This week’s solo episode is all about Atomicon, the largest sales and marketing conference in the UK for small businesses, and what happened when I finally went for the first time.
It was not a smooth run up to the event. Between a non-refundable train ticket, a last-minute rebooking to make it home for my daughter’s first ever sports day, a soft brand launch on the same day as the 50th episode and a Sunday night spent trying to learn Adobe Express on a train, it felt less like a treat and more like something I was squeezing into the cracks of a very full life. But I showed up anyway. And I am so glad I did.
In this episode I share what the day actually looked like, the talks that challenged and inspired me, the moment I had to choose between walking away or being brave enough to ask for what I wanted and why I am already booked for next year.
Key Reflections:
- The tension between mum life and business life that played out even before Atomicon began, from sports day versus conference tickets to late night brand launches and early morning trains
- How Erin Thomas Wong’s fringe event the evening before set the perfect tone, a smaller, more intimate space full of like-minded women that eased me gently into the bigger experience ahead
- Andrew and Pete’s 90-10 rule and why their challenge to go all in on one clear focus landed uncomfortably for someone who is currently spreading her energy across multiple businesses and projects
- The talks that stopped me in my tracks, particularly Amelia Sordell on the founder brand and why craving attention for your business is not the same as craving it for yourself
- The moment outside the talk where I waited 45 minutes, nearly talked myself out of it and then walked up to Amelia anyway to ask if she would come on this podcast. She said yes.
- Ann Handley closing the day with a brilliant talk about the importance of knowing when to slow down in a world that is constantly telling us to hurry up, and why I will be seeking out her work everywhere I can find it
- Why the energy, the generosity and the sheer friendliness of 1500 small business owners in one room is something every person building a business in isolation needs to experience at least once
Listen If You’re:
- Curious about Atomicon and wondering whether it would be worth the time, cost and logistics for you
- Building a business largely on your own and craving connection with other people who truly understand what that feels like
- Struggling with focus and wondering whether spreading your energy across multiple projects is working in your favour
- Someone who finds it hard to put themselves forward or ask for what they want in a room full of people more established than you
- A mum who has ever had to choose between a business opportunity and a moment with your children and felt the weight of that decision
Favourite Takeaway for Mums in Business:
Nobody is nothing and no one. Waiting patiently and walking away from an opportunity to be vulnerable and ask for what you want would have been the real failure. Every time we show up in the face of that fear, we build the muscle.
About the Host:
I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, charity co-founder, photography business educator, marketer and now podcaster! My career has wandered all over the place and is becoming a bit of a complex tapestry as I head into this middle phase of life, but I can honestly say I’ve loved every minute of it so far.
I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It’s a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams!
If You Enjoyed This Episode:
Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast – it helps other mums find us!
Share in your Instagram stories, tag @mummeansbusinesspodcast and let us know your biggest takeaway and if you are considering going to Atomicon in Manchester next year, I’d love to see you there!
Share this episode with a fellow Mum in business who you feel would resonate with my ramblings.
Episode Transcript:
NOTE: This is the transcript from the original recording, rather than the edited episode so timings may vary.
Victoria (00:01)
Hello and welcome to the second solo episode of the Mum Means Business podcast. And I want to talk to you about Atomicon because this year was my first ever Atomicon. If you don’t know, Atomicon is the largest sales and marketing conference in the UK for small businesses. And last year I knew a few people who were going and there just seemed to be so much noise.
on social media from everyone who was there. They looked like they were having an absolute blast. And so I went in 12 months early as soon as that one had wrapped up and I bought an early bird ticket for 2026. And on the whole, I am so glad I did because it was so much fun. But I was super organized and I booked my hotel and I booked my trains and I booked a non-refundable train. So was like, nothing’s going to get in the way. This is set in stone.
And then I realized that actually it was my daughter’s first ever sports day on the afternoon of the Wednesday. And I had booked two nights in the hotel. So I was going to stay over afterwards because I knew there was like some sort of after party. thought if I want to go to that, I’ll stay over. And I had planned a lovely light in for myself and I was going to get a sort of half 11 train would get me back just in time to do school pickup.
and that was just gonna be perfect. I’d get a coffee, maybe just do some work on the train and chill. And then I realised about sports day and I had this whole moral dilemma about, you know, my partner could go, he was free, that was okay. And, you know, I spoke to a couple of people who were like, well, you know, not all parents go. And actually it can be quite boring because you’re just waiting for your child to do her race or his race.
like maybe I just could like skip this one but then my mom guilt took over and I was like no actually I really I want to be there and if it wasn’t for this there was no way on earth I would miss it and so I let go of my lovely lion and my nice relaxed coffee and I lost that train ticket and rebooked one for the crack of dawn on the Wednesday morning to come home
So there was that, so already we have this like really tense intersection of mum life and business life. But it was all good, take the hit, this is more important, I’m never gonna get that memory back. And actually sports day was amazing, it was a beautiful sunny day and it was so much fun and we had good crack with the other parents, so it was fine, it was really fun, I’m glad I did it. And then there was another curve ball in that the Tuesday of Atomicon.
was also the Tuesday that I was releasing the 50th episode of this podcast. And I had planned a few weeks in advance that I was gonna do something a bit different for this episode. And I had asked my really good friend, I’ve known since I started big school back in God, 1996, to…
turn the tables and ask me some questions and start to tell my story on my own podcast. And so there was a lot of resistance around this, a lot of anxiety because of this story about, don’t want people to think I’m just too big for my boots and that anxiety about taking up space. And so whilst I recorded it and it was great and I love the conversation just between me and Sarah and that’s such a nice record for us to have.
this kind of audio memory of this moment in our lives, actually releasing it into the world. Also, just, felt a little bit anxious about it. And I had also decided that I was going to use that opportunity, this 50th anniversary milestone, to launch a new brand. So…
I have been working with the marvelous Liz Mosley. If you don’t know Liz, go and check out her podcast. It’s called Building Your Brand. It’s incredible. And she’s been a big source of inspiration to me over the years. And we’ve been working together to design a really fun new brand because the brand that the podcast had before was DIY and I loved it. It was fun, but I just felt like the podcast was ready for something new and something a bit more elevated. And I believe in
good design and the impact it can have. And I wanted a brand that stretched across my businesses and also included the podcast. It was like this umbrella aesthetic that everything would live inside. And so we’ve been working together and I said, it’d be really cool if we could also launch that on the 50th episode. And so we’ve been working together for about two months and we were on track, but like literally on track to the point that Liz and I were messaging each other or emailing.
firing things back and forward late on Sunday night and then both on the train on Monday morning. And I was like trying to figure out how to use Adobe Express for the first time because this was supposed to be like the trigger for my migration from Canva to Adobe Express. And I was like, just don’t think that perhaps today is the right time to be learning a whole new software on the train on the way to Atomicon with this thing in mind that I’m gonna launch this whole new brand tomorrow.
And she’s like, no, maybe not, but it’s good. Let’s go with it. And actually it was a soft launch. The artwork has changed on this podcast and I just need to go through now and kind of go through my websites and play with it and have fun with it. And there’s this thing about like just, it doesn’t have to be all perfect before I put it out. I just wanted to share this beautiful graphic that Liz has created and all the other stuff. Like I am a busy mom.
doing this all by myself, like it can come later. And I had to kind of let go of some of that perfectionism on the Monday night because I just wanted to make sure I did get some sleep before Atomicon because it was going to be such an intense day. Everybody had warned me. I’d be exhausted at the end of it. So I needed to be refreshed going into it. But yeah, a few things happening at the beginning or before and after Atomicon that kind of just like added a little bit of pressure. definitely didn’t feel like
this was like a luxurious treat with lots of space around it. It felt squeezed in and I’m sure you can relate when we try and do these things that feel like the fun bits of our business and give us a bit of respite from the relentlessness of parenting. And actually you just feel sometimes like you’re squeezing them in between like in the cracks of your life. But it was so fun to turn up on the Monday and go straight to Erin Thomas Wong’s
meetup. So Atomicon has fringe events. So the main day is all on the Tuesday, but there are these little bits and pieces that you can do before or after starting on the Sunday night and going right through to the Wednesday to the Tuesday night. And so one of the things I’d signed up for was this meetup with Erin and it was all for female founders and she was leaning into her strengths. If you don’t know Erin Thomas Wong, she was the first ever guest on this podcast. So go back and check out episode one to learn more about her.
but she calls herself the life-friendly business mentor. She’s an author, she has memberships and programmes to help women build their business around their capacity so that it can support their life rather than be in conflict with it. And so this was a gorgeous room full of like-minded women who were interested in doing just that. And it was very relaxed.
very easy and a smaller space where you could kind of connect with people on a more intimate level than what I was to discover the next day was about, which was kind of like this tidal wave of small business owners that fell at times a little bit overwhelming. So that was the perfect way to ease in. I absolutely loved it. It was gorgeous, really relaxed, really cool. And then came the pre-party.
So after that, we went for some food, just a few of us, and that was lovely because we got to meet all new people, but just have like a nice deep conversation with them about who they are and what they’re doing. And we went to the pre-party, which is where we registered for our lanyard stuff, and we got our party bag and all that. And I had already had like all the anxiety of what to wear, because I have never been to a Atomicon before, and you just don’t know with this stuff, do you? And I hadn’t asked anyone, which was perhaps silly.
but I didn’t know whether it was like, you know, businessy or whether it was like super fun or whether it’s like something in between, whether it was like foundry, like every, all of these like zones of business have their own like micro uniforms. And I obviously have my own stuff that I like to wear that is very me, but we all have things in our wardrobe that like lean a little bit into one over the other.
And I’d already had all of that. So this was quite interesting because this was like my introduction into like the vibe of Atomicon as a whole. And it was very fun. And people were dressed up in all sorts of different things. And that kind of put me at ease. Everyone was just seemed to be like leaning into what made them them and what they were comfortable in, which was perfect for me. And so I felt very at home.
But I was able to get myself registered, catch up with a few people in the room, and then I suddenly felt quite tired and like the noise was kind of just a bit of a hum and I could feel my energy flagging. So I decided I was going to exit and start getting fresh the next day. And staying at my hotel was the lovely Isabel Piercy, who is also a guest on the podcast. I think hers is episode 33.
So she has a business management and VA business. She’s absolutely lovely. She’s one of the loveliest people you can meet. Very happy, very positive, and just immediately puts you at ease. And just her voice regulates your immune system. And so we met the following morning and I traveled over with her and some of her friends who were also really, really lovely, really nice.
And we arrived and there was immediately free coffee and donuts. So I’m like, right, this is ideal because I hadn’t any breakfast really. And then we went inside and it was about 8.55 at this point. So super duper early and Atomic Kitten or at least one of Atomic Kitten opened Atomicon at 8.55 in the morning with full like maximum energy on stage.
was like, okay, okay, here we go, this is big. And it was so fun. Like it really woke everybody up. It was great. And then Andrew and Pete came on to introduce us. So Andrew and Pete are the organizers, the hosts, the founders, and I had never met them, seen them in public. So that was just really interesting. They were so brilliant, funny, friendly, immediately relatable. know, just seemed very…
normal, like fun. They just were there for a laugh and they were there to learn and they wanted everyone to have the best time. And so the message in their introductory talk, however,
was a bit uncomfortable for me because they have this 90-10 rule that you go 90%, that you go in on something 90%, all in pretty much. You throw all your energy in one direction. You don’t get distracted. You don’t get, you know, shiny object syndrome. You just go all in on this 90%.
and you are consistent and you show up and you push and you have this clear focus ahead of you on this one goal, this one area of your business that you really want to succeed and it’s your priority. And that’s what wins. And I was like, oh, I’m probably like, I’m 20 % over here, 30 over here, 40 there. And I’m not even gonna try and add up. It’s very early in the morning when I’m recording.
And I just realized that this is the opposite of what I have been doing. And so that felt like a challenging start and I’m very open-minded. So I was like, okay, that is an interesting take and they might be completely right. And I’m gonna dwell on that and think about it. And then the speakers throughout the day tested me again over and over, challenged my thinking. So inspiring, I learned so much.
a lot about AI, which was great. And I probably purposefully went into those rooms because I feel like this is an area where I’m not ahead. Like I’m not ahead of it at all. I’m still using Claude in quite, I’m gonna say traditional, which is crazy, because I think they’re all like three, four, five years old. But I don’t have my head around like agentic AI. And I wanted to learn as much as possible as I could about that.
And I might do a whole solo episode on how I use AI in my business and where I feel like I’m falling short because I think that’s something that I’m really interested to hear about.
That’s something that I’m really interested to hear from other business owners. So perhaps that will trigger a bit of dialogue. And I knew that I could catch up on all the other talks online. So they’re all available on replay. So I just wanted to pick the ones that felt kind of interesting to me in the moment. And I met a few people from my neck of the woods as I was like wandering between these talks, which was amazing.
And it made me realize that I just do not do enough networking on my own doorstep. This was a space with 1500 of the friendliest people and the energy was infectious. And it is such a tribute to Andrew and Pete because I really think like attracts like, and they were so open, so generous, just no where’s and graces at all. Just really enthusiastic about creating the most fun.
sales and marketing conference for small business owners in the UK. And I think they have nailed it with this. So I went to see Amelia Sordell.
and I have followed Amelia for a while and she is on my hit list for people I would love to speak to on the podcast and she has been for a while.
She is on my hit list for people I would love to speak to on the podcast. And so I was really interested to see her speak. And it was all about the founder brand. The fact that if you want to succeed in business in 2026, you have to crave attention. And this distinction, it’s not that you’re egotistical and you’re craving attention for yourself, but you’re craving attention and you’re seeking it for your business.
And it was really fascinating. There were a few light bulb moments in that talk. And so I waited outside to meet her because she was doing a Q and A outside and I waited for 45 minutes and I was really hangry by this point because I’d had my coffee and donut at what felt like dawn. And by now it was gone one o’clock and I didn’t want to eat because I was worried that then I would get to the front of the queue and have a mouthful of crisps. So I just sort of hung on. And there was this really awkward moment.
that made me think about how I would have reacted to that five years ago and how I reacted to it in the moment. Because I ended up being like last in the queue pretty much because I’m polite and because I just let people go in front of me even though I was so desperate to eat my lunch. And it got to my turn. I don’t think she clocked that I was in the queue. And so she literally just like turned around and turned her back to me.
and went and got a drink of water. She’s totally understandable because she’s just in this big talk and then she’s answered all these people’s questions outside. And I was like, ooh, what do I do? It was just awkward. And I was like, I maybe just leave it because she’s like over there now and I’m standing here like a lemon. And so I thought, no, I have to, I’ve waited all this time. I have to go and speak to her.
And so I just literally walked up really calmly and I just sort of touched her on the arm and I said, well Amelia, and she turned around and sort of sprung into like speaker mode and was so friendly and so nice. And I just said, I’ve been waiting for a while and I know you must be completely exhausted. It was such a brilliant talk. Thank you so much. I had so many light bulb moments, lots to think about, but I wanted to speak to you because I would really love.
for you to be a guest on my podcast. And I just felt really proud of myself in the moment because, know, Amelia has a big following. She’s very successful in terms of she’s made lots of money, she’s grown a big community, and I can tell myself I’m nothing and no one. But that’s not true, is it? Nobody is nothing and no one. And actually, I had…
paid my dues in my very English way and waited patiently in line all that time and to walk away and miss that opportunity to just be vulnerable, put myself out there and just see what she said would have been daft. It would have been so silly. And I thought about Liz’s rejection challenge. I’m calling it Liz’s. I know other people have done it, but in my mind it’s Liz Mosley’s rejection challenge. And I thought, well, at least I’ll get a sticker. So I…
did ask her and she said, yes, I’d love to. And I was like, oh my God, Amelia Sordell is gonna come on this podcast. And it was great. I didn’t keep her very long after that. I was like, you must be starving. I will email you what’s the best way to get in contact. And we did all of that. And I’ve since emailed her because I wanted to be super prompt and email the next day and get in touch and just.
refresh that conversation and her people have come back to me and we’re setting a date and it’s all good and I’m so excited and really proud of myself for like putting myself out there and being vulnerable because honestly five years ago I don’t think I would have. So we move on. The final talk before Andrew and Pete closed the event was with Anne Handley and I had never heard of her but I absolutely insist that everybody
who is listening to this goes and looks her up because this talk was bloody brilliant. She sort of built this story around a 1980s episode of Mighty Mouse. And I felt quite old because I knew what Mighty Mouse was and I remember Mighty Mouse. There were lots of people in room who didn’t. And she talked about how it’s important to know when to be slow.
in this world that is constantly telling us to hurry up. And it was so inspiring. She is a brilliant marketer. I’m really like diving into her content now because this talk was so inspiring. And I honestly would seek her out anywhere. If you hear her name at something you’re going to, or if you want to go find her on the internet, I think she’s a very special lady. So it ended on this high. And then Andrew and Plea…
Pete closed the show and announced, and then Andrew and Pete closed the show and announced that they were gonna move Atomic onto Manchester. And I had already been thinking, having had a kind of afternoon sugar slump probably, after gorging my crisps as soon as I walked away from Amelia Sordell, that I was quite saturated by the whole thing and my energy, my social energy was dropping, particularly in the afternoon.
And I was like, oh, it’s quite far away. You know, I’ve done it once, maybe I’ll skip a year and come back. You know, I don’t have to do it again next year. And then they said it was in Manchester and I was like, oh, it’d be rude not to really, wouldn’t it? Manchester is literally somewhere I can be in 55 minutes and then home again same day if I want to. And so, yeah, that changed the game completely. And I rebooked on the day because the energy is so good.
It’s happening July 2nd, 2027. And I guarantee you will come away feeling super inspired and having put a face to all those, well, you already know their face, having seen and met in real life all those people that you know online, having waved at people across the room.
having waved at countless people across a crowded room and absorbed so much information that you can take away and implement in your business in a way that works for you. It’s very positive. I came away feeling totally energized, but not energized enough to go to the after party. Because I am 41 years old, I was very tired and I had to be up at the crack of dawn to get this train to my daughter’s sports day. So I feel like we ended it perfectly. I bumped into Theresa Heath Waring.
who is also on the podcast. can’t remember her episode, but I will put it in the show notes and had a little catch up with her in real life, which again is lovely. And wandered back with Liz Mosley and Hannah Eisted. And I hadn’t met Hannah either in real life and a few of their friends. And we all went for a really nice Italian massive bowl of pasta, glass or two of wine.
just the perfect way to decompress after this high energy day and wind down ready for bed. And I was back in my hotel tucked up in bed by about half past 10. And that was exactly what I needed in that moment. And I think the beauty of going to these events as you get older is you just don’t feel the need to do the bits that you don’t wanna do. And Atomicon has so much to offer.
There is something for everybody. There are things that looking back, I wish I had done, but there were lots of things I did that were amazing. And I think I a hundred percent want to be in it next year, particularly if it’s more convenient for me in terms of location, because the vibe is brilliant and what Adderley and Pete have created for small business owners who spend an awful lot of time in isolation, working in their own homes or their own offices.
with very few people to bounce ideas off. It’s brilliant and it’s needed. And so I highly recommend Atomicon in summary. That was a very long solo episode. I’m reaching about 25 minutes. But if you have stuck with me, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. And I hope that you have found this helpful. If you haven’t been to Atomicon and you’re considering it for next year, I would love to bump into you there. So until next week, take care and I will speak to you soon.