We sell women a very specific lie about freedom.
That freedom looks like ease.
That once you leave traditional work, things should feel lighter.
That if it’s aligned, it won’t be hard.
And when it is hard, women quietly assume they’ve done something wrong.
I know this because I’ve lived it.
Back in 2021, I remortgaged our house.
Every penny we had.
Every bit of security.
All poured into a business I believed in with my whole chest.
And then came that month.
The month I made ZERO.
I remember telling someone, half hoping for reassurance.
Instead, they shrugged and said:
“Well… if it’s hard, go get a job.”
It wasn’t cruel.
It was casual.
And that’s what made it land so heavily.
Because embedded in that sentence is the belief that if freedom is uncomfortable, it must be wrong.
But here’s the truth we don’t say out loud enough:
Freedom isn’t free.
It costs certainty.
It costs comfort.
And sometimes, it costs your ego.
And that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re owning something.
We talk a lot about “work life balance”, especially to mothers.
As if there’s a perfect equation where ambition and family sit neatly side by side. Real life doesn’t work like that. Real life is seasons. Trade offs. Intentional decisions made again and again.
Building a business around family life doesn’t mean you don’t work.
It means you choose where your effort goes.
You don’t escape hard.
You choose your hard.
Waking up at 5am and being on the laptop until 11pm, building something you believe in? Hard.
Working a job that drains you but feels socially acceptable? Also hard.
The difference is ownership.
And here’s what I’ve learned after years of building BabyBeats, supporting women into business, and sitting with mothers who feel lost inside lives they were told they should be grateful for:
Discomfort is not a red flag.
It’s often the entry point.
Limitless doesn’t mean effortless.
It means intentional.
And every time a woman chooses intentionality over default she creates a new beginning.
Not just for herself, but for the children watching her decide what’s possible.
Are you ready?