How This Teacher Became The Awesome Parent She Always Wanted To Be While Building A Business That Makes Her Happy
Steph knew something had to change when she found herself taking secret days off work just to attend her daughters’ events
As a high school teacher and mum of two toddlers, she was constantly rushing – rushing her kids to daycare, rushing to teach other people’s children, rushing back to pick up her own. The guilt was overwhelming.
“I was creating anxious little kids because I was constantly rushing them somewhere I didn’t even want to be,” Steph recalls. “I didn’t want that to be their reality.”
Today, Steph starts her mornings without rushing, goes to Pilates, meets with clients, and designs her work around her family’s schedule – not the other way around.
Plus she has been able to quit her teaching job in just 6 months, building a leading web design business in Hervey Bay Qld that lets her be there for every school drop-off, pickup, and mother’s day breakfast. Now her kids always see mum right there in the crowd, at every special moment.
Want to hear how she did it and how you can too? Click below to watch her interview.
The Breaking Point: When Job Security Isn’t Worth the Family Sacrifice
Like many professionals, Steph didn’t hate her job. As a high school teacher in a well known coastal tourist town, she taught a variety of subjects at her local high school. While she found genuine value in her work, the rigid structure of school life increasingly conflicted with her desire to be present for her two young daughters, aged two and four.
“I knew I wanted to quit my job when it became quite apparent that I was going to have to ask for a lot of time off in order to be the type of mum I wanted to be.”
Steph wanted to be the mum that’s able to be there at school drop-off, pick-up, Mother’s Day breakfast, sport days etc. She wanted her kids to turn around and always see their mum is there for them in the crowd.
The tipping point came when Steph felt she couldn’t even ask for time off to attend an important event for one of her daughters. “I just took the day off work because I didn’t want to ask. And I thought, I can’t do this all the time.”
This growing tension between professional obligations and family priorities is something many parents face. For Steph, it created a daily stress that affected not just her, but her children too.
“I was hyper-aware that I was forcing them out the door so early and rushing them off to daycare, just to rush to the other end of town to teach someone else’s kids, to then rush back to them,” she recalls. “I was creating these anxious little kids because I’m constantly rushing them to go somewhere that I don’t really want to be. I didn’t want that to be their reality.”
Steph Found an Alternative Path of Earning Income by Learning Digital Skills
The opportunity for change came unexpectedly when Steph’s brother called her about an online business program from the eBusiness Institute. Despite having no background in digital skills or business, she decided to explore the possibility.
“I really stumbled into digital investing,” Steph admits. “My brother called me up one day and said, ‘You’ve got to hear about this amazing program. People are quitting their jobs and earning a heap of money online.'”
Initially sceptical, Steph kept her new venture a secret. “I didn’t tell anyone because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I wouldn’t be willing to tell everyone I’m throwing everything at this new plan if I didn’t think it was going to work.” But as she learned more, her perspective shifted dramatically.
Steph joined Champions, a high-level coaching program teaching digital marketing and entrepreneur skills in September. Rather than testing the waters slowly, she fully committed to the digital agency strategy—building and managing websites for local businesses—because it offered the fastest path to generating income.
“I chose the agency strategy because that’s how you’re going to make money quickly. I needed something to get me out of teaching quickly because I had lost that passion.”
Steph Turned Her Learning Year into an Earning Year
What sets Steph’s story apart is how quickly she translated learning into action. Rather than spending months in preparation mode, she immediately began establishing her business presence by helping local businesses thrive online.
“I knew going into the program, I needed to start on the front foot,” she says. “I quickly threw together my agency, made a website, got some business cards, and then just bit the bullet and went to my local chamber of commerce meetings.”
This willingness to step outside her comfort zone proved crucial. Despite having no business background, Steph began networking actively, attending local business events and promoting her agency on social media.
Her First Paid Client Quickly Lead to Multiple Referrals
Her first paid client came through an unexpected channel—her sister-in-law sharing her social media post. “The client called me randomly on Facebook messenger. She said, ‘I don’t have your phone number. I don’t know how to get onto you. I’m sure I saw somewhere that you’ve started a digital agency.'”
That initial connection sparked a chain of referrals that rapidly built her client base. Living in a regional community like Hervey Bay (a famous whale-watching & tourist destination in Australia) proved advantageous rather than limiting.
“It’s a great thing about living in regional Hervey Bay—it’s like the three degrees of separation,” Steph explains. “Someone’s always talking to someone, and if you manage to get a hold of the right people and do a good job for them, it’s nice that they’ll tell someone else.”
She Earned $15,000 In 6 Months from Her Digital Agency
The financial results of Steph’s bold approach have been awesome considering she was learning a completely new career and skillset. Within just a few months of starting her first paid project in November/December, she had generated approximately $15,000 from website builds and recurring maintenance contracts.
This rapid success allowed her to make the leap from employee to entrepreneur much sooner than expected. We usually recommend the first year of such a business venture should be a “learning year, not an earning year.” Yet Steph’s progress put her on track to not just replace but exceed her teaching income.
“I will surpass my income quite quickly if we keep going at that rate” she notes. This financial validation gave her the confidence to leave her teaching position entirely, despite being only six months into her new business journey.
However, the transformation extends far beyond income figures.
“Even more than the money, the fact that I now believe in myself—that I can make money for myself—was a really big turning point for me. I’m a different person, a different mother, a different wife. I’m just the best version of myself at the moment.”
Steph Now Lives a Balanced Lifestyle That She Loves
With her newfound freedom, Steph has completely restructured her daily life around what matters most—her family, health, and personal growth.
“My life day-to-day is just so different to what it was,” she says. “I get to wake up and not rush my children.” Her typical day now includes morning Pilates, focused work time, business meetings, and being present for her daughters’ schedules without constantly watching the clock.
The flexibility doesn’t mean less work—Steph still puts in significant hours, often rising early before her family wakes or working after her children are in bed. But the nature of the work feels fundamentally different and far more fullfilling personally.
“It doesn’t feel like work,” she explains.
“It is work, but it doesn’t feel like a hard job. It feels hard in that I have to overcome problems and figure these problems out. But if you’re willing to learn and have a crack at it, anyone can do it.”
This mindset shift has been as significant as the practical changes. “I wasn’t really living with the intention of ‘how am I going to live this life that I long to live,'” Steph reflects. “I always had this feeling that I really wanted to work in business somehow, but I had absolutely no idea how.”
Now she not only works in business but finds genuine fulfillment connecting with other entrepreneurs. “I love talking to women in business. I love meeting the business owners that are women and just seeing them light up over their amazing ideas. A lot of them are mums as well. It’s awesome.”
How Having a Support Network Can Help You Grow Your Online Business Faster
A critical factor in Steph’s successful transition has been the unwavering support of her husband, an electrician who continues to provide stable income while she builds her business.
“He’s so on board. He’s like, ‘Whatever, doll, you do whatever you like,'” Steph says with a laugh. “He backs me 100%. He’s the one who believes that I can really do it.”
This partnership approach extends to their parenting responsibilities. “We parent really 50-50 as well,” she explains. “Over the weekend, he’ll play and hang out with the girls for a while, and I’ll work a little bit. He might do a bit of overtime to bring a little bit more money in.”
Their teamwork creates a safety net that makes her entrepreneurial journey less risky.
“Worst case scenario, I stop earning any money from websites. But I’ve learned a really cool skill, and I’m so much more outgoing. We just think, ‘Why not? Let’s have a crack at it!'”
Building a Lifestyle Business that Supports Both Your Personal and Financial Goals
While Steph has already achieved remarkable success, she sees her current business as just the beginning of a larger vision for her family’s future.
“I would love to become more of a project manager,” she shares. “I just love going and talking to people about their businesses. I would love to do more of the networking side of things, bringing people on board, and then being able to outsource some of that work to somebody else—maybe my husband down the track.”
The ultimate goal extends beyond financial metrics to creating a lifestyle that wasn’t possible for her own family growing up. “We just want to be able to take our kids cool places and make money while I do it, not stress, take care of my health,” Steph explains. “We come from big families. There weren’t huge amounts of money being thrown around on anything that wasn’t a necessity.”
This vision of financial freedom coupled with family presence represents what many parents dream of, but few actively pursue. For Steph, the confidence that she’ll achieve this vision is absolute: “I just know what’s going to happen. I just know it. Like I said, if I think it, it’s happening one way or another.”
Key Lessons from Steph’s Journey to Financial Independence
Steph’s remarkable transformation from classroom teacher to successful digital entrepreneur offers several valuable takeaways:
1. Identify your true priorities. Steph recognized that being present for her children’s formative years was more important than maintaining job security.
2. Take decisive action. Rather than endless planning, Steph immediately began building her business presence and networking in her community.
3. Leverage local connections. In regional areas, word-of-mouth referrals can rapidly build a business if you deliver quality work.
4. Involve your family. Having a supportive partner who shares your vision makes the transition from employment to entrepreneurship significantly less stressful.
5. Believe in your potential. Perhaps the most profound change for Steph wasn’t external but internal. She developed the confidence that she could create her own income and design her ideal lifestyle.
For parents feeling trapped in careers that limit family time, professionals seeking more autonomy, or anyone dreaming of building a lifestyle business, Steph’s experience demonstrates that with the right skills, support, and mindset, transformation can happen much faster than you might think.
As Steph puts it: “If you really want to make a change, you absolutely can.”
Ready to Write Your Own Success Story?
If Steph’s journey resonates with you, take the first step by joining our free masterclass: How To Buy & Renovate Websites For Income & Assets.
You’ll learn how everyday people are building profitable digital assets without technical skills, alternative income strategies to create cash-flow and assets in the new digital economy and why this approach works whether you’re in a regional town or major city.
“If I can do this, absolutely anyone can,” says Steph. “You just have to be willing to learn and have a crack at it.“
