Dreaming Big When You're Scared to Scale: What Jade from Toddle About Suffolk Taught Me About Growing Your Business

Business Tips
Written by Martina Darling
jade sat at a table speed networking at our felixstowe WIN event

Can I be really honest with you for a second?

I find it so hard to dream big. Not because I don't have big dreams (anyone who knows me knows my brain never switches off). It's that little voice that pipes up the second I let myself imagine something bigger. Surely not. Who do you think you are?

I know I'm not alone in that. I meet so many incredible women at our networking events who could grow their businesses, want to grow their businesses, and are quietly holding themselves back because they're scared.

So when I sat down with Jade from Toddle About Suffolk for this week's podcast, this was exactly what I wanted to talk to her about. Jade has some seriously big dreams, and she's going after them in the most honest, down-to-earth way.

Meet Jade: from reader to owner in a matter of weeks

If you're a parent or grandparent in Suffolk, you've probably picked up a copy of Toddle About Suffolk. It's a quarterly parent and toddler magazine packed with things to do with little ones across the county. It covers everything from pregnancy to preschool, with events and a daily activity planner broken down by day, activity and category.

Jade started out as a reader. She picked it up in 2021 with a new baby, on the other side of COVID, desperate to get out of the four walls of her house. She used it with both of her children. Then just over a year ago, she spotted in the magazine that they were looking for someone to take it over.

Jade had a background in HR. She had never edited a magazine, put one together or sold advertising. But she'd just gone back to work after her second baby and knew she wanted more. So she took the chance, and within a few weeks she was the owner.

Her first issue went from her picking it up to print in about four weeks, just before Christmas, while she was still working her notice. (She does not recommend this!)

In just one year, she has:

  • grown from 22 advertisers to 55

  • grown the magazine from 36 pages to 52 (because, in her words, she couldn't decide what not to put in)

  • given East Suffolk its own section in the activity planner, so families there can actually find what's on near them

  • found ways to make advertising more affordable for start-ups and mums in business

  • launched live events, with the next one at Culford in November

That's incredible for anyone, let alone someone who was completely out of her comfort zone twelve months ago.

The big dream

This is the bit I love. Jade isn't stopping at Suffolk.

She already has connections and businesses in Essex who love the magazine. She's been travelling up and down the A140 to visit a friend in Norwich and keeps thinking about how much there is for families up there. And if she did all of that, Cambridge would complete the arch. Her dream is Toddle About right across East Anglia.

What really got me, though, is the why behind it. Jade wanted work that was flexible and fitted around her family, where she could still drive something forward, not one where the only way to earn more was to work more hours. If she grows Toddle About, she wants to offer that same flexibility to other parents. That doesn't mean "we're really accommodating to parents" on a job advert. It means flexibility for real, where work is done by a deadline, not between set hours.

Why dreaming big feels so scary

Listening to Jade talk about expanding into other counties was like listening to my own brain.

I started Women Inspired Network running events on my own. Then I thought, "I know, I'll bring in leaders," and went from four events a month to twelve. Then I thought, "I'll add The Success Circle." Then, "Let's start Mumma Connections!" I am a glutton for punishment, and so is Jade.

But even when you are doing it, the fear doesn't disappear. Jade was so honest about this. She still gets imposter syndrome most days. What am I doing? Why did I think I could do this? Then there's the mum guilt. She took this on to be more present with her children, and some days she feels caught somewhere in between.

She also said something I think a lot of you will relate to. The landscape for small businesses is hard right now. Constantly pushing to be seen and to bring work in is exhausting.

So if you've got a dream and you're scared of it, that's not a sign you're doing it wrong. It's normal. Here's what Jade had to say about moving forward anyway.

Jade's advice for scaling when you're scared

1. Take it little piece by little piece. You don't have to do the whole dream at once. Hold on to it, and just work out what you can get done today. Some days will be challenging. As Jade put it, it's no different to parenting: pick yourself up, because tomorrow is a new day.

2. Find someone in your corner. This is a big one. Jade talked about finding another business owner, often through networking, who is going through the same thing at the same time and can spur you on. I genuinely feel Jade is that person for me. We both want to grow, we both have those "surely not, little me" moments, and I know I can pick up the phone (or text at 11pm, because that's when we both work!) and she'll tell me I can do it.

3. Let competition fuel you, not your comparison. Jade made a brilliant point here. Looking at what others are doing isn't about copying them or comparing yourself. It's about realising that if someone else can do it, why can't it be you?

4. Want it. Drive and motivation come from genuinely wanting it. That wanting is what pushes you towards the next step.

5. Show up. When people ask Jade how she gets Toddle About out there, her answer is simple: she shows up. She goes to networking events and baby fairs, and she puts the magazine into parents' hands herself. She prints 9,000 copies, and she wants 9,000 parents to pick one up, not to leave them sitting on a shelf. Most of her wins come from being in the room.

Why networking matters so much

Jade comes to our WIN events in Felixstowe, and that's how we met. I think about that a lot. What if she hadn't come? I've had so many people say to me, "Imagine if I hadn't come to that first networking event."

For Jade, networking has been more than a source of advertisers. It's given her the space and confidence to feel this is possible, I'm in the right place, and I can do this. She's also started connecting people with each other and watching collaborations grow, which is what it's all about for me.

Would we change it?

At the end of the conversation, we both landed in the same place. The fear, the late nights and the mum guilt are real. (I honestly think we'd feel mum guilt whichever way we did it.) But Jade said that if she was still in her employed job, she'd be yearning for something more. She loves what she does, and it's not a path she ever imagined.

I feel exactly the same. I love seeing what I've built, and I love the excitement of what it could be.

So if you've got a big dream tucked away somewhere, maybe this is your sign to take it out and look at it properly. Then take one small step.

As Jade said, everything has to start with a dream.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode

💛 Find Jade at Toddle About Suffolk

✨ Come and network with us at Women Inspired Network

If this episode has you thinking about who's in your corner, come and find your people at one of our relaxed, pay-as-you-go networking events across Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridge.

Martina Darling
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