That small idea turns into courage – when you speak about your idea out loud and decide to take a leap of faith, to try to put yourself and your idea out into the world.

Then you take a series of small steps that ultimately lead you and your small idea to BIG success.

All of those small steps – all of those tiny decisions – become part of your story. As business owners we should learn to share these stories, to inspire others to follow their dreams and ideas and bring something new of their own into the world.

Seed of an idea

All too often we feel we need to know the whole plan in advance, when really we need just a vision and a seed of an idea that we can nurture.

Once upon a time The Mortgage Mum was just a seed; something I allowed myself to think about only when someone asked me to imagine myself in five years’ time and “let your imagination run wild”. That same someone asked me to not only think about it but declare it on a Facebook Live post to a private community.

I took the opportunity.

I declared that I had “provided a space for women to train as mortgage brokers and work flexibly around their families”, and also that I had enjoyed a “moment with my singing” that I could “look back on with my children for years to come”.

Less than a year later my appearance on The Voice UK happened and I experienced not one but three amazing moments that I will never forget. As with anything, however, there were years of small steps to achieve those big wins.

It was while I was feeling particularly courageous during The Voice UK that the seed of an idea for The Mortgage Mum turned into a leap of faith. Less than a year later, we have 20 Mortgage Mums on the journey with us across the UK. Swift growth was always on our agenda, but how do you go from a seed of an idea to swift growth?

As the film Frozen 2 states: ‘You just do the next right thing.’ You allow yourself to be seen and heard without fear of judgement. You speak your ideas aloud. You show your passion and are ambitious with your vision. You know the purpose behind what you are trying to do.

You have to keep looking forward, but also take time to look back and appreciate all those small steps. All those tiny decisions. All that has happened since you had that seed of an idea that, thankfully, you did not under-estimate.