One of the questions I ask when you join this group is "What's your biggest challenge building a business while still employed?" and there have been a lot of 'time' responses. For me too. I'm building this business in the gaps. Before work. After the kids are in bed. In the short gaps grabbing coffee. So here's what I do to check in with myself and support taking action on my business even when I have no time, no energy, and no idea where to start. I ask: 1. Can I do one growth action today? Something that puts me in front of a new person. A post. A comment in a community. Showing up somewhere I haven't been before. Just one. 2. Can I do one sales action today? Not a pitch. Just mention an offer exists. A PS in an email. A reply to a DM. A post that references what I do. One mention. That's it. 3. Can I start or continue one conversation today? A genuine reply to someone. A comment that added something real. A DM that wasn't about selling. Just one human exchange. That's the system: Growth. Sales. Conversation. One of each. It can take less time than making a coffee. ☕ No dashboard required (though it helps 😂). No perfect morning routine. No two-hour strategy session. Just three checks across the day. Done. The weeks where I answered yes to questions 1 and 2 consistently, even just 4 out of 7 days, are the weeks my numbers moved. I can see it clearly now that I'm tracking. Time isn't the problem most of us think it is. Clarity about what one small thing to do today is the problem. What's your one thing today? Drop it below 👇 even if it's tiny. Especially if it's tiny.

I went through a phase of 'I need momentum and I'm a little desperate' (we've all been there 😂) and decided to create a low-cost email membership. $7 a month. Each week I'd send an email with a topic, collect questions from members, then reply to everyone in one email so the whole group got the benefit of the answers. Sounds okay in theory, right? I knew something was wrong the moment I set it up. The first signup notification came through — and I felt genuinely sick. Like, oh no, what have I done. Fortunately it was my own test email. Not a real signup. 😆🤣 The lesson: I didn't have the capacity for it. I was still in my 9-to-5, building on the side, and I'd created something that would require consistent weekly output I couldn't sustain. I'd confused 'having an idea' with 'having the bandwidth to execute it.' Now I ask myself before creating anything new: do I have the time and energy to actually deliver this for 60 days? If not, it goes in the "parking lot". Your turn 👇 What's something that flopped in your business — offer, idea, system, anything? Drop it below. No judgment here, only learning.

You've probably heard it a thousand times, "your email list is the only thing you own online." And I've fully bought into that, social media can change the rules tomorrow but nobody can take your list away from you (well, AI is creating some interesting inbox reach challenges but that's a conversation for another day 😉). Which is why I'm currently going all in on bundles as my main list growth strategy (you may have noticed 😂). Curious what everyone else is doing. Pick your answer below and drop a comment if you want to share what's actually working or what you've tried and abandoned.

So its Friday evening in New Zealand and I've been reflecting on how hosting my first bundle is going and I thought I'd share why I decided to do it because it did not start with some brilliant strategic plan 😂 It started with a rejection. A few months ago I applied to be a contributor in a bundle. Didn't get in. And honestly, it was a little annoying! Not because I thought my offer wasn't good enough, but because it made me realise I had no control. I'd done a couple of bundles by that point and the growth hadn't been what I'd hoped. And every time I went looking for the next one to join, I hit the same wall. A lot of bundles weren't quite the right fit or just too broad to bring in my specific audience. There was almost nothing for the person I actually am and the person I actually help. The one who is still in their job. Still in a senior leadership career. Sitting on nearly two decades of skills and experience and quietly wondering - could this become something? Could I actually build a business from what I already know? I couldn't find a bundle that fit that person. So I decided to build one. 21 contributors later, 330+ sign-ups, and the bundle has another 2 days to go. I had absolutely no idea if I would get contributors and sign ups. I'd never hosted a bundle before. But that's kind of the whole point of stepping into something new - you try and see if it works. For a first bundle hosting experience, I'm pretty happy. And I am probably going to do it again. So that experiment (so far 😅) was worth it. I'm going to call it a win. If you're reading this and you're in the place of being still employed, wondering if your skills and experience could become a business - I created a (free!) framework to help you identify what you could sell from your work experience/skills/qualifications etc . The From Job to CEO framework is completely free and it's the starting point for figuring out exactly what you could sell: 👉 leadershipwithniky.com/from-job-to-ceo

Since I'm asking you all to introduce yourselves, feels only fair I go first. I'm Niky. I live in New Zealand (yes, the time zones are genuinely chaotic 😂), I'm 18+ years into a senior leadership career in the public service, and I'm building my own business, right now, while still fully employed and wrangling a young family. Why am I doing this? Because I've always wanted to work for myself. Because I watched my Dad start businesses growing up and it never left me. And because pouring all this energy into a career where extra hours don't translate into extra reward stopped making sense a while ago. So here I am. Building in public. Sharing every experiment, every mistake, and every win, including the ones that are embarrassing to admit. Your turn. 👇 Drop your intro below, you can use this template if you need it: Hi! I'm [NAME], based in [COUNTRY] and I'm currently [JOB/SITUATION e.g. still in 9-to-5 / side hustle started / recently left]. My biggest challenge with building a business alongside work is [CHALLENGE]. I'm excited to [ONE GOAL]. Can’t wait to hear about you all.