WMW #32: Liz Mosley, graphic designer, solopreneur and mum of 2
"For me what feels successful is that flexibility that I have with my own business"
I have had the pleasure to interview SO many amazing women over the last few weeks, I have a pipeline of them waiting to be shared! Stay tuned for some inspiring summer reads :)
This section of my newsletter where I get to interview some really cool mums is truly my favourite part of this project.
Today’s interview is with Liz Mosley, a brand designer based in the UK who I have been following on instagram for a while.
Her branding and entrepreneuship related content is really useful, but what intrigued me the most in her content was when she did this ‘rejection’ challenge where she had to get 50 rejections in 6-months, and she documented her journey publicly.
Gamifying her rejections gave her the boldness to reach out to more people for more opportunities, without making her feel attached to the outcome. She discusses why and how she did it it in the interview here.
She also has a super cool podcast on branding to help you grow your business, and all-in-all, really good energy.
In our interview we talk about life as a mum and solopreneur, navigating the journey of parenthood, building your own business, AI, productivity and mindset about what really matters in the end.
There are 3 ways you can enjoy this interview: Watch, Listen OR Read!
Watch our candid chat, here: (or listen to it as Youtube plays)
Read a shorter version here:
Meet Liz Mozley, graphic designer, solopreneur and mum of 2
Q. Tell us a bit about your background, where you're from, and about your kids?
Liz: I grew up in Cardiff in Wales, in the UK. And then I went away for a long time, to study, work and live in London for about 10 years. And then I had my first child and came back to Cardiff.
I am a graphic designer and I started off in a little agency; then went in-house at big university, and then while I was there, started getting requests for freelance work. And interestingly, working for myself had never been a goal or wasn't really something that I was interested in, but I started to take on these side projects.
And I actually really enjoyed it, got a taste for working for myself, and then I had kids and realised that I didn't want to go back to working for someone else.
Thankfully I had started building my own business before having kids. It all moved very slowly at the start because I was taking maternity leave and like juggling it with childcare. But now at 5 and 7 years old, my kids are a bit older, I've really gone all in on my own business and I think I'd really struggle to go back to work for someone else now.
Q. The reason I started following you was your Instagram post about “embracing rejection”. That post really resonated with me as I'm starting my own business. Can you tell us more about where that came from and the idea of “rejection therapy”?
Liz: So I invited someone who was much more high profile than I would usually ever ask to be on my podcast. And he said no, because I didn't have enough downloads per episode. He said it very nicely. He said to get in touch with him when I had more downloads. And what was interesting to me was how I felt. It wasn't even a horrible rejection, it wasn't public, it's not like anybody else knew about it, but I still had quite strong feelings about it. I would catch myself saying to myself, that didn't feel good, I'm not gonna ask anyone of that level again, I don't want to feel like this again.
And I started to think if that's how I was reacting just from a fairly minor rejection for my podcast, what was I missing out on because I wasn't even asking for it because of this fear of being rejected. I had seen some other people do this and a friend of mine who's an illustrator called Katie Chapel also did a rejection challenge a few years previously to me.
So I set myself the challenge to get a hundred rejections within six months, which it turns out was completely never going to happen. And I failed the challenge but what was really interesting to me was the minute that I made it a challenge and I gamified it, it became something that was fun for me and I created a win-win situation and it just gave me this real boldness and confidence. And so I was just going out and just asking for what I wanted.
Surprisingly, I got way more yeses than I expected; about 50 percent yes’s, 50 percent no’s. And I just got much better at handling the rejection. Much, much better at moving on quicker. I still feel the negative emotion when it happens, like the disappointment, but I don't dwell on it.
Q. What kind of things were you asking for as part of your challenge?
Liz: Most of it was business-related. I pitched guests for my podcast, sought podcast sponsors, and asked for speaking opportunities at events. Some of it was also about cold-pitching potential clients. It was a mix, mainly focused on pushing my business forward.
Q. After having kids, since you already had a side business, at what point did you decide not to go back to your previous job?
Liz: I had a great maternity package at my job, allowing me to take a whole year off. By the end of my maternity leave, I didn't want to go back, mainly due to the long commute and the desire to spend more time with my child. I resigned and started building my business, which allowed me to scale up or down based on my family needs. After my second child, I fully committed to my branding business, which has been really fulfilling.
Q. How did motherhood change your perception of work?
Liz: Motherhood made me more ambitious. Before kids, I was content but not pushing myself. Now, with my own business, I'm driven to make it successful and sustainable, allowing me to have the flexibility to be there for my kids.
And for me, what feels successful is that flexibility that I have. And I guess I feel ambitious in the sense of making that work; making a business that allows me to live that lifestyle rather than ambitious to be like the most famous branding designer.
I think the phrase, ‘you can have it all’ has been really damaging. I think you have the potential to have all of the things that you want, but not necessarily at the same time. I think we just need to be a bit more realistic about that.
It’s about working out what you want and then working out what you're willing to sacrifice to make that happen because you do have to sacrifice something. For example, what we've sacrificed is the stability of a regular income and benefits from a company, to be able to spend more time with our kids.
Q. Where do you get your inspiration?
Liz: I think people, honestly. I am definitely an extrovert. I love being around people. I think talking to people about different topics and what they're working on, things I'm thinking about, and bouncing that off other people really inspires me.
I also find it really helpful to get out of my work bubble and find inspiration outside of that. I find going to new places really inspirational. Also, I've recently been to quite a lot of conferences. So networking, listening to talks, I found that that's really been good for me as well. So, a change of scenery, different people, different ideas, spark things for me.
Q. What's your biggest productivity hack?
Liz: Honestly, a to-do list is the most motivating thing for me. Very simple, it's just on my phone, I make one for each day, and I try and get as many things done on it as possible. I also try to break tasks into small chunks and use a timer. I get easily distracted, so setting short time limits helps me focus and get things done.
Q. What's your parenting mantra?
Liz: Well, it depends what phase I'm in. I think when they were little, ‘This Too Shall Pass’ is quite a mantra for a lot of parents, knowing that when things felt hard, that it wasn't going to be like this forever.
It's so hard because when you're in the thick of that though, like the sleep deprivation and everything, you just can't imagine ever coming out the other side of it.
One of the things that I'm not very good at and I want to be better at is just being really present in the now, and so I think my mantra is to just really accept the phase that I'm in of parenting, enjoy it as much as I can, and be as present as possible with my kids.
Q. What advice would you give to new mums looking to start working again or start their own business?
Liz: I think my advice would be to be really kind with yourself.
I think as mums we're so hard on ourselves if we just don't get it and do it straight away.
Everything is a learning process and a journey. I was so so frustrated at myself at the beginning, that I wasn't further along; I gave myself a really hard time, that I wasn't earning enough, all of these kind of things, and I just wish I'd been kinder with myself.
We beat ourselves up about so many things, so be gentle with yourself as you start a new thing. And also acknowledge that it's really normal for you to not feel like yourself, to have lost confidence, and to feel a bit lost. See it as the beginning of a journey of rediscovering what you want to do and who you want to be.
Q. Do you have a favourite tool that makes your life easier?
Liz: I would say the Notes app on my phone. It's handy for jotting down ideas and keeping everything in one place.
Q. What are your thoughts on AI and its impact on work and our kids?
As a creative, I guess generative AI makes me uncomfortable a bit, and I worry about the ethical implications. I try not to worry about it too much but that's in the back of my mind.
From a mum perspective I think there's lots of really exciting things going on. I get excited about AI when it's helping me with the jobs that I don't want to do. When it's doing the jobs that I do want to do, like being creative and designing, then I'm not interested!
Q. What's a parenting book or advice that was a game changer for you?
Liz: "The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read" by Philippa Perry was insightful.
To be totally honest, the thing that has helped me most as a parent was getting therapy.
When my first kid was young, I went to therapy for a while. I think having kids is really triggering and it brings up a lot of undealt issues for people. So I think actually dealing with those and addressing those has been the best thing that I've done and the most helpful for me. Realizing that that's what's happening and then seeking help is hard, especially when you're like sleep deprived and you're just in the midst of it and everything's foggy.
Q. What's the best thing you've read or watched lately?
Liz: I just watched "Ted Lasso," which I enjoyed for its light-heartedness.
I love escapist TV - things that I don't have to think too hard about. I have just watched Ted Lasso and really enjoyed it.
For reading, a book called "The Best 90 Days Ever" by a friend of mine offers daily marketing prompts, which I find very useful.
You can find Liz on Instagram here.
And she has a really cool podcast, here.
In other news…
I have so many other updates for you, both life and my business adventure, I will cover it all in a juicy email next week.
Free session: How I’m setting up my online income streams
Next week I am doing a free session on how I started my side-hustle and then took it on to build a business around it which was all possible thanks to the internet, social media and AI tools.
Essentially, you can take any skill, interest or passion you have, and build a business around it. When I found out this was possible, thanks to the internet and new technology, I learned everything about how to do this.
I’m sharing more about my journey and how I did it in a free session on July 10. Details to sign up here if you are interested. Replay will be sent!
That’s all for now.
Have a great week!
Love,
Abha