keep working on it Takeaway for Mums in Business: "Confidence is not a fixed state. You can have it one day and notice it fall off a cliff the next." 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!

Sophie Catto spent years at Condé Nast Britain, rising from Branded Content Director at Tatler to Associate Publisher of The World of Interiors and House & Garden. By the end of that chapter she was navigating life as a working mother in senior corporate leadership. In March 2020 she also took the leap into entrepreneurship, co-founding Catto & Co alongside her husband, combining his construction experience with her commercial expertise and aesthetic vision from years in luxury home publishing. Launching a business in early parenthood is a challenge in itself, and doing it at the outbreak of a global pandemic brought a whole new wave of surprises. In this episode, Sophie shares what it was like to return from maternity leave just as lockdown began, grieving her father-in-law while launching a business, and why having children created an ambition she had never felt before. We talk about the workplaces that still need to change, the questions investors ask female founders and the Motherless Mothers charity she supports as a trustee. Throughout, Sophie keeps coming back to the same message: motherhood adds far more to your CV than it takes away. 💡 "There's so much negativity in the press around the motherhood penalty and everything you lose. What we wanted to do with Motherhood Works is champion all of the incredible skills that you pick up as a mother: the resilience, the negotiation skills, being able to manage your time incredibly effectively." - Sophie Catto In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Sophie's return from her first maternity leave just before lockdown, and the wobble of leaving her son for full days while needing her work to be purposeful enough to justify it ✨ Founding Catto & Co with her husband the week before lockdown, and the unusual experience of building a family business while holding down a senior corporate role ✨ Moving in with her mother-in-law the day her father-in-law passed in March 2020, and the strange comfort of a multigenerational household passing a one-year-old around between meetings ✨ How having children changed what Sophie wanted from her work, and why spending her days pushing consumerism in publishing no longer felt purposeful once her own priorities had shifted ✨ The decision to leave Condé Nast for AllBright, and what it has meant to help lead a business acquired and combined with everywoman, which champions women in male-dominated industries ✨ The honest admission that she did not love maternity leave, and why it is perfectly okay to say so out loud ✨ What came out of the research behind Motherhood Works, from the nervousness women feel about returning to work through to the very different challenges of mothering teenagers and young adults ✨ Why so many women need to feel they have permission to set their own rules, from leaving the office on time for nursery pick-up to asking line managers for the support they need ✨ The questions investors ask female founders about whether they plan to have children, and what that reveals about the challenges entrepreneurs face outside the protection of corporate HR policy ✨ Why everyone is winging it all the time, and what it has taught Sophie about saying no and prioritising ✨ Her involvement with the Motherless Mothers charity, the community it has built and why she believes so strongly in supporting women who are mothering without their own mum About the Guest: Sophie Catto is Joint Managing Director of AllBright everywoman and a Non-Executive Director of Catto & Co - the design, architecture and construction business she co-founded with her husband in 2020. After more than a decade in luxury publishing at Condé Nast Britain, she joined AllBright in 2022, where she now oversees community, events, digital platform and brand partnerships for a network supporting women at every stage of career and life. She is also a trustee of the Motherless Mothers charity and a mum of two sons. You can connect with Sophie on LinkedIn, find AllBright everywoman at allbrighteverywoman.com, and discover more about Catto & Co's design, architecture and construction work across London and the Home Counties. 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!

This week's solo episode was recorded on International Podcast Day, which feels fitting, because four episodes from podcasts I guested on over the summer all landed within days of each other last week. And with that came the familiar, uneasy feeling: people are going to be sick of me. So I wanted to talk honestly about those four very different conversations, the stories my brain still tells me about taking up too much space and the genuinely ironic realisation that even though I teach photographers a sales strategy, marketing myself still feels stretchy in a way that chatting about motherhood never does. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ A quick tour of the four podcasts - Liz Mosley's Building Your Brand on the rebrand process, a podcast swap with Amanda Reidy on matrescence and identity, A Thought I Kept with Claire Fitzsimmons and The Lifted Lens with fellow photographer Sophie Bowdler on in-person sales ✨ Why the same old story about being too much still shows up, even after a year of practising taking up space on this podcast ✨ The noticeable difference in how it feels to talk about motherhood, where I am happy to chat for days and consider myself the ultimate authority on my own experience, versus talking about what I actually sell ✨ The irony of teaching in-person sales, a strategy I have refined through years of mistakes and genuinely believe in, while still finding it harder to position myself as an authority than almost anything else ✨ Why in-person sales does not feel like selling to me, it feels like chatting, guiding and giving clients exactly what they have already said they want, much like asking a waiter to recommend a wine ✨ The reminder that being sold to, when done well, is a genuinely positive experience, and why photographers so often assume a passive digital gallery feels less salesy when actually it is simply passive ✨ Why I never set out to use this podcast as a typical top of funnel strategy, and why connecting with other women building businesses alongside raising children has turned out to be the whole point ✨ How the conversations on this podcast have shifted me from frantic impatience to genuine faith in the process, trusting that small, aligned actions will move me forward even when I cannot see the whole path ✨ The ongoing, honest acknowledgement that there is still work to do in every part of my business, and that neither I nor my business will ever be a finished product Takeaway for Mums in Business: Being sold to can be a genuinely positive experience when it is done right. Whether it is a waiter recommending wine or a photographer guiding you towards the right print, good guidance is not something to be afraid of offering. 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!

Sonica Beckmann is a British Asian qualified solicitor, entrepreneur, UK 40 Under 40 winner and mum of two. Raised in a low income migrant household, she was the first in her family to attend university and went on to build a distinguished legal career across major multinational organisations. By the age of 31 she had been appointed Head of Legal at a multi-billion dollar company. In 2023, Sonica made the decision to diversify from law and pursue a long held vision, founding the London based womenswear brand House of Kind. Blending affordable luxury tailoring with a values driven ethos, House of Kind is rooted in the belief that kindness is a powerful form of leadership. In this episode, Sonica shares the harrowing story from her early days in law that shaped her entire mission and how that experience, alongside years spent navigating rigid, hierarchical corporate cultures across three countries, led her to build a brand grounded in something radically simple: kindness. It is a conversation about grief, resilience, corporate culture, motherhood and why putting humanity back into leadership should never have been considered unconventional in the first place. 💡 "We need a global marker of a good human being. A reminder to be kind and that we're of the same kind." - Sonica Beckmann In this conversation, we explore: ✨ The devastating story of Sonica's first six weeks as a trainee solicitor, kept in the office until 2am the same week her father passed away, and the archived files that never needed to be touched ✨ How that experience, alongside her mother's stroke a month later, forged a determination to complete her training contract no matter the personal cost, because qualifying meant no one could ever take that from her ✨ Why clothing became such a powerful symbol for Sonica, from arriving at Chancery Lane in a hand-me-down suit that quietly signalled she did not fit in, to founding a brand built around a different kind of uniform altogether ✨ The founding vision behind House of Kind, clothing with subtle details that allow women to recognise an ally the moment they walk into a room ✨ Why the mismatch between the school day and the working day is so fundamentally broken, and why flexibility built on trust rather than suspicion consistently produces happier, more productive teams ✨ The honest reality of returning to the UK after a decade in Kuwait, Dubai and Singapore, and the shock of rediscovering how difficult everyday systems, from healthcare to childcare costs, had become ✨ How House of Kind launched through Sonica's own network in the fashion industry, and why she believes showing genuine kindness throughout her career, without ever expecting anything back, is what made people so willing to help when she finally asked ✨ The partnership with 50:50 Parliament and the Seat at the Table T-shirt, and Sonica's belief that getting more women into rooms where decisions are made is one of the most powerful levers for lasting change ✨ Why Sonica believes fear and competition, whether between women in a boardroom or across wider society, all stem from the same root, and why community and solidarity offer a genuinely different way forward ✨ Turning 40 and the full circle realisation that after decades spent desperately trying to fit in, she has finally reached a place of not caring whether her message of kindness is considered conventional at all About the Guest: Sonica Beckmann is a qualified solicitor, entrepreneur and founder of House of Kind, a London based womenswear brand blending affordable luxury tailoring with a values driven ethos rooted in kindness. A UK 40 Under 40 winner with a distinguished legal career spanning multiple countries and major multinational organisations, she now channels that experience into building a brand and a movement that champions female solidarity, inclusivity and representation. House of Kind partners with Dress for Success Greater London, UN Women, Women for Women International, Stonewall UK and 50:50 Parliament. Sonica is also a mum of two. You can find House of Kind at houseofkind.london, on Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin where you can also connect with Sonica directly. House of Kind is also stocked in a number of Surrey based boutiques and on Wolf and Badger. 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!

This week's solo episode is a natural follow on from episode 77, where I dug into resilience and shared some of my favourite business fails. This time I want to talk about something I hadn't quite clocked before: that resilience is not linear and that as cyclical women our hormones shift how we experience our businesses from week to week, sometimes from hour to hour, no matter how well practised our resilience muscles are. Shout out to Nicky Denson-Elliott and Morin Glimmer who both get a mention. I share the wobble I had about the podcast around ten days before recording this, the flat feeling of pouring hours into a reel that reaches 231 people and what it actually felt like to sit with the very real question of whether this passion project is worth the time and energy it demands. And then I share the unexpected piece of news that arrived just when I needed it most. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Why Q3 can feel like such a challenging stretch, as the optimism of January meets the reality of fourteen weeks left in the calendar year ✨ A replay from Maureen Glimmer's session inside The Wilder Collective and the reminder that as cyclical women, our hormones genuinely shift how we feel about our businesses day to day, regardless of how resilient we are ✨ The honest wobble around download stats dipping over the summer holidays, even though it was fully expected, and why being prepared for a knock does not always soften it ✨ Admitting to the flat feeling of a reel taking two hours to make and reaching only 231 people, and questioning whether that quiet inner voice claiming not to care about metrics is entirely true ✨ The unique loneliness of being a solopreneur who has to be your own operations, marketing, accounting, therapist and cheerleader all at once, especially when carrying the mental load of motherhood at the same time ✨ The moment the news arrived that the podcast had been shortlisted in the Business and Culture category of the Independent Podcast Awards, and what a relief that felt like after a genuinely tough stretch ✨ Why entering the awards back in a more optimistic Q2, inspired by Pippa Gordon's PR advice from episode 17, is a reminder that the work we do in good moods can carry us through the harder ones ✨ Reflecting on the journey from zero to over 6000 downloads and a national award shortlisting in just fourteen months, and why that is worth celebrating regardless of the outcome on the night ✨ The Wilson Phillips inspired takeaway that holding on for one more day, even through a bad mood or a flat metric, can be exactly what it takes for good news to land Takeaway for Mums in Business: "We all have days when we feel like putting our business, our side hustle or our passion project in the bin. That is normal. But if you can hold on for one more day, you never know what might land in your inbox and change your mind." 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!

Amanda Reidy is a PE teacher, women's fitness, lifestyle and wellbeing coach, founder of Radiate Fitness, host of the Perimenopause & Motherhood podcast (formerly Happy Thriving Mums) and a passionate advocate for helping women thrive through midlife. A mum of two, she understands firsthand the realities of juggling family, work, wellbeing and the ever-evolving demands of modern life. Combining movement, mindset and nourishment, Amanda specialises in supporting working mums over 40 through what she calls the years when hormones collide, a unique stage of life where perimenopause often intersects with the demands of parenting, careers, caring responsibilities and shifting identities. In this episode, Amanda unpacks the huge and often confusing overlap between matrescence and perimenopause, why the menopause is actually just one single day rather than the years-long experience so many of us assume, and the practical, sustainable changes that can genuinely help. It is a conversation that will leave you feeling far more informed and perhaps even a little bit angry about how much of this we were never told. 💡 "This will happen to one hundred percent of the women that you know. It's not a case of maybe. Women need to be informed about it and so do the men who love them." - Amanda Reidy In this conversation, we explore: ✨ Amanda's journey from twenty years as a PE teacher to founding Radiate Fitness, and why her underlying philosophy has always been about helping people find joy in movement rather than performance ✨ The reality of trying to build a flexible business around school term times, after-school clubs and the childcare gaps that come with being a teacher herself ✨ Why Amanda's early business focus on postnatal fitness and pelvic floor health shifted towards perimenopause, and the personal experiences, including a premature baby during lockdown, that shaped that pivot ✨ The genuinely surprising clarification that menopause is a single moment in time, twelve months after your last period, and that everything before it is perimenopause, which can last for a decade or more ✨ The huge and confusing overlap between matrescence and perimenopause for women having children later in life, and why symptoms like brain fog, anxiety and exhaustion can so easily be misattributed to one or the other ✨ Why up to seven years can pass before women seek help for pelvic floor issues, and the shame and stigma that keeps so many suffering in silence ✨ The three pillars Amanda works with her clients on - nourishment, movement and mindset - and how small, sustainable changes compound into meaningful results ✨ Why sleep and stress reduction matter more than almost anything else during perimenopause, and the reframe of treating rest itself as something productive rather than something to feel guilty about ✨ The importance of strength training and regular movement for bone density and muscle mass as women move through midlife, and why it does not need to mean joining a gym ✨ Why identity work and permission to dream matter just as much as the physical symptoms, and what it means to model a joyful, thriving midlife for the next generation of daughters About the Guest: Amanda Reidy is a PE teacher, women's fitness, lifestyle and wellbeing coach and founder of Radiate Fitness. She hosts the Perimenopause & Motherhood podcast and specialises in supporting working mothers over 40 through perimenopause, combining movement, mindset and nourishment to help women feel informed, supported and genuinely excited about this next chapter of life. A mum of two, Amanda is currently developing a new programme launching in September to help more women navigate the years when hormones collide. You can connect with Amanda at radiatefitness.co.uk, on Instagram or 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!

This week's solo episode follows a heart to heart with the ladies inside my Print Over Pixels community about what it really takes to face disappointment in business and the resilience muscle every solo trader, freelancer and founder has to build along the way. So I decided to share my own catalogue of business fails. The Etsy shop that sold precisely two travel prints in two years. The maternity photography charity fundraiser that raised £199 for WWACA, which was far less than I'd hoped for. The free weekend of toddler party photography that grew my email list but didn't bring in a single booking. The Facebook group that never quite got time poor parents to pick up their camera. The 500 hand delivered booklets that didn't bring in any new clients. This episode is about all of it, the sink of disappointment when something you had real hope for falls flat and the advice from my mum that led me to treat every one of these moments like a contraction. These fails are painful in the moment, but just like contractions, once you come out the other side you never have to go through it again and you are one step closer to your goal. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The Big Wide World Prints Etsy shop, born out of a craving for creative outlet during the fog of matrescence and the two orders it generated across two years despite two hundred hours of YouTube tutorials ✨ The maternity photography fundraiser for a local women's charity that raised far less than hoped, and the honest disappointment of pitching to magazines that never took the story up ✨ The countless nos faced whilst fundraising for the D-Day 75 garden and why that story, covered fully in episode 65, remains one of the biggest lessons in perseverance ✨ The free weekend spent photographing toddler and preschool parties in exchange for email addresses, and the sobering reality of thirty unsubscribes and zero bookings from the whole exercise ✨ The Facebook group built around weekly photo recipes and why fourteen weeks and twenty members later it quietly came to an end ✨ The 500 hand delivered booklets showcasing family portraits and the deflating silence that followed a full week of door to door delivery ✨ Why the real danger is not the disappointment itself but the fixed stories we tell ourselves afterwards, that the market is too saturated, that nobody wants what we are offering, that we simply do not have what it takes ✨ The importance of separating a setback from your own self-worth and why turning disappointment inward is often the thing that actually stops people from trying again ✨ Why patience with yourself matters just as much as resilience, particularly in the early, hustling years of motherhood when it is tempting to push yourself into the ground ✨ The idea that every business fail can be treated like a labour contraction, painful in the moment, but each one brings you closer to your goal and one you will never have to face in quite that same way again Takeaway for Mums in Business: "If you can feel the disappointment, sit in it for a while and then detach yourself from the stories your mind wants to tell you, you can pick yourself up and go again. Treat every fail like a contraction. It's painful in the moment, but each one brings you closer to your goal." 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!

Shann Jones is a wife, a mother and a grandmother who brings together entrepreneurship, family life and her deep love of nature to challenge conventional thinking about leadership, resilience and what it really means to build something that lasts. Originally from the States, this former journalist and radio talk show host fell for a Welsh farmer and settled their beautiful blended family on his hillside farm overlooking the Irish Sea. A series of health issues close to home led her to discover the healing power of kefir, made from their excess goat's milk. And the rest is history. Shann became the founder and CEO of Chuckling Goat, building the business from her kitchen table into an international award-winning natural health brand serving more than 300,000 customers. In this episode, Shann shares the extraordinary story of building a business from nothing while raising a large blended family and the crisis that changed everything: when her husband Rich developed a life threatening MRSA infection and doctors told her there was nothing more they could do. What followed was a desperate, instinctive experiment rooted in nature rather than medicine, and a philosophy about leadership, business and living systems that she has carried ever since. 💡 "You don't need to know the whole path. You just need to take the next step. If you can take that next step, then you will learn and adapt and improvise and survive. That's the way living systems move, one tiny step at a time." - Shann Jones MBE In this conversation, we explore: ✨ How a goat, bought on a whim to help their son's chronic illness, led to an overproduction of milk and, eventually, the accidental discovery of kefir through a chance radio programme ✨ The reality of building a business from absolute poverty, selling soap and kefir at farmers markets for cash to buy pony carrots because they could not afford the good ones ✨ The devastating moment Rich developed a life threatening MRSA infection following major surgery, and the surgeon's verdict that there was nothing more medicine could do ✨ Why Shann rejected the language of war and battle used throughout medical literature on antibiotic resistant infections, and the radical reframe that led her to think in terms of allies rather than enemies ✨ The concept of living systems, nodes, edges and emergent behaviour, and how covering Rich in kefir instead of more antibiotics became the desperate, instinctive experiment that ultimately saved his life ✨ Why Shann believes women in business need to start before they feel ready, and why no business plan could ever teach what the journey itself teaches ✨ Bringing her children and their partners into the business as it grew, building them houses on the farm, and why she considers this the single best decision they have ever made ✨ The difference between controlling a business from the top down and creating the conditions under which a team, like any living system, can become more intelligent and function without her at the centre ✨ The concept of the map gap, the widening distance between the map we make of reality and reality itself, and why we so often defend our maps rather than updating them ✨ Why living systems, whether a coral reef, the internet, a family or a business, never argue with a slug, and what that teaches us about working with reality rather than against it About the Guest: Shann Jones MBE is the founder and CEO of Chuckling Goat, an international award-winning natural health brand serving over 300,000 customers worldwide. Combining cutting-edge microbiome science with practical, compassionate leadership, she has built her business from a kitchen table into a thriving family enterprise run alongside her husband, children and their partners on their farm overlooking the Irish Sea. She is the author of several books on health and wellbeing and is currently writing The CEO in the Garden. Shann is a wife, mother and grandmother whose life, by her own account, truly began after forty. You can connect with Shann on LinkedIn and find out everything you need to know about kefir and gut health on the Chuckling Goat 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!

This week's solo episode comes to you from the launch lull... that strange, uneasy stretch between opening the cart on a launch and closing it, when everything is scheduled, there is nothing left to do but wait and the doubts creep in. Have I done enough? Should I have pushed out more content? Is there something else I should be doing right now? This is only my fourth launch, so I am treating every attempt as a test, collecting data on what has and hasn't worked rather than expecting overnight results. But sitting in this particular lull prompted me to reflect back to where it all began: the two years it took me to settle on what I wanted to teach, the seven months it took to launch this podcast and the very first webinar I ever delivered to two photographers in a Zoom room, after which I genuinely needed a shower to wash the anxiety away! This monologue is about the stories we tell ourselves that keep us feeling like imposters, the battle with a brain that is only trying to keep us safe and why ready is a decision rather than a feeling. Shout out to Teresa Heath-Wareing for her encouragement and support without which I wouldn't be launching anything! You can listen in to my conversation with Teresa in episode 28. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ The uneasy reality of the launch lull and why treating each launch as a test rather than a verdict has made the process easier to sit with ✨ Why launching this podcast felt more possible than launching a photography course, and the realisation that being unquestionably a mum with a business was enough qualification to begin ✨ The brutal, deeply rooted stories that delayed the launch of Print Over Pixels for nearly two years, including the belief that the market was too saturated and everyone else was cleverer, more experienced and more confident ✨ The relief of finally landing on a subject that felt genuinely aligned, partly because nobody else in the UK seemed to be talking about it ✨ The first ever live webinar, delivered to just two photographers, and why it triggered a level of anxiety that ended in a much needed shower afterwards ✨ Why the brain treats new, vulnerable action like genuine danger, and what it means to override that instinct and do the thing anyway ✨ The realisation four launches later that the same webinar no longer feels dangerous, and what that reveals about how quickly we can expand our own comfort zone if we are willing to push against it ✨ Why motherhood, entrepreneurship and personal growth are so tightly intertwined, and how nurturing a business alongside a family often means confronting parts of yourself you would rather not look at ✨ The decision that no one else's permission is required to take up space, and why that belief might be the most important thing to carry into any new, frightening endeavour Takeaway for Mums in Business: "Ready is not a feeling, it's a decision. You don't need permission from anybody else to take up space. The only person who needs to give you their approval is you." 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!

Leila Ainge is a British Psychological Society accredited psychologist, doctoral researcher and podcast host whose work sits at the intersection of identity, trust and working life. Her research explores how online communities shape the experience of freelancers and independent workers, with a particular focus on belonging, psychological safety and the systems that influence confidence and participation. In this episode, Leila shares the anxiety-fuelled exit from a corporate career that led her into business, why she believes imposter phenomenon is a far more accurate term than imposter syndrome and what her doctoral research into online communities is revealing about belonging, internalised misogyny and the deeply unglamorous truth about why women hesitate to talk about profit. It is a conversation that will leave you questioning how many of the stories you tell about your own limitations were ever really yours to begin with. 💡 "It's not your mindset, it's a conditioned mindset that has been handed down to you by people who've told you to be quiet and not expect too much." — Leila Ainge In this conversation, we explore: ✨ The anxiety that built and built in a male-dominated corporate role until it came to a head over something as simple, and as telling, as needing permission to use the toilet ✨ Why Leila's entrepreneurial journey began with no grand plan, no product idea and no business model, just a decision that she could not stay where she was ✨ The moment a single role model on a Women in Leadership course, a mature student with a child who completed her doctorate, changed what Leila believed was possible for herself ✨ Why the corporate world so often makes midlife women feel invisible, and how stepping outside of it can feel disorientating even when it is exactly the right decision ✨ The difference between imposter syndrome and imposter phenomenon, and why naming something a phenomenon rather than a syndrome shifts the responsibility from the individual to the system ✨ The origins of imposter phenomenon research in 1979 and why it was never really about something being wrong with the women in question ✨ What Leila's doctoral research into online communities is uncovering about belonging, psychological safety and the surprising ways in which women reproduce the very systems they left corporate life to escape ✨ The research into internalised misogyny in women business owners, including the discomfort many feel around discussing profit, self-promotion and pricing even in spaces designed to support them ✨ Why identity does not need to be fixed, niched or consistent, and how the concept of scaffolding liminality offers a much healthier way to think about who we are as we move through different seasons of motherhood and business ✨ The advice Leila would give her eight year old self about the confidence she would lose and eventually rebuild, and what that reveals about the shrinking so many women experience on the way to adulthood About the Guest: Leila Ainge is a British Psychological Society accredited psychologist, doctoral researcher and host of the podcast Psychologically Speaking. Her research explores belonging, psychological safety and identity within online freelance and business communities, and she is known for reframing imposter syndrome as imposter phenomenon, a shift shaped by context, culture and power rather than individual failing. Alongside her academic work, Leila consults with authors, creatives and small businesses on psychology-led research and communication. She is a mum navigating her own ongoing journey through identity, entrepreneurship and midlife. You can connect with Leila at leilaainge.co.uk, on Instagram and LinkedIn and listen to her podcast Psychologically Speaking wherever you get your podcasts. 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!

This week's solo episode goes behind the scenes of the fourth launch of Print Over Pixels, my signature course helping family photographers lead with print in the digital age. Launches are full on at the best of times, and this one has arrived just as the kids went back to school and the pace of life picked up dramatically. But before diving into the launch itself, I wanted to take you back to where this all began. To the podcasts that kept me company through a lonely maternity leave, the moment I first heard the word launch used in the context of online business and the years I spent running my photography business exactly like everyone else in the industry, chasing the going rate, comparing myself to the photographer up the road and wondering why I was so busy and yet so broke. This episode is about the pivot that changed everything. Moving from selling digital files to leading with print, discovering in-person sales and finally feeling like my seventeen years of experience actually mattered. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Discovering the world of online business through podcasts during a lonely, isolating maternity leave, and the moment Jenna Kutcher's story of a $35,000 course launch first introduced me to the word launch ✨ How the online course boom of the pandemic years created a bubble of both genuine transformation and low quality courses, and why the honeymoon period ending did not mean the industry itself was going anywhere ✨ Why so many self-taught photographers, myself included, flooded into wedding and family photography during the digital revolution with huge creativity but very little business experience, and the race to the bottom that followed ✨ The reality of running a shoot and burn business model for most of my seventeen year career, delivering hundreds of digital files for a few hundred pounds and constantly having to find new clients because there was no lasting loyalty built into the model ✨ The moment everything changed when I discovered in-person sales, inviting clients to experience their photographs together rather than sending a gallery link into the void ✨ Why leading a reveal appointment became my favourite part of the process and how it transformed my relationship with my own work, my pricing and my confidence ✨ The neuroscience behind why printed photographs matter, how looking at a meaningful photograph reactivates the same neural pathways as living the moment itself, and why that memory deepens every time we look at it ✨ Why I no longer want to hand my clients more digital files to add to the trillions already sitting unloved in storage, and why print became the more meaningful, more valuable thing to offer instead ✨ What it has taken to build the confidence to launch Print Over Pixels four times, and why I am still very much a beginner at this online business world even as I teach others how to transform their own Takeaway for Mums in Business: "I feel more fulfilled by my business than I have in seventeen years. I feel confident in my ability and secure in my pricing. Once you stop comparing yourself to the person up the road and start delivering something that genuinely matters, everything changes." 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!