advice I Ignored to become a successful, work-from-home mom
There is something no one tells you about becoming a single mom, learning how to survive and choosing to build a business from home.
The hardest part isn’t the workload.
It’s the opinions.
During my divorce, my stroke, and raising my two boys - boy, did I ever hear a lot of advice.
Some of it came from love.
Some of it came from projection.
And some of it came from people who couldn’t imagine doing what I was trying to do.
So today, I want to share the advice I ignored, and why ignoring it is exactly what helped me become the woman I am now.
So grab a coffee, bestie. Let’s talk…
“You need a man to make life easier”
Security is not a relationship.
Security is a skill.
Sure being in a relationship can be beautiful, and having that partner support can be powerful. But in all reality security does not come from a person, it comes from capability.
Learning marketing, business, managing and understanding money, building a community and strengthening my mindset…
That is what made my life easier.
High-value women don’t look for men to rescue them. They build a life that becomes so solid that partnership becomes a choice - not a requirement.
And that changed everything for me.
2. “Be realistic”
Oh, this one…
“Be realistic” is often code for: “Just settle and learn to get by.”
Realistic according to who?
The woman who has never tried? The person who chose comfort over calling? The one who settled and now needs you to do the same so they feel validated?
Being realistic would have meant shrinking.
But I wasn’t meant to shrink. I was meant to expand to my fullest potential.
High-value women understand something powerful:
Just because something is uncommon doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Women everywhere around the world are building businesses. Launching brands between school drop-offs and nap-times. Rebuilding their entire lives from scratch after learning to “settle”.
So no, I will not choose to be “realistic.”
I chose to be aligned, and aligned will always outperform realistic.
3. “Get a safe 9-5”
Now, I am not here to shame working a 9-5 job. There are lots of successful women who do this and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 9–5.
But for me? It wasn’t safety. It was suffocation.
Safety without fulfillment becomes quiet resentment and I refuse to model resentment for my children.
Freedom requires strategy.
4. “You can’t do it all alone.”
This one sounds caring. And in some ways, it’s true.
No one truly succeeds completely alone. We all need community, mentorship, friendship, and support. But what people often mean when they say this is something very different.
What they actually mean is:
“You shouldn’t try unless someone is carrying the weight with you.”
And that’s where I disagree because sometimes in life, you do have to start alone. You have to make the first move alone, you have to believe in the vision alone, and you have to keep going when nobody quite understands what you’re building yet.
Being a single mom taught me that strength isn’t about pretending you don’t need help.
It’s about knowing that even if no one shows up right away…
You are still capable.
You can still learn the skills, build the thing, and you can still create a life that feels bigger than the circumstances you started in. Infact, something even more beautiful happens when you take those first steps by yourself.
The right people begin to find you.
So no… I didn’t do it all alone but I did have to believe in myself long before the support arrived.
And that belief became the foundation for everything that came after.
Sometimes The Advice You Ignore Is The Reason You Rise
Looking back, I realized that the advice people gave me wasn’t always wrong. But it wasn’t always meant for the woman I was becoming either.
Some advice is meant to protect you but most advice is meant to keep you comfortable.
And growth rarely happens in comfort.
So if there’s something in your heart telling you to try, build, start over, or become more…
Listen to that voice.
Because sometimes the advice you ignore is the very thing that clears the path for the life you’re meant to build. And if you’re reading this as a mom trying to create something from home while raising your babies and rebuilding your life…
Just know this:
You’re not crazy. You’re not unrealistic. You’re becoming.
And that’s a very powerful place to be.
