What a year it has been! As we look back on the past twelve months, we’re grateful for another season filled with family fun, new adventures, and plenty of laughter along the way. I continued to watch our granddaughter Lily a few days a week at our house, and we’ve loved building such a strong bond with her and watching her grow. And our grandson Jax had a sleepover at our house every other Friday, which meant we got to play all the same games we used to enjoy with our sons when they were little. From the big moments to the small everyday joys, 2025 gave us so many memories worth celebrating, and we’re excited to share a few of our favorites with you.

January

January brought plenty of snow, which kept us close to home—but it also gave me the perfect chance to break in the snowshoes I received for Christmas. I led two hikes for my local women’s hiking club in the brisk 10-degree weather, and, believe it or not, I had several brave souls join me!

February

We celebrated Donovan (29), Justin (31), and Richie’s (33) birthdays at Top Golf again this year. Lily also had her first sleepover at our house. I think she was getting jealous that Jax got one every other weekend!

March

I finally took Lily on her first hike this month—followed by many more. I also treated Jax to his first visit to the National Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C. He had such a great time, he told me he wanted to go back every day.

April

Lily took her first steps during the first week of April at just 9½ months! We had a wonderful Easter celebration with the whole family. Jax enjoyed showing Lily how to hunt for eggs. He is such a sweet big brother.

Sean & I continued our quest to visit all the Virginia State Parks with a trip to Williamsburg and nearby favorites: York River, Chippokes, and Machicomoco. Sean and I also returned to running, and both placed second in our age groups at the Third Winchester Battlefield 5K.

May

For Sean’s birthday, we enjoyed a getaway to Charlottesville to tour Thomas Jefferson’s historic Monticello estate. We spent the next day biking and hiking at High Bridge Trail State Park, where the path crosses an old rail line high above the river. Later that month, we ran a beautiful—though very hilly—6K at Barrel Oak Winery, winding through the vineyards.

June–July

We celebrated Lily’s first birthday with family and friends. She had a pool party and loved the water and her birthday cake. Jax also graduated from Pre-K. Throughout the summer, I took both Jax and Lily to splash pads, pools, playgrounds, and out for frozen yogurt.

Sean encouraged me to keep running through the heat, and we tackled a 5K at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in June—where he placed first in his age group—and another 5K in July at hilly Riverbend Park, where I earned second place in mine.

August

Our annual beach trip to the Chesapeake Bay was extra special this year with Richie, Agata, Jax, and Lily joining us again. Jax couldn’t get enough of the inflatable bouncy pad, and Lily absolutely loved the water. They later cheered us on at the Burke Lake Park 5K, where I ran my personal best time of the year.

September

We went pumpkin picking with Jax and Lily. It’s such a joy to compare photos from Great Country Farms year after year to see how much they’ve grown.

Unfortunately, I broke my foot in four places later in the month, which meant no hiking and missing the Dulles 5K Race on the Runway. I still made it to the sidelines to cheer for Sean, who ran his best time of the year.

October

I joined Sean on a business trip to Atlanta. While he was in conference sessions, I explored the city—via sightseeing bus and, thanks to my crutches, a rented mobility scooter at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. By the end of the month, I was finally cleared to resume walking and light hiking, but no hiking. Sean ran the first 5K at the National Zoo. They hope to make it an annual event, so if we’re able, we’ll both be there next year.

November

We headed back to Atlanta for another conference, and this time Sean could sneak away one afternoon so we could visit the Carter Presidential Library and Museum—our sixth presidential library so far. While he worked, I visited Amicalola Falls State Park, Springer Mountain (the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail), and the Fernbank Museum’s old-growth forest.

By the last week of November, I was able to start jogging again, and Sean and I completed the Bluemont 5K at Great Country Farms.

December

We’re excited to celebrate Jax’s fifth birthday on the 14th—he’s such a smart boy! Just the other day, he informed me that 8,000,000 + 8,000,000 equals 16,000,000. When I asked if he knew what 16,000,000 + 16,000,000 was, he thought about it for a few seconds and answered correctly. He loves his “homework,” puzzles, and mazes.

And of course, we’re looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the whole crew: Justin, Donovan, Richie, Agata, Jax, and Lily.

When you first get started with a side hustle, it can be such an exciting time in your life. You will find that you have a passion outside of work, something that you want to dedicate a lot of your time to. If you know that you want it to become a full-time thing for you in the future, you may be spending all of your time on it. So when things start to take off, it can feel like a very rewarding moment. However, this is likely to be something that you’re doing alone. Even when you’re starting to make a small bit of money, you still know that you have a long way to go. But just because you’re starting out as a solopreneur, it doesn’t mean that things need to stay that way in the long term. In fact, if you know that you want to not just make this your full-time career, but build a successful business off the back of it, you totally can. It’s all about taking the right approach.

However, it is important to understand what it takes for you to grow your business to the level you really want it to be. You may find that the things you’ve been doing up until this point have gotten you this far, but won’t take you much further. This is where a change of tactic comes in. Because if you want to be more of a big-time business, you need to start operating like a big-time business. In this blog post, we’re going to walk through some of the things you need to do to grow beyond solopreneurship and achieve big business success.

1. Set a Goal

To start with, it helps to set a goal. If you are feeling overwhelmed with this process, it might just mean that you’re thinking it’s something it’s not. So, spend time thinking about what you actually want to achieve by expanding the business. Do you want to make a certain amount of money or reach a certain checkpoint in external success? When you are more concrete on why you’re doing this, it can feel easier to get the wheels in motion.

2. Set the Business Up Commercially

From here, you then need to make sure that you’re physically making the adjustments to your business. You’re no longer operating alone and instead are now operating like a business. This will mean that you need to register the company if you haven’t already, and set up the financials and taxes in the right way. You can also sign up for the best fuel programs for the company, secure your business phone line and internet package, and even consider getting a virtual office. When you have, the business now not only looks more professional, but is set up to reflect your growth.

3. Change the Way You See Things

But at the same time, you also need to make sure that you’re changing your mindset. It’s easy to be set in your ways. As a freelancer or side-hustler, you can often look at your work as a hobby or something small-time. But when you want to go from solopreneurship to CEO, it all starts with a change in how you see it all. You need to start treating what you’re doing as a big business. Thinking and acting like a CEO is such a simple way to make the shift, and everything else will follow.

4. Hire Some Help

One of the ways that you’re going to be able to start seeing it all differently is to stop doing everything yourself. This means that you’re going to want to hire your first team member. It might just be an assistant for now, or it could be a specialist in a set area. Either way, having people in the business allows you to free up time to focus on the expansion.

5. Invest in Branding

From here, you will then want to make sure that the business looks the part from the outside. So, make sure that you’ve got strong branding in place. It could be the perfect time for you to work on a rebrand that helps you to look a lot more professional and makes a statement about what you’re here to do.

6. Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy

Alongside that, you also need to make sure that you have a powerful marketing strategy that will support your growth. Having branding that looks the part is the start, but you then need to add that with marketing activity that supercharges your growth. Spend time working out what you want to try, bringing your campaigns to life, tracking activity, and analyzing your data. You’ll soon see what’s getting you the best results, and will be able to double down on the tactics that drive results. 

7. Expand Your Operations

You also need to make sure that you’re thinking about how you expand your operations. The last thing you need is to grow too quickly and find that your operations aren’t able to handle it. Expanding globally can sound very big and intimidating, but it’s just about reaching more people with what you’re doing. However, you still need to make sure that you have the people, systems, and processes in place to facilitate it all. So, make sure that you’re bringing in the right operational setup to drive the company forward.

Creating a Big-Time Business on Your Terms

It’s safe to say that going from solopreneur to CEO can feel like a big jump. But you have to remember that this is never done overnight. It’s all about taking the right steps that will get you to where you want to be. When you start focusing on putting the wheels in motion, you will get there. So, make sure that you pick out a few options from this post and put it all into practice. That way, the business is going to grow, and you’ll be well on your way to big-time business success completely on your terms. Good luck!