The not so rosie-tinted view of mother-led growth

The reality of being a founder, mother and advocate for a better life.

For those that don’t know, I’m an indie founder, mother to 5 and I’ve also unschooled my kids for the past 12 years. I grew Ministry of Testing to “7 figures” and then handed it over to someone else to run.

It’s honestly been a non-stop journey with little time for breathing with all the things life has been throwing my way. Partly I joke that I like doing things the hard way. The reality is that life for people like me always seems to be on hardmode.

In the process I shared some of my story on Indie Hackers, which is where the below screenshot comes from.

I shared this screenshot recently with a bit of tongue and cheek.

Partly I’m proud that I’ve been through this (relatively) positively. My youngest is now five and it’s only in the past couple of months that I feel like I’m out of the having a baby and very young kids stage. It only took me 20 years! 🥴 On the another angle is me looking back and saying “holy shit, I did that”.

That was a wild, stressful and often kinda bloody stupid.

Over the years I’ve been asked questions about how I did it. Of course I know how it happened, but on the other hand it is such a blur.

“Why did you choose this founder path?”

Erm, I didn’t. I felt like I had no choice. Everything was ok until I literally shared details about my first pregnancy with my boss. Getting employed after that was an upward trending struggle. People seemed to not to want to hire a woman with young kids. It was like I was no longer compatible with the world. Tell me, what would you do in such circumstances?

“How did you learn how to do it?”

I made everything up and had a bias to action. I watched what others did, not what they said. I found places and people to be inspired by. I created boundaries for the life that felt right to me.

“How did you plan your days?”

Honestly, quite literally day by day. And often going a bit mental at times. I’ve had to…