One of the reasons I dislike extreme career advice online is because it often ignores context.

“Quit your job.”
“Burn the boats.”
“Take the leap.”
“Bet on yourself.”

It sounds inspiring.

Until you’re the person responsible for:

• the mortgage

• your kids’ education

• aging parents

• healthcare

• retirement

• and making sure the lights stay on every month

Advice sounds very different depending on the season of life you’re in.

And this is something I think about a lot because I sit in HR.

What people misunderstand about layoffs

I’ve seen layoffs happen from the inside.

I’ve seen high performers lose jobs.
People with strong track records still get cut.

Entire teams disappear because of:

• restructuring

• politics

• acquisitions

• budgets

• leadership changes

• and economic pressure

One of the biggest misconceptions employees have is believing good performance alone guarantees safety.

I wish that were true.

Performance matters.

But it’s not the only variable.

Which is exactly why I no longer believe depending entirely on one employer is truly safe.

Why I think many people quit too early

This doesn’t mean everyone should quit and become entrepreneurs.

In fact, I think many people quit far too early.

That’s the part no one talks about publicly.

Read more

The situation I can’t ignore

2 kids going to college in the next 12 months.
$200k per year needed for the next few years.

My bank account isn’t even close.

Some mornings, it feels heavier than others. Not panic. But a quiet, persistent pressure that doesn’t go away just because I ignore it.

The advice I’ve never agreed with

“Live within your means.”

I’ve never liked that.

Because at some point, it stops being helpful.

You can cut expenses.
Delay things.
Say no.

But only up to a point.

After that, it starts to feel like you’re shrinking your life to fit your income.

That’s not the direction I want to go.

The shift I’m making instead

This isn’t about overspending.
And it’s not about going into debt.

It’s about something else entirely.

Building the ability to create income when you need to.

Because I’ve seen what happens when income disappears. And I’ve lived it.

I’ve sat in rooms where those decisions get made. Relying on one source of income is a risk most people underestimate.

What I’m doing differently now

I don’t wait to feel ready anymore.

I decide. And then I move.

Not because I have a perfect plan.

But because I’ve realised something.

Clarity doesn’t come before action.
It comes from action.

What to do if you’re in this position too

If you’re carrying financial responsibility and trying to figure out how to create more income without risking your job, start here:

• Stop waiting for the “right time”

• Focus on what you can control today

• Take one action that could lead to income

Not planning. Not researching.

Action.

What I don’t share publicly (but matters)

There’s a part of this conversation I don’t usually go into here.

Because it comes from my HR background.

What I’ve seen behind closed doors has completely changed how I think about:

• Job security

• Income stability

• And why “doing your job well” isn’t enough

If you’ve ever thought this…

“If I just keep doing my job well, I’ll be fine.”

You might want to rethink that.

Read the full breakdown

In the paid version, I share:

• What actually drives layoff decisions (it’s not what most people think)

• Why relying on one income stream is riskier than it looks

• The exact shift I made after losing income — and how I’m applying it now

Upgrade here to read the full breakdown:

P.S. If you’re not ready yet

I’ve also put together a simple checklist:

What to do (and what to avoid) when building a side income alongside your 9–5

You can start there first.

Get the checklist here.

Why I don’t take “job security” at face value

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The fear of being seen is not really about your boss. It’s about who you still think you are.

Most people think their problem is:

“What if my boss sees me building something on the side?”

But that’s not the real question. The real question is:

Read more

I didn’t start building a side business to make $20k a month. I started because I didn’t trust my salary to protect my family anymore.

That’s a very different reason.

I grew up believing life would be straightforward.

Study hard.
Get a good job.
Marry well.

Be taken care of.

And for a long time, I was.

Until I found myself in 6-figure debt, let go from my job and became the primary earner in my family.

There’s a different kind of pressure that comes with that. It’s the kind that keeps you up at night.

Running numbers in your head.
Thinking about school fees.
Bills.

Wondering how long you can keep this going and what happens if you can’t.

That was the moment I realized something I didn’t want to see. I didn’t actually believe I could create money.

The good schools, grades and excellent job reviews I got showed that I knew how to earn a salary.

But creating income? On demand, amidst uncertainty? That felt completely out of my control and honestly, way out of my league.

For years, the way I reacted to that kind of uncertainty was to freeze and stay stuck in resentment and anxiety, hoping for things to change.

But now, life forced me to take a stand. I had two options.

Stay who I had always been - dependent, cautious, waiting for things to feel safe - or become the person my situation required me to be.

Someone who could figure things out, create opportunities and take 100% responsibility for the life I wanted to have.

That shift changed everything. Not immediately, but fundamentally.

I stopped seeing money as something that comes from a job, and started seeing it as something I could generate.

Through skills, decisions and action.

But here’s where it got complicated.

I knew quitting my job wasn’t the answer. I had already tried that and it’s how I ended up in debt.

So I had to find another way. A third path.

I’d keep my job, maximize my salary, and build something on the side.

On paper, it sounds simple. But in reality, it demands a completely different version of you. Because building a business while you’re still employed means you will be seen.

By colleagues, leaders, and people you didn’t expect.

You’ll question yourself.

“Is this allowed?”
“What if someone thinks I’m not committed?”
“What if this affects my job?”

And if you’ve spent your entire career being a “good employee”, this is where most people stop. Not because they don’t know what to do, but because they’re waiting to feel safe before they do it.

I felt that too.

The hesitation.
The fear.
The instinct to hold back.

But what I’ve realized building this business is that the real work is not the strategy.

It’s becoming someone who can act even when you don’t have certainty, permission, or approval. That’s where most people get stuck.

Because that shift from employee to entrepreneur is not just about what you do. It’s about how you think.

I’ll share more about this in my paid newsletter, including:

• what actually happens when your bosses see you building something on the side

• why waiting to feel “ready” keeps you stuck longer than anything else

• and the exact shift I had to make to start moving forward anyway

If this is something you’re struggling with, you’ll want to read that.

Upgrade to paid and get my paid newsletters every Thursday.

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What would you do if your business disappeared tomorrow?

I didn’t expect that question to stay with me the way it did.

I was listening to entrepreneurs I looked up to. People who had built the kind of businesses I thought I wanted. They had the income, the flexibility, the control.

Someone asked:

“What would you do if your business went away tomorrow?”

Almost all of them said the same thing.

They’d go back to their corporate jobs. Or some version of it.

That caught me off guard.

Because for the longest time, I’ve been focused on building a business so I can eventually leave my 9–5. But that question made me pause.

I realised I don’t actually hate my job

Somewhere along the way, I had bought into the idea that the job was the problem. That it was the thing I needed to move away from.

But when I really looked at my life, I couldn’t ignore what my job has given me. It has funded a very comfortable life for my family.

My son recently calculated the miles we’ve flown over the years. We’ve circled the earth almost five times.

Climbed Angkor Wat.
Frozen at the Grand Canyon.
Visited universities in the US and UK.
Returned to my alma maters at UT and LSE.
Watched fish swim around our feet in the Maldives.
We’ve chased the Northern Lights across three countries.
Picked fresh eggs on a farm and cooked them for breakfast.
Walked through cities like London, New York, San Francisco.

And beyond the travel, there’s everything else.

Because of my job, I had bosses who supported me getting certified as a leadership trainer and coach. That opened doors to freelance work that eventually paid me more than my salary and gave me skills I’ll keep for life.

It gave me exposure, credibility, opportunities, relationships.

Even things we don’t think about often:

• my mortgage being partially covered through employer contributions

• access to credit because of the company name on my payslip

• instant trust when I walk into a professional setting

There’s a lot my job has made possible.

And sometimes, I forget that.

So no, I don’t hate corporate life

I don’t think most people actually do. What we don’t like is something else.

Read more

“I got away with murder.”

That’s what my dad used to say.

He never explained what he meant.
And I never asked.

On the contrary, he was a family man.

The sole provider.
Held a demanding job.
Still served as a committee member in his radio control model plane club.

And somehow, he always had time for us.

He was tired. But he still showed up.

Even when I wanted to go to my favourite bookstore, and he had just come home tired from work, he would still take me.

Because he knew I had been waiting all day for him.

That was just who he was.

“We must find a way.”

There was another thing he used to say.

Whenever I ran into a problem, that was his response. Not whether it was possible. Not whether it was convenient.

Just,
we must find a way.

The promise he made (and kept)

After he had a stroke that left him unable to walk, he told my son, who was only one at the time:

“I will walk again one day, so I can carry you.”

He said it so simply. Like it was already decided.

And he did.

But it wasn’t easy

The recovery wasn’t smooth.

There were periods where he was depressed. He didn’t want to eat. Didn’t want to do anything.

But even then, he found his way back. He never wallowed in self-pity. If anything, he was more frustrated that he wasn’t progressing fast enough.

So what did he mean?

“I got away with murder.”

I still don’t fully understand it.

But over time, I started to piece things together.

Maybe it was how he “stole” time away from work. Or how he did less than what he thought was expected of him. And yet, he still rose.

He held a leadership position. Worked closely as a deputy to the top man in the company, even though he came from facilities, not the obvious path.

The Managing Director clearly saw something in him.

He made a good living. He provided for us. And somehow, he still had time.

Time for family.
Time for the things he enjoyed.
Time for people.

And yet… there was something else

There were things he said that stayed with me.

He once told me he might have given up on things too soon. That he felt bad for not helping a colleague who came to him.

It didn’t sound like pride. It sounded like regret.

Like he felt he could have done more.

From the outside, he had everything

A good job.
A stable income.
A family who loved him.
A full life.

Somehow, he made it all work.

And maybe, to him, it felt like he got away with something.

When he passed

People showed up.

In droves.

One of his friends came despite having terminal stage cancer, with an IV drip, and wept.

Another said, “I’m so glad I brought him his favourite dessert that day,” just weeks before he passed.

We honoured him anyway

Even though my dad had told us:

“Don’t waste money.
Just put me in a plywood box and burn me.
If they didn’t make time to see me when I was alive,
I don’t need them to come see me when I’m dead.”

We still gave him a proper send-off.

The elegant coffin.
The Mercedes Benz hearse.
The grand room for the wake.

It wasn’t for him. It was for us.

To honour the man who had spent his whole life showing up for others, and somehow, still enjoying his own life along the way.

Now, I understand this differently

Building my business alongside a job and a family, being the primary provider, there are days it feels like too much.

Days where I question if I can keep going. Days where I just want to stop.

But then I think about him

How he carried so much, and still found time.
Still found joy.
Still found a way.

Maybe this is what he meant

I don’t think he really “got away with murder.”

I think he made choices.

Quiet ones.
Intentional ones.
Ones that didn’t always follow what was expected.

He didn’t give everything to work. He didn’t wait for perfect conditions. He found a way to make space for what mattered.

And maybe that’s the real lesson

Because for people like us, there isn’t always a perfect path.

There’s just the decision to keep going. To keep figuring it out. To keep making it work.

And so I will.

Welcome.

I want it all.

• $20k per month from my side business,

• the stability of a job,

• time with my kids,

• and a marriage that doesn’t fall apart in the process.

Not someday. Now.

I didn’t always think this way. I followed the default path. Study hard. Get a good job. Build a stable career. And for a while, it worked, until it didn’t.

Like many working moms, I struggled with work-life balance. So I tried to fix it the way many people have been told (and sold) to do. My husband and I quit our jobs and went ‘all in’ to start a café. I thought it would give me control over my time and money.

It didn’t. Instead, it left us with a 6-figure debt.

The turning point

So I went back to a corporate HR job. Then I got laid off - as the sole provider. It sent me down a spiral of financial stress and anxiety. I wondered how I’d continue and if my kids would end up homeless because of me.

Eventually, I found another job. But that experience stayed with me.

In my line of work, I’m often the one delivering layoff messages. I’ve seen how quickly “stable” can disappear.

I’ve been on both sides of that conversation. And it changed how I think about work, money, and security.

I no longer believe a single income is safe. And I no longer wait for the “perfect time” to start something else.

So I started again. But differently.

• Not all in.

• Not risky.

• Not at the expense of everything else in my life.

I’m doing this alongside my job. In small pockets of time, between meetings, after dinner, on weekends when I can. Slow, but intentional.

This publication is where I document that process, in real time.

My promise to you

When you subscribe, you’ll see:

• What I’m actually doing each week

• How I find time without needing hours I don’t have

• What’s working, what’s not, and what I’m changing

• How I think about money, risk, and stability as a HR insider

No hype. No fluff. No “quit your job and go all in.”

Just a different way to do this that works for me.

Who this publication is for (and not)

This is for you if:

• You’re a working woman in a full-time job

• You want more income, but can’t risk losing your salary

• You don’t have hours of free time

• You’re willing to build this steadily

This is not for you if:

• You’re looking for quick money

• You’re planning to quit your job soon

• You’re not willing to take action

Get the HR insider scoop I don’t share publicly

If you want to go deeper, the paid newsletter is where I share what I don’t say publicly, like:

• How job security really works (from inside HR)

• What actually puts employees at risk

• The decisions I’m making about money and income

• Private Q&A where you can ask me directly about your situation

Get the inside scoop

Are you ready?

I’m sharing this as I go. Because I know what it feels like to lie awake at night, doing the math in your head, worrying about bills, school fees, retirement, and whether this side business will ever replace your income.

Then showing up for work the next day like everything is fine.

If you’re in that place, you don’t need more motivation. You need a way forward that actually works for someone with multiple priorities. Not someone who can afford to do this full time. At least not yet.

I write here 1-2 times a week. Subscribe and join me if you want to see how this plays out.