What would it mean if you could work from home, choose your own hours, and live wherever you wanted – without sacrificing your income?
That’s exactly what Jing Liu and Matt Jones have built over the past four years.
Jing started with zero technical skills and zero business experience while raising for three boys under five.
Today, she and her husband Matt run a thriving digital agency from Noosa – one of Australia’s most stunning coastal towns.
And even better, Matt was able to quit his corporate accounting career to join the business full-time.
Their story is one of the most inspiring I’ve had the privilege of sharing on the Digital Investors Podcast, and I wanted to break it all down here because I know so many of you are in a similar position right now.
You’re juggling a demanding career, raising a young family, and wondering if there’s a better way. There is. Jing and Matt are living proof. Watch the full interview below to hear their incredible journey.
From Maternity Leave to Student of the Year
Jing’s journey started back in 2022. She’d just had her third baby – he was six months old – and she knew deep down that she didn’t want to go back to her nine-to-five job. At the same time, the family had just relocated from Melbourne to Brisbane’s Bayside, so they had no local support network and no business connections to lean on.
Despite all of that, Jing made a decision that changed everything: she joined our Digital Investors Program and committed to the Champions high-level coaching journey.
“I’ve never been in business, and we just moved to Brisbane from Melbourne, so we didn’t know many people, we didn’t have any support. Yeah, it was really tough in the beginning because I remember having to look after baby, do the drop-offs… but I just took small steps every day and made sure I went on the Champions webinar every week.” – Jing Liu
No technical skills. No business background. Three children under five. And yet, Jing went on to win our Student of the Year award in her first year. She did it by showing up consistently, following the proven frameworks we teach, and taking small but deliberate action every single day.
If you’re sitting there thinking you don’t have the right background or enough time to start an online business, Jing’s starting point should put those doubts to rest.
The Slow and Strategic Transition from Corporate
While Jing was building the digital agency, her husband Matt was working full-time as a corporate accountant. He’s analytical by nature – as you’d expect – and he wasn’t about to quit corporate on a whim. But he was watching closely as Jing started landing clients and generating real revenue.
This is a pattern Liz and I see regularly with couples in our community. One partner takes the leap, proves the concept, and then the other partner starts getting involved. It’s actually a brilliant strategy because it dramatically reduces risk while accelerating growth.
Matt began his transition gradually:
- Full-time corporate + observer: Matt watched Jing build the business in year one while maintaining his accounting salary.
- Four days a week corporate: He reduced his hours slightly and started attending our weekly Champions webinars.
- Three days a week corporate + BNI networking: Matt joined a BNI networking group and began doing client-facing work alongside Jing, getting hands-on experience with real clients for over 12 months.
- Full quit: When the opportunity to move to Noosa presented itself, Matt made the final call and left his accounting job entirely.
“I didn’t want to just jump across without having that comfortable monthly recurring revenue in place.” – Matt Jones
That’s the analytical accountant speaking – and honestly, it’s sound advice. You don’t have to make a dramatic, overnight leap to quit corporate and start an online business. A measured, strategic transition is often the smarter play, especially when you’ve got a family depending on you.
The Sign from the Universe That Changed Everything
Jing and Matt had always dreamed of living on the Sunshine Coast. They’d put their two older boys on a waiting list for a school in Noosa – and waited over two years. Then one Monday, they got the call: both boys had been offered spots. The catch? They had to confirm by Wednesday.
“They give us notice on Monday, we have to give them confirmation by Wednesday. So it was within like three days, we have to decide.” – Jing Liu
Three days to decide whether to uproot the family, leave Brisbane, and commit fully to the business as their sole income source. It wasn’t a decision they took lightly. Matt was candid about it – they weren’t sitting on a massive nest egg. But all the preparation they’d done over the previous years meant they were ready enough.
“Looking back now, all the dots connected and all made sense, everything prepared us to this. But back then it was quite a lot of trust and faith. And I’m glad we took that leap of faith.” – Jing Liu
This is such an important lesson. Preparation meets opportunity. Because Jing had already built the agency to six figures, because Matt had already been networking and working with clients for over a year, and because they’d built systems and a small team – they were positioned to say yes when the opportunity arrived.
Building a Location-Independent Digital Agency
One of the biggest concerns people have when they think about starting an online business – especially a local digital agency – is geography. Don’t I need to be near my clients?
Jing and Matt’s experience is a masterclass in why that’s no longer the case. The vast majority of their clients are still based in Brisbane, roughly an hour and a half south of where they now live in Noosa. Here’s how they manage it:
- Most client communication happens via Zoom and phone – and most clients are perfectly happy with that.
- Matt commutes to Brisbane one day per week (Thursdays) to attend his BNI networking meeting and schedule any in-person client meetings on the same day.
- Referrals have become a major lead source. After years of delivering great results, their existing clients and network contacts regularly send new business their way.
- They’re starting to pick up local Noosa clients through chambers of commerce and other networking groups on the Sunshine Coast.
- Interstate clients come through broader networking groups they’ve joined over time.
The lesson here is powerful: when you build genuine relationships and deliver results, your business becomes portable. You’re not chained to a single location.
The Numbers: From $30K to Six Figures and Beyond
Let’s talk about the financial trajectory, because I know that’s what many of you want to understand:
- Year 1: Jing generated approximately $30,000 in revenue while learning the ropes, caring for three small children, and building everything from scratch.
- Year 2: The agency hit six figures – enough to replace a solid corporate income.
- Year 3-4: Revenue continued to grow. Matt transitioned into the business. They set up a Pty Limited company structure and now both draw what Matt describes as a “decent income” – comparable to two white-collar salaries.
And here’s what I really want to emphasise: they’re sitting on a seven-figure digital asset. This isn’t just about the income. The agency they’ve built has real, tangible value. It’s an asset that generates recurring revenue, has established client relationships, a small but effective team, and systems in place. That’s wealth creation in action.
Their Team: Small by Design
Jing and Matt run their entire agency with a deliberately lean team:
- One full-time employee (an early hire that Jing made – Matt admits he was skeptical at the time, but it turned out to be a brilliant decision. This team member has been with them for over three years).
- Two part-time virtual assistants, both Australian-based.
That’s it. No massive overhead. No complex management structure. Just a small, tight team delivering excellent work for their clients – primarily builders and developers in the Brisbane market, which has become their specialty niche.
The Most Important Lesson: Remember Your Vision
Perhaps the most profound moment in our conversation came when Jing shared a realisation she had partway through the journey. As the business grew and the revenue increased, she found herself getting swept up in the excitement of scaling – working longer hours, chasing bigger goals, always pushing for more.
And then she stopped and asked herself a critical question:
“Am I building the business to build a life I want? Or am I building another version of a job, which I didn’t like? Remember your vision, why you started this.” – Jing Liu
That’s wisdom right there. It’s so easy to start building a business and accidentally recreate the very thing you were trying to escape. Jing caught herself, recalibrated, and made a conscious decision to prioritise family first. Now she works just one to two days per week, spending the rest of her time with her boys while they’re young – because she knows those years fly by.
Matt has stepped up to handle the bulk of the client-facing work, business development, and day-to-day operations. And he’s loving it. Jing told me she can see the joy in his eyes now – something that wasn’t there when he was in his corporate accounting role.
What Their Lifestyle Actually Looks Like Today
Let me paint the picture of what Jing and Matt’s life looks like right now, because this is why we do what we do at eBusiness Institute:
- They live in Noosa – canals across the road, the beach and national parks minutes away.
- Their three boys attend their dream school that they waited two years for.
- Matt works far fewer hours than he did in his accounting career and has full flexibility to attend school events and after-school activities.
- Jing works one to two days per week and is fully present for her children.
- Earlier this year, they travelled to China for Chinese New Year to visit Jing’s family – and for the first time, neither of them had to ask anyone for permission to take time off.
- They took their laptops and were able to keep the business running from overseas.
“That was amazing and we could do work over there and it was just so wonderful.” – Jing Liu
This is what we call the three W’s of wealth: working when you want, where you want, with whoever you want. Jing and Matt are living it every single day.
Key Takeaways for Anyone Looking to Quit Corporate and Start an Online Business
If Jing and Matt’s story resonates with you – and I suspect it does – here are the critical lessons to take away:
- You don’t need technical skills or business experience to start. Jing had neither. She learned everything through our program and consistent daily action.
- Start while you still have income. If you’re in a couple, one partner can build the business while the other maintains the household income. This reduces risk dramatically.
- Transition gradually if that suits your situation. Matt went from five days to four days to three days in his corporate job before quitting entirely. There’s no single “right” way to do it.
- Build relationships, not just a client list. Referrals became one of Jing and Matt’s biggest lead sources – and that only happens when you genuinely care about your clients’ results.
- Hire earlier than you think you should. Jing’s early hire was a game-changer, even though Matt was initially hesitant.
- Never forget your “why.” It’s easy to get caught up in growth for growth’s sake. Make sure the business you’re building actually serves the life you want.
- Preparation meets opportunity. When that three-day window opened for their dream school, Jing and Matt were ready because they’d done the work.
Your Turn to Build Something Extraordinary
Jing started this journey in 2022 with a six-month-old baby, no technical skills, and a dream of freedom. Four years later, she and Matt have a location-independent, six-figure digital agency that’s also a seven-figure asset. Matt has quit his corporate accounting career. They live in one of Australia’s most beautiful locations. And most importantly, they’re present for their three boys during the years that matter most.
If you’re ready to start building your own version of this – whether that’s a digital agency, buying and renovating websites, or creating a portfolio of digital assets – the place to start is our Digital Investors Program. It’s the same program that gave Jing the skills, frameworks, and community to go from complete beginner to building a business that changed her entire family’s future.
The best time to start was four years ago. The second best time is today.
