If you have been wondering how to start an online business as a mum, when your days already belong to everyone else, this is for you.
At the end of 2021 I rang my school and said I wasn’t coming back. My son needed me at home, and school hours weren’t coming back for me. It wasn’t a career decision. It was a life decision, and it was necessary. I’ve shared the full story here.
I’m a former teacher and now a medical and homeschool mum. I didn’t have a business plan when I left. What I had was years of teaching experience and not much time.
From home, I built an online education business and an email list of more than 3,000 teachers. Below are the steps I took, in the order I took them. None of them need you to have a different life first.
Why so many mums start in the wrong place
Most of us start online by opening an Instagram account and hoping people find us. I did have an Instagram page from the beginning. But Instagram wasn’t the foundation, and I think that is a big part of why things worked.
The foundation was a website, a freebie and an email list, built on something I already knew well. Instagram sat on top of that. Here is how it came together.
How to start an online business as a mum: the six steps I took
Step 1: Start with what you already know
You will hear people say you need to “build authority online”. All that really means is that people trust you because you have actually done the thing.
I didn’t start a business in something new. I started with teaching, because I had done it for years. When I spoke about it, teachers listened, because they could tell I had stood where they were standing.
When you’re working out how to start an online business as a mum, your starting point is probably closer than you think. Write down the work you have done for years, the skills people already ask you for help with, and the problems you have solved in your own life. Your business usually starts somewhere on that list.
Step 2: Build a home you own
I started with three things at once: a website, a freebie and an Instagram page.
The website was the base. Instagram can bring people to you, but you don’t control who sees your posts from one week to the next. Your website and your email list belong to you, so that is where the business really lives.
You don’t need anything fancy to start an online business as a mum. A simple site with an about page (I highly recommend a Substack publication because it doubles as an email list as well), a few blog posts and a way to sign up for your freebie is enough to begin.
Step 3: Write for what people are already searching
This is the step that set my business apart. I built my website around SEO keywords and wrote blog posts that answered what teachers were already typing into Google.
Because the site was written for search, Google picked it up. That meant strangers found me without me having to post every day.
To do this yourself, think about the questions your ideal person types into Google late at night. Each of those questions can become one blog post. Write the answer clearly, use the words she would use, and put the main phrase in your title and first paragraph.
Step 4: Collect emails from day one
If you only do one thing when you start an online business as a mum, collect emails. My freebie sat on my website from the start, so people joined my email list from the very beginning, not years later.
This matters more than follower numbers. An email list is a group of people who have put their hand up and said, “Yes, I want to hear from you.” It is how I grew to more than 3,000 subscribers, and it is the part of the business no algorithm can take away.
Your freebie doesn’t need to be big. It needs to solve one small, specific problem your person has right now.
Step 5: Let the data tell you what to make next
Once the blog was live, I used Google Search Console to see what people were finding me for. That showed me which searches brought people to my site and why they were coming.
Then I created more content for those searches. I stopped guessing.
The same knowledge flowed into my Instagram. Because I knew what people wanted, my posts started to land, and when the page took off, I already had the website and freebie in place to collect emails. That is what turned attention into a list.
Step 6: Stop giving everything away
For a long time I was giving everything I knew away for free.
A business coach helped me see why. Sharing useful information is important, but it isn’t what helps someone take action. What moves people is seeing the gap between where they are now and where they want to be, and understanding that you can help them close it.
So instead of teaching everything at once, I learned to show people where they were, remind them where they wanted to be, and explain how I could help them get there. That is what authority looks like in practice. It isn’t about being the loudest voice. It is about being the person who can bridge the gap.
Fitting it around a full life
I homeschool my son first thing in the morning, and the business gets the hours after that. I don’t work from a long to-do list any more. I work from three non-negotiables.
Every day, I do at least one thing from each of these three buckets:
Looking after the people who already buy from me. Checking in with customers, replying to messages, sending samples, and small touches like birthday and Christmas gifts.
Reaching new people. Posting a reel or a feed post so someone new can find me.
Staying in touch with people who are getting to know me. Stories, my Facebook group, my email list or my Substack.
Once I have done one from each bucket, the rest of the day is a bonus. Whatever else I get to fills in around it. But I don’t get to the end of a day without having done all three, and that is what keeps the business moving when everything else is unpredictable.
This is the part most advice skips. If you are starting an online business as a mum, you probably won’t get long, quiet days to work. You will get windows. The six steps above work because each one can be done in small pieces, and each piece keeps working once it is done. A blog post you write today can still bring someone to your website next year.
Choose a business model that fits your life
Building my first business from scratch took everything I had. I created the website, the content, the freebie and the products myself.
When I started homeschooling, I couldn’t wait for “more time” any more, because it wasn’t coming. I needed something I could plug into and adapt around the life I actually had.
In 2024, a teacher friend asked me to partner with her in a skincare + wellness brand I had been using while I was still teaching. I wasn’t a skincare person. What appealed to me was the system: the products, the training and the structure already existed, so I didn’t have to invent them.With my first business, everything depended on me. I had to keep coming up with new offers, keep the website running and do every part of the business myself. With a brand partnership, the product development, the website and the shipping are already taken care of. My job is to share the products I use and look after the people who buy them.
The part I didn’t expect to matter so much was the community. Running an online business from home can be very lonely, especially when social media is your only way of finding people. As a mum raising a child with a disability, I found it isolating. Now I have training, tools, conferences and other women to learn alongside, and I don’t have to build any of it myself.
There is no single right model. Some women build on their own expertise, the way I did first. Others prefer a brand partnership because the products and training are already there. The question to ask when you start an online business as a mum is which one fits the time and energy you have now.
Your first step this week
You don’t need to do all six steps at once. Start with step 1. Take ten minutes, write down what you already know, and circle the one thing people already come to you for. That is your starting point.
Knowing how to start an online business as a mum isn’t about finding more hours. It is about building in the right order, in the hours you already have.
If you would like to keep following along as I build my next chapter, subscribe below. And if you are curious whether a brand partnership could fit around your life, send me a message on Instagram @trudymayo_ with the word GROWTH and I’ll share how it works.
Hi, I’m Trudy
I’m a former teacher and a medical mum, and I’m building my next chapter online. I write honest stories about life changing the plan, ageing well and building an online business around real life.
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I run my online business in partnership with a skincare and wellness brand, and I coach and mentor the women who partner alongside me. It suits women who are starting over and want a business they can run around real life, with someone to learn from as they go. If you’d like to know how it works, apply below and I’ll be in touch.