Growing a business around a 9-to-5 job is a constant juggle. I am making it work by protecting a non-negotiable time slot each day and treating it like a work commitment because the same principle applies - if I don’t work I don’t get paid either in my business or my 9-to-5! My time is 8:30pm. Everyone's in bed, the house is quiet, and this is the time I know I can work on my business. I do have a trick to actually get me started because it is an effort at times, I get up at 4:45am to exercise before work (and the kids wake up) then go to work and come home and spend time with the kids, there isn’t a whole lot of brain power left! So to trick myself into thinking I’m not ‘working’ I put on a movie, it makes it feel like down time even though I often have no clue what is going on in it so have started rewatching movies I have already seen as then I don’t care 😂 (yes, I know this sounds nuts but it works for me!) The structure works for me, it is not often that I don’t use this slot of time each day. It doesn’t have to be long, I have my dashboard to keep me on track with what I’m doing and it’s kept me consistent. What's your version of this? Do you have a set time that's just yours? Or are you still figuring out when to fit it all in? 👇

Hi all, if there are others in the group who might also work in higher education or a job where their colleagues follow them on social media but they don’t really know you have a business on side, how do you handle promoting your business? Do you not promote? Do you promote but under a different name? I’m only on Facebook and Linked In. I don’t have a business FB page. I’m hesitant to promote my business but maybe I shouldn’t be concerned?

When I started this experiment on April 6 the goal was 100 members in 30 days. I told you I probably wasn't hitting it. I still might not. But lets recap: 📈 Discovery rank: 1,939 (it was 4075!!) Engagement still sitting at 78% 🥳; 69 awesome people (yes, I know I'm counting myself in the numbers, its still true 😂) I've sent some emails (7 people didn't like it 🤭; 2 people joined). And today I'm kicking off another Meta ad running for the next 7 days to see if I can crack this. Completely redid the content (shout out to Claude, you better be awesome) Will I hit 100...🤷🏼‍♀️ Let's see what 8 days can do. 🚀

Share one free resource you offer - a lead magnet, a freebie, a free tool, whatever you've got. Drop the link and a one-line description of who it's for. Just a reminder - no pitching paid offers, or bundles (sorry, only I'm allowed to break this rule 😉 I'm in a lot so will be sharing my links), just your own freebies. Drop your freebie below. 👇

Since I'm asking you all to introduce yourselves, feels only fair I go first. I'm Niky. I live in New Zealand (yes, the time zones are genuinely chaotic 😂), I'm 18+ years into a senior leadership career in the public service, and I'm building my own business, right now, while still fully employed and wrangling a young family. Why am I doing this? Because I've always wanted to work for myself. Because I watched my Dad start businesses growing up and it never left me. And because pouring all this energy into a career where extra hours don't translate into extra reward stopped making sense a while ago. So here I am. Building in public. Sharing every experiment, every mistake, and every win, including the ones that are embarrassing to admit. Your turn. 👇 Drop your intro below, you can use this template if you need it: Hi! I'm [NAME], based in [COUNTRY] and I'm currently [JOB/SITUATION e.g. still in 9-to-5 / side hustle started / recently left]. My biggest challenge with building a business alongside work is [CHALLENGE]. I'm excited to [ONE GOAL]. Can’t wait to hear about you all.