Four businesses, two kids, and apparently now a blog
Introduction | The Messy Middle | Build in Public
3 min read
New ideas hit me like a freight train. They don’t knock. They don’t wait for a convenient time. They arrive at 11pm, mid-scroll, mid-shower, mid-feeding-the-baby — and they consume me.
I’m a 30-something AuDHD mum, and that’s the only time I’ll explain it. From here on, the chaos speaks for itself.
Here’s where I’m currently at, so you know exactly what you’re walking into:
I’m on maternity leave from my finance job, with a 6-month-old permanently attached to me and a 5-year-old who narrates her entire life at full volume. In between naps (hers, never mine), I am currently juggling:
- One ecommerce business I’m winding up. It was good. It did its job. It’s time.
- One digital business that is… not doing so great. We don’t make eye contact.
- One half-formed idea that I know could be something, if I actually gave it the upgrade it deserves.
- And one other blog that I love, keep meaning to work on, and keep abandoning every time something shinier walks past. (Something shinier is walking past right now. It’s this.)
So naturally, with all of that going on, my brain decided the answer was: start something new.
I know. Seriously.
Could I go back and pour myself into the things I already have? Yes. Will some of them come along for the ride? Probably. But I’m craving something new — and this time I’m staying digital. Less time-consuming (hopefully), and takes up exactly zero space in my house, which my husband will be thrilled about after years of stock living in every spare corner.
while one half of me is chasing shiny ideas at 11pm, the other half is quietly building a spreadsheet about them.
But here’s the actual bright spark. The reason this blog exists.
The internet is full of people teaching digital products from the finish line. The “I made $3,000 in my sleep” crowd. Buy my course, copy my method, I’m rich so I must be right.
Cool. Good for them, I guess.
I’m doing the opposite. I’m starting from nothing — just a spark — and documenting the whole thing from the very beginning. The wins, the fails, the rabbit holes, the experiments that go nowhere, and the ones that surprisingly don’t. This isn’t “follow my proven method.” It’s more “come with me while I figure out what actually works, in real time, with receipts.”
Because honestly? That’s the version I always wanted to read and could never find.
Oh — and one more thing, because it changes how you should read everything here. I’ve been a qualified accountant for over 15 years, most of it spent helping small businesses run theirs. I’m not in the industry anymore, but the brain never left. So while one half of me is chasing shiny ideas at 11pm, the other half is quietly building a spreadsheet about them. Both halves will be writing this blog.
And if your next question is “how do you find the time?” — no idea. Genuinely none. I guess we’ll find out together.
Next post: how I actually got here. All the businesses, all the pivots, all the questionable decisions that led to this exact moment. It’s a journey. Bring snacks.
