She Thrives with Rhonda Coleman Wandel Podcast

Episode Summary

Marie is a coach, podcaster, and founder of The Business Mum Compass. Joining from Sydney, Australia, she shares how a demanding career in tech collided with motherhood and made her question where her energy was going. She talks about the side businesses that gave her an early taste of entrepreneurship, the podcast she launched as her plan B, and the identity shift of trading a big salary for zero income while building something of her own. This conversation is an honest look at giving yourself permission to choose a life aligned with your values.

Key Takeaways

• Why waiting for permission keeps women from starting, showing up, and calling themselves experts
• How confidence grows from taking action, not the other way around
• Why busy work is not the same as moving your business forward
• How mothers can make real progress by focusing on high impact actions in the hours they have
• Why embracing a changing identity after motherhood opens the door to purposeful work
• The importance of protecting daily time for yourself so you can show up fully for everyone else

Meet Marie Carrillon
Marie is a coach and podcast host based in Sydney, Australia. After moving to Australia, she built a career in tech while running side businesses, including an online clothing store and a beauty box subscription featuring products imported from France. After returning to corporate work following the birth of her second child, she launched a podcast as her plan B and eventually left her role to pursue it full time. Today she hosts The Business Mum Compass, releasing episodes twice a week, and coaches mum entrepreneurs to overcome imposter syndrome, doubt, and the fear of showing up online so they can confidently sell their knowledge.

Visit her website

How She Pivoted
Marie's nine to five had become more like eight to seven, with little flexibility and little say in her work. As a mother of two, she realized that while her employer valued her, she could be replaced quickly, and her family was the one paying the real price.

"I knew that I was not putting my energy where I should be putting it."

Rather than leave with nothing, she launched a podcast she felt passionate about. Within a year, she noticed most of her guests and topics centered on mothers in business, so she rebranded and committed fully to that niche. After 12 to 18 months of wrestling with her identity as a high earning woman in tech, she left corporate life and has never looked back.

Insights for Ambitious Women
Marie believes many women are conditioned from childhood to wait their turn and ask before acting, a habit that follows them into business. The first shift she works on with clients is recognizing they can grant themselves that permission.

"Confidence is not a prerequisite to start a business. Confidence will come when you start."

She also challenges the idea that building a business requires endless hours. For mothers working in short windows of time, success comes from choosing the actions that truly matter.

"It's not about how many hours you have, it's about how you use the ones that you've got."

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