Starting Ugly: 230 Brutally Honest Truths About Bootstrapping Your Online Business
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What If There Is Another Way?
You’re up at 6am, packing lunches, gulping lukewarm tea, wrestling small people into shoes… all before you’ve even opened your inbox. And by the time you’re finally clocking off from your 9-to-5, you’re too shattered to enjoy the family you’ve been working so hard to provide for.
Maybe you’ve started to wonder: Is this it?
Or maybe, quietly, you’ve begun dreaming of something more flexible. Something that lets you be present with your kids and build something of your own. A side hustle that turns into a small business. A new identity that fits your values and your real life…not just your LinkedIn profile.
That’s exactly why I want to tell you about Starting Ugly: 230 Brutally Honest Truths About Bootstrapping Your Online Business, which is a book I had the absolute pleasure of editing and contributing to… AND it was a Best Seller in Amazon’s Small Business section!
But what’s it all about? It’s raw, unfiltered, and often laugh-out-loud funny, written by a range of entrepreneurs recording their experiences and words of wisdom when it comes to building your own business. And most of all, it’s full of real encouragement for any mums out there who are starting to ask… What else could I do?
Starting Ugly… and I’m not talking about dried porridge on your shoulder when you get to work first thing
Starting Ugly: 230 Brutally Honest Truths About Bootstrapping Your Online Business is not your average business book.
There’s no 10-step formula, no passive income promise, no “build your empire while you sleep” Instagram fantasy. Instead, it’s a powerful and practical collection of lessons from over 30 online business owners who’ve been through it; the failures, the fear, the imposter syndrome, the messy middle, and the surprising wins that came from keeping going.
Think of it as a behind-the-scenes peek into the reality of building something from scratch. No jargon. No gatekeeping. Just 230 short, powerful truths you can read in the cracks of your day, while the pasta’s boiling or the baby’s finally napping.
And at just $0.99 / £0.77, it’s one of the most valuable cups of tea (or coffee!) you’ll ever invest in.
Why I Got Involved
When the opportunity came up to contribute to this book in a coaching group I was part of, I said yes instantly… partly because I’m a sucker for a good deadline (why else have a weekly podcast and newsletter? That’s how best to unleash my hyper focus and counter my natural tendency to procrastinate and be ruled by perfectionism), but mostly because this project brought together a wonderfully varied group of entrepreneurs.
We’re talking photographers, actors, authors, copywriters, marketers, coaches, educators, makeup artists, and more! All with wildly different backgrounds, yet all navigating the same doubts, mindset wobbles, and creative pivots.
It was a joy (and a challenge!) to help edit and shape these stories betwixt family life, home educating and working on Real Life. Real Kitchen… especially because so many echoed my own journey. The late nights. The wonky websites. The £0 launches. The feeling that surely everyone else had a How-To Guide I somehow missed.
I didn’t. And neither did they. But what we did have was courage, curiosity, and a deep desire to build a life that felt more aligned with who we really were, especially for those trying to balance work and home.
So why the title Starting Ugly?
Because that’s exactly what most of us never give ourselves permission to do. So many women, especially mothers, struggle with the weight of perfectionism, comparison, and imposter syndrome. We feel like we need the perfect plan, the perfect timing, or at the very least a quiet house and a colour-coded calendar before we begin.
But the truth is, life (and business) doesn’t unfold that neatly. It’s messy. It’s a patchwork of late-night Googling, failed ideas, small wins, and slow, gentle growth. This book is a rallying cry for every woman who’s hesitated, doubted, or delayed. It’s a reminder that there is courage in simply beginning. Not perfectly, not when everything is lined up but now. You’ll learn how the real breakthroughs often come through mistakes, not masterplans. Isn’t that something we learned when we became mothers for the first time?
And this is why starting ugly is sometimes the only way to start at all.
Is Starting Ugly for You?
This book is especially powerful for:
- Mums considering a career change or small business idea
- Freelancers or creatives wanting to go online
- Women ready for something more flexible, more meaningful, but not sure where to begin
- Anyone stuck in perfectionism, waiting to feel “ready”
If you’ve ever thought, Maybe there’s something else I could do…, this is your sign. And if you’ve ever thought, But I don’t know where to start, this book gives you 230 possible places.
Get the eBook
You can grab the Best Seller Starting Ugly ebook today for less than a chocolate bar:
Buy it on Amazon for $0.99 / £0.77
And if you’ve got questions, ideas, or want to chat about your own side hustle dreams, drop me a message or leave a comment below. I’ll pop the kettle on.
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