🧂 The 5-to-9 CEO: Unleash your startup's potential with strategic team building

Hey there. Happy Saturday! Today, I’m sharing how I stopped doing it all myself and started building a business that fits real life.

I remember the exact moment I hit my breaking point. It was 5:00AM on a Saturday while I was flying with my family to Chicago. I sent the final message "I quit" to a contractor position referred by a friend.

I had a 9-5, a young baby about 18 months old, and I still had a dream of building my own business. I dedicated morning and night time to my baby, but leveraged some weekend time to work on contractor projects. I asked my in-laws to watch my baby for an afternoon so I could focus on working. But when I was actually available on Sunday, everyone else was off. My questions were never addressed, I could only design in blind. When they needed the design and had questions, I was in 9-5 meetings and couldn't get to it right away. This is the fact about hustling with a 9-5 and a baby, my time is never enough.

Like many of you, I believed the myth that building a business on the side meant sacrificing every spare moment until you could "earn" the right to go full-time. I admired the solo founder stories, the heroic tales of one-person armies conquering markets through sheer force of will. But as I discovered through painful experience, that path wasn't sustainable for me with my commitments and priorities.

What transformed my approach—and eventually my business—was shifting from trying to do everything myself to strategically building a team that complemented my limited availability. After three years of experimentation, here's what I've learned about thriving as a part-time founder without sacrificing what matters most to you.

How to build a thriving part-time business without sacrificing your life

• Identify your non-negotiables first:

  For me, mornings, evenings, and weekends belong to my family—period. Define your boundaries before your business defines them for you. Write these down and make them visible. When opportunities arise, check them against these non-negotiables before saying yes. This simple practice will save you from the regret of broken family promises and missed moments that can never be reclaimed.

• Realize that you cannot do everything yourself (as mom founders):

  The sooner you accept this truth, the faster your business will grow. Your unique skills and limited time create a ceiling that no amount of productivity hacks can break through. Calculate how many billable hours you realistically have each week after your day job and family commitments. This number is your hard constraint—respect it and build a different solution.

• Start small with delegation:

  Begin with a single task that consumes time but doesn't require your unique expertise. Look for repetitive, time-consuming work that follows predictable patterns. Even delegating 5 hours of work weekly gives you back 260 hours annually—that's over six full work weeks you can reallocate to strategic thinking or family time. Start with project-based work before committing to ongoing relationships.

• Create mutual growth opportunities:

  Find collaborators who get value beyond payment—exposure, portfolio building, or complementary skills. The best team members aren't just looking for income; they want career development that aligns with your mission. Offer to teach them skills in exchange for their time. Create showcases of their work through your platform. Connect them with your network when appropriate. These investments build loyalty that money alone cannot buy.

• Build systems before scaling:

  Document every process as you go, making onboarding new team members seamless. Create simple video recordings walking through common tasks. Use templates and checklists for recurring projects. Even five minutes spent documenting a process today saves hours of explanation tomorrow. The goal is to create a business that doesn't entirely depend on your presence to function—this is the difference between owning a job and building an asset.

The greatest leverage you'll ever create doesn't come from working harder—it comes from empowering others to work alongside you.

I was drowning in projects as a solo designer and part-time founder. With a new baby at home, I somehow thought juggling multiple projects was sustainable.

My body eventually forced the break my mind wouldn't take.

The turning point came when I stopped trying to be everything to everyone. When I realized I need to find people to help me, I created a community of fellow designers who met weekly, supporting their career for free. As we get to know each other more, each developed different specialties, I gained an informal support network for client projects.

Today, my design studio includes two full-time designers and three part-timers who collaborate regularly. They seamlessly handle client influxes, allowing my business to grow beyond the limits of my available hours.

Most importantly, my business continues running smoothly even when I'm focused on my kids and family.

Your next steps

The most powerful question you can ask yourself isn't "How can I do more?" but "Who can help me build this vision?"

Every dollar you earn as a part-time founder is a seed. Plant it in the soil of systems and team-building, and watch your business grow beyond the constraints of your calendar. This week, identify one task that consistently drains your energy but could easily be handled by someone else. Document the process, even if imperfectly. Then reach out to one potential collaborator—whether that's a fellow entrepreneur in your network, a student looking for experience, or a professional on a freelance platform.

Start small, but start now. The journey from overwhelmed solo founder to strategic team builder begins with a single delegation. Your business deserves the chance to thrive beyond the hours you can personally give it. And you deserve to build a successful venture without sacrificing the life you're working so hard to improve.

Your time is finite, but your impact doesn't have to be.

Share my newsletter

Loving my content so far? I’d appreciate if you can share my newsletter to a friend 🙂