Today’s talking point:

I'm joined by Busy to Boss Academy student Goldie Moran. We chat about riding the waves of business, making space for new ideas and balancing business with motherhood. Goldie shares with us her biggest transformations since joining the Academy, including how much her confidence has grown.

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What we talked about:

Goldie is an amazing designer and illustrator who now runs a successful design business after years of working for an agency. Goldie and I chat about taking the leap into self-employment, balancing business with motherhood and celebrating her wins along the way.

her ‘why’

Every Busy to Boss interview starts by talking about why we do what we do. For Goldie, design is something that she has always enjoyed and now she couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Goldie loves the before and after process and being able to work with her clients from beginning to end, bringing their thoughts and ideas to life.

starting her business

Although Goldie has been in design for a long time, she only started her business in 2020, during lockdown.

It all started with her sharing her designs on Facebook which slowly turned into freelance work that she managed alongside her full-time role at a design agency.

The people around her encouraged Goldie to start her own business but as she had worked for the agency for 16 years and saw them as family, she was initially not ready to take the plunge and start her own business.

“A few people said why don't you start your own business? Why don't you just go freelance, but I was just too scared. I’d been there 16 years, and I didn't have any savings. So I thought: ‘what if I'm only earning like 100 pounds a month?’, I can't live off that and I was just too scared. Because I've been [at my previous role] there so long, they were like a family. [I had some] really good friends there. So that was hard as well. “

Then lockdown happened and Goldie was put on furlough which later turned to her taking redundancy. Something inside of her told her that it could be a perfect time and opportunity to throw herself into her own business and she instantly got started creating a website and getting her logo sorted. A month later, she was trading.

Joining the academy

Goldie joined the Busy to Boss Academy in March of 2022 when she was feeling lost and was fed up with working extremely long days. She was ready to become the boss of her life and business and to have more control.

“I realised that had been working reactively as I've always done in my design job, because we were always told to reply to a fix straightaway, get amends to design jobs done straightaway. Like everything was quick, quick, quick and I'd just taken that into my own business. I realised there was a different way and I could be in control of it.”

Goldie had also not been planning in her business or setting herself any goals, so felt that was a real benefit of joining the academy.

balancing it all

Goldie now has more time to focus on her design business and spend time with her family after some freelance work came to an end.

Although it felt scary at first to lose that regular income, she now feels really excited about it as it gives her the space to create and offer new service options and put lots of energy into her products.

Goldie also does a lot outside of business, including singing in a community choir and going on lots of walks, which is now a non-negotiable for her. Before the Academy, Goldie would often work through her lunch break as she felt she had too much to do, but since prioritising getting outside and walking each day she feels far more productive and can take that time knowing that everything will still get done.

Goldie still feels like she’s working on getting a good balance, but she loves the flexibility of working from home as it means she spends more time with her son (even if he is now 11 and spends lots of time on his xbox!).

Celebrating the wins

Goldie’s biggest win is her confidence and how much it has grown since joining the Academy.

Goldie did her first market recently, which was a really big deal as it’s something she’d always dreamed of doing but never thought was a reality for her. She thanks the Academy for pushing her out of her comfort zone.

Other wins are how much she has improved her business, with things like adding a shop feature to her website, starting a mailing list and sending our regular newsletters. Goldie feels like she has learnt so much since joining the academy and has implemented so much, too.

speaking to your past self

If Goldie could speak to her past self at the time she joined the academy:

“I’d say like, it seems like a big investment, but it's going to be totally worth it. So go for it. Your confidence is going to flourish so much. You'll learn so much. And you're gonna make friends along the way, and you're just not going to regret it.”

Make sure you follow Goldie and her journey on Instagram.