Aussie mum turns her maternity leave into a $24 million company

When Rhian Allen was six months pregnant with her first child, she decided to leave her job.

Not to take maternity leave, but to quit for good.

Where many women - quite rightly - take time off at that stage of life, deciding to use their last months of pregnancy to plan for their upcoming bub and catch a few moment of peace, Rhian had a different idea.

She decided to launch a business, in the eight weeks between leaving work and welcoming her eldest.

Oh, and she sold her house to fund it.

Here’s how she turned it into a multi-million dollar success story.

From lightbulb to launch in five weeks

“It is a bit crazy,” Rhian admits to Yahoo Lifestyle Australia.

“I was six months pregnant, I quit my job, I sold my house to fund it and it just went from there.”

Rhian explains that once the idea behind The Healthy Mummy, her multi-million dollar business hit her, she knew it would resonate with mums, and worked tirelessly to make it happen.

“When this lightbulb moment came to me of what I could do as a business idea, I couldn’t not do it from then on,’ she explained.

“I worked non stop. Every hour I had, I poured into energy into doing it.”

And it paid off, just five weeks later, Rhian was launching a company that was nothing but a thought just one month earlier.

“I knew I was having a baby obviously so I knew I had to get as much done of that initial hard yards (of the business) before he came,” she shrugged.

“I was on a really tight deadline to do as much as possible so we just went full speed ahead.”

The idea that launched it all

The deceptively simple business model hit Rhian when she started to put on weight as part of her pregnancy.

A fitness and health lover, she was concerned at how she would maintain a healthy life balance once the baby came, but when she went looking for a how-to guide she emerged empty-handed.

“I realised that there was nothing to help mums after they had a baby to get healthy in a supportive and safe environment that was based on good solid nutrition,” she said, adding most options targeted at mums were fad-diets or unsustainably low calorie-based meals.

She said she wanted a program that took into account what it was like to be a busy, tired mum with multiple responsibilities and not a lot of sleep.

So she decided to make one herself, and by October 2010, had her business up and running.

She welcomed her first son just two months later in December.

The Healthy Mummy

The Healthy Mummy is a program that includes easy at-home exercise plans tailored to mums, with meal plans designed to be sustainably woven into everyday life.

The company’s app helps women track their progress and is sworn by, by mums everywhere.

A legion of loyal fans has formed a tight-knit online community that has now gone global.

Over the past year the company launched in the UK and in the US and more than 1.5 million mums are now regular users.

Not all smooth sailing

While Rhian is now heading up a multi-million dollar company in several countries, it wasn’t smooth sailing to begin with.

“It took us three years to see a profit,” she said. “I had already sold the house, I had no business experience, no financial experience I only had passion.”

She says any woman hoping to follow in her footsteps should heed one, apt piece of advice.

“Don’t quit your job until you’re ready to hit the go button on your business,” she said, explaining that had she held back she could have seen a turn over far more quickly than she did.

Apart from that, she says follow your passions, just know yourself and what you can handle.

“Be really confident and clear that what ur doing is the right thing to do,” she says.

“Just know yourself and what you’re like and what your drive is because it is extremely stressful and hard work.”

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