I need to talk about something that's been living rent-free in my head for weeks.
You've seen the videos of people announcing that they quit their 9-5 jobs with no backup plan in pursuit of trying to make something out of content creation.
And the comments are always the same: "SO inspiring", “This is the sign I needed!", "Manifesting this energy!"
And no, I'm not here to hate on anyone's journey. If you quit your job and end up making 5-figure months, that is honestly amazing for you! Seriously. I applaud you!
BUT can we take a step back and have an honest conversation about how that narrative leaves out... a lot?
Because every time I see one of those videos, I think about the mom watching it at 11pm while her baby sleeps on her chest. The one who's been dreaming about building something of her own but also has a mortgage, daycare costs that rival a second mortgage, and a partner who'd have a very reasonable panic attack if she came home and said "I quit today, babe. We're just going to trust the universe on this one."
That mom deserves a different conversation.
So here it is.
And before I go any further, let me be clear about something: This isn't a "follow your passion and leave it all behind" story. This is a "build something meaningful alongside the life you already have" story. Because that's the version most of us are actually living.
The romanticized version vs. the reality
Social media has created this very specific narrative around entrepreneurship and content creation: that the brave thing, the only brave thing, is to burn the boats. Leap and the net will appear. Quit the soul-sucking job. Bet on yourself.
And it makes a great 30-second video. It really does.
But you know what I want to see? The woman who kept her full-time job while waking up at 5am to work on her side business for two years before she had enough revenue to leave. The mom who used her mat leave… not to "rest" (lol, what rest?)… but to quietly test a business idea between feeds and naps and trying to remember the last time she showered. I may or may not be speaking from experience.
That version isn't cinematic. But it's the version most of us are actually living.
Here's what I think gets lost in the "just quit" narrative:
The financial reality
Most families can't absorb the loss of an income while someone "figures it out." We got kids to feed, y'all. Groceries are genuinely unhinged right now. The math has to math before the dream can dream.
The mental load
Moms are already running operations for an entire household. Adding "build a business from scratch with zero income" to that mental load isn't brave. It’s probably a recipe for burnout. And I say that with love, not judgment.
The privilege gap
A lot of the "I quit with no plan" stories come from people who have a safety net they're not showing you. A partner with a high income. Family money. Savings from a decade in tech. That's not a moral failing, but pretending it doesn't exist is dishonest.
The timeline lie
Content creation and online business take time to monetize. We're talking months, usually years, before it replaces a salary. The posts that make it look instant are showing you the highlight reel of a very long, very unsexy process.
None of this means you shouldn't want it. It just means the path there might look different than a trending audio would have you believe.
So what can you actually do?
Okay. Here's where I refuse to leave you feeling deflated. Because I didn't write this to crush anyone's dream. I wrote it because I think moms deserve a roadmap that actually works for our lives, not a fantasy that only works in a content house in LA with no dependents and a ring light budget.
If you're a mom who wants to build something, whether through content, a business, a creative project, or a whole new career, here's what I'd tell you if we were sitting across from each other with coffees that are definitely getting cold because one of our kids just threw a shoe.
1. Start before you're ready, but don't start by quitting
The best time to build something new is while you still have the safety net of your current income. I know it's exhausting. I know you're already stretched thin. But even one hour a week on your thing is more than zero hours. And those hours compound.
I started my Etsy shop six years ago while working full-time in marketing. Six years. I didn't quit anything to do it. I just... started. Messily. Slowly. Between everything else. And it became a five-figure business that I often run from my dining room table.
That's not a flex. That's proof that the "build on the side" approach actually works and it's just not as quotable as "I burned it all down and rose from the ashes."
2. Use the season you're in
Mat leave, if you're on it, is a weird and wild window. You're sleep-deprived, hormonal and healing… and somehow also supposed to be soaking in every moment. I get it. I'm literally here right now, sitting on my donut pillow for the second time around.
But mat leave is also a pause from your regular work identity. And in that pause, there's space to ask: what do I actually want to go back to?
You don't have to launch a business on mat leave. But you can research. You can learn. You can start an Instagram account and post when the baby naps. You can test an idea with zero pressure because there's no deadline except the one you set.
I used this mat leave to finally build the personal brand I'd been thinking about for years. And yeah, some of those posts were written one-handed while nursing. The bar for "productive" is different right now, and that's fine.
3. Monetize skills you already have
Here's what I see a lot of moms do: they decide they want to build something online, so they try to become someone entirely new. New niche, new skills, new everything.
But you probably already have marketable skills. You just haven't packaged them yet.
Were you a project manager? You can freelance.
Were you in marketing? Businesses are literally always looking for help with content.
Are you organized to a terrifying degree? Virtual assisting is a real thing that pays real money.
You don't need to reinvent yourself. You need to repackage yourself.
I spent 10+ years in marketing, growing startups and writing content. When I started freelancing on the side, I didn't learn a new trade. I just started offering the skills I already had to people who needed them. The barrier to entry was basically: throw up a scrappy portfolio site, email five people, and see what happened.
It wasn't glamourous. But it was income. And income buys you options.
4. Build proof, not plans
I see so many aspiring creators and entrepreneurs get stuck in the planning phase. The perfect brand name. The perfect website. The perfect launch strategy. Honestly, I’ve done this way too many times too.
Meanwhile, someone else just posted a slightly unhinged Instagram reel from their car and got 50 new followers.
You don't need a business plan. You need proof of concept. Post the content. Sell the thing. Offer the service. See if anyone bites. You can refine later, but you can't refine something that doesn't exist yet.
When I started posting on Instagram, I didn't have a content strategy mapped out in a Notion board. I had a phone, some opinions about marketing and growing an Etsy shop, and the audacity to think someone might care. Grew from 80 to 3,000+ followers in under a month. Not because I had a perfect plan, but because I just started showing up.
5. Protect your runway
This is the unglamourous one. The one nobody makes a reel about… Though I am seeing more creators show up transparently about how they’re affording to make the leap so kudos to that!
Before you even think about leaving a stable income, you need a financial cushion. I'm not talking about "manifesting abundance". I'm talking about actual money in an actual savings account in case shit hits the fan because we have to be responsible, right?
The general wisdom is 3-6 months of expenses. For moms, I'd honestly say aim for more, because kids are expensive human beings who will need new shoes the exact week your biggest client ghosts you.
Build the side income. Save aggressively. Get to a point where leaving your job feels like a calculated decision, not a desperate leap. The leap is so much less scary when you've already built the bridge halfway across.
6. Stop comparing your chapter one to someone else's chapter twenty
That creator with 500K followers who's living the dream? She's been doing this for seven years. That mom who built a six-figure business? She started with a $50 product and her mom as her first customer.
You don't see the years of work, the failed attempts, the posts that got 3 likes, the launches that flopped. You almost always only see the “after”/ And comparing your before to someone else's after is the fastest way to quit before you've even started.
Your timeline is yours. It's supposed to look different.
You don't have to burn it down to build something new
Here's what I really want you to take away from this:
The fact that you can't quit your job tomorrow doesn't mean you're not brave. It doesn't mean you don't want it enough. It doesn't mean you're settling.
It means you're a grown woman with responsibilities, and you're choosing to build something sustainable instead of something reckless. That's not the consolation prize. That's the smart play.
I am living proof that you can build things on the side, in the margins, in the messy in-between of motherhood (hence the publication name, heh) and full-time work, along with all the chaos that comes with it. My Etsy shop. My freelance work. This newsletter. My Instagram. None of it required me to dramatically quit anything. It just required me to keep showing up, even when showing up looked like 30 minutes at my laptop after bedtime.
And when my mat leave ends and I go back to work in the new year? I'll still be building. Because that's the whole point. You don't need to choose between a career and a creative life. You just need to stop waiting for one to end before the other can start.
You can want more and also be grateful for what you have. You can build slowly and still build something real. You can be a mom, a creator, an entrepreneur and a whole human who sometimes just wants to watch Netflix and eat cereal for dinner.
Those things can all be true at the same time.
So if you're the mom watching those "I quit" videos and feeling like you're already behind, you're not. You're just on a different path. And honestly? It might be the better one.
You got this.
With love,
Sally