Hosted by Victoria Phipps MBE, the Mum Means Business is the podcast for ambitious Mothers navigating the beautiful chaos of building a business while raising a family. Each episode shares honest conversations and inspiring stories from real Mums growing heart-centred, purpose-driven businesses designed to make this world a better place for our children.
Whether you’re working during nap time, burning the midnight oil or squeezing strategy sessions between school runs, this is your space. A space to feel seen, supported and inspired.
Join us as we celebrate the wins, unpack the challenges and remind ourselves that while tackling motherhood and entrepreneurship at the same time can be a wild ride, we don’t have to do it alone.
Because motherhood isn’t a barrier to success - it’s a superpower.
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80: Kindness Shouldn't Be Unconventional; Sonica Beckmann on Fashion, Politics and Female Solidarity
Episode 80
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 01:00:43
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.
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.
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!
79: Hold On for One More Day; Cyclical Resilience and an Award Nomination
Episode 79
Friday, September 25, 2026 • Duration 08:57
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.
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
78: The Years When Hormones Collide; Amanda Reidy on Motherhood & Perimenopause
Episode 78
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 01:13:24
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
77: Treat Every Fail Like a Contraction; Building Resilience in Business
Episode 77
Friday, September 18, 2026 • Duration 13:28
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
76: We Do Not Argue With a Slug; Shann Jones MBE on Living Systems and Leadership
Episode 76
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 52:24
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
75: My Brain Mistook a Webinar for a Hungry Lion
Episode 75
Friday, September 11, 2026 • Duration 10:18
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
74: Why It's Not You, It's the System with Leila Ainge
Episode 74
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 01:11:40
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
73: I Don't Care What Sarah Jane Is Up to Anymore
Episode 73
Friday, September 4, 2026 • Duration 16:03
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
72: The Accidental Entrepreneur; Building a Global Tuition Business Around Motherhood with Jane Bilham
Episode 72
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 58:43
Jane Bilham is the founder of Vireo Tuition, an international tuition business that began with one tutor working in a local library and has grown into an oversubscribed global business with a team of over 60 tutors supporting families worldwide.
A former Assistant Vice Principal in an outstanding UK secondary school, Jane worked nationally as a Specialist Leader in Education before the birth of her son in 2013 prompted her to step away from senior leadership in search of a more flexible way of working. Over the last decade, her business has grown and evolved alongside her family life in a way that was never planned but always responsive.
In this episode, Jane shares the honest, organic and often accidental story of how a bit of pocket money tutoring in a local library became a global business, the identity crisis that came with stepping away from a career she loved and the pivotal moment her sister-in-law shone a light on what was possible.
💡 "For a long time I didn't feel like business was something that somebody like me did. Nobody in my family runs a business. But I just want to help people. And I suppose that's what any business owner wants to do." - Jane Bilham
In this conversation, we explore:
✨ How Jane's tutoring began with no plan and no vision board, simply as a way to reclaim a small piece of her identity after becoming a mother and stepping away from a senior leadership role she loved
✨ The stark identity shift from silencing a challenging classroom with the raise of an eyebrow to struggling to get a toddler to put their shoes on, and what that revealed about the real cost of the transition into motherhood
✨ Why the business grew entirely through word of mouth, from one student to £100 a week, without Jane ever consciously framing what she was building as a business
✨ The pivotal family conversation when her sister-in-law pointed out that she was, in fact, running a business, and the sleepless night that followed as Jane began to see what it could become
71: When Is Enough Enough? Burning The Midnight Oil This Summer
Episode 71
Friday, August 28, 2026 • Duration 09:48
Back in episode 59, I shared my plan for surviving the summer holidays as a self-employed parent... what I would keep going, what I would let go of and where I hoped to find some balance.
Now, in the final week of the holidays, it felt like the right time to check in and be honest about how that plan actually held up against six weeks of real life.
This episode is an audibly fatigued debrief. What I stuck to, which boundaries I broke almost immediately, the surprising wins and the ongoing tension between wanting to be fully present with my kids during the day and finding myself back on my laptop once they are asleep. It is also a question I am still sitting with myself: when you run your own business around your children, when is enough actually enough?
I reflect on:
✨ An honest recap of the summer holiday plan from episode 59 and how it played out, including the interview-free zone that lasted all of about five minutes before four interviews happened anyway
✨ What it was like recording solo episodes from a dark beach after bedtime or in a sweltering van, and why stripping everything back to just a microphone and a phone was more liberating than expected
✨ The re-recording of the Print Over Pixels course modules that did not happen this summer, and why some jobs genuinely need two uninterrupted days that simply do not exist in the school holidays
✨ The unexpected win of Meta ads performing brilliantly all summer, bringing a consistent stream of photographers into the world of the course without much active attention
✨ The last minute maternity shoot that broke the no bookings rule and why it was completely worth bending it for
✨ The psychological rollercoaster of trying to post from energy rather than obligation on social media, including the guilt that creeps in after a few quiet days and the temptation to post just to prove you are still there
✨ Three consecutive nights of eight to nine hours sleep in the van in Pembrokeshire and what that unexpected win revealed about how much rest her body actually needs
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✨ 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.
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!
✨ 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.
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.
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!
✨ 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.
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!
✨ 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.
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!
✨ 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.
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!
✨ 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.
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.
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!
✨ 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.
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!
✨ How a single phone call from a contact in China transformed the business by opening up daytime tutoring hours, solving the problem of evenings and weekends that had never quite fit around her children
✨ The confidence work behind pricing a service-based business, from charging £25 an hour in a local library to understanding that clients are paying for expertise, experience and transformation, not just time
✨ What it took to hire her first tutor and delegate for the first time, and the anxiety of checking her phone through those early sessions to make sure everything was going well
✨ The rapid growth from one or two tutors to a team of over 60 in just twelve months, and what that pace of expansion demanded of Jane both practically and emotionally
✨ The honest reality of bringing her children along for the ride, including the moment she overheard her daughter proudly describe her as a businesswoman to a friend, and the harder moments when the balance has tipped too far towards work
✨ Why Jane founded Vireo Academy to help other tutors and parents access the same daytime flexibility that transformed her own family life, and what it means to her to accelerate that journey for someone else
About the Guest:
Jane Bilham is the founder of Vireo Tuition, an international tuition business supporting families worldwide with a team of over 60 tutors and Vireo Academy, through which she has supported over 1000 British tutors to access daytime international tuition opportunities.
A former Assistant Vice Principal and Specialist Leader in Education, she has represented UK education on international trade missions on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade. Jane is a mum of two who believes ambition and motherhood can be firm friends, given the right environment in which to flourish.
Visit the Vireo Tuition website for more information or can connect with Jane directly on Linkedin.
About The Host:
I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️
I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis!
I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams.
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!
✨ Why burning the midnight oil is sometimes necessary and even welcome, especially when work feels like the first moment of the day that nobody needs anything from you, but why the hope is not to still be doing this in five or ten years
✨ The honest, open question for listeners: is working late at night a regular part of your routine, or is sleep something you protect fiercely, and where is your own line between enough and too much.
Takeaway for Mums in Business:
"As women, as mothers and as business owners, we cannot do everything, nor should we expect ourselves to. Some seasons call for burning the midnight oil, but it is always worth asking yourself - again and again - where your own line between enough and too much actually sits."
About The Host:
I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️
I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis!
I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams.
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!
