What happens when the side hustle you started becomes bigger than you ever imagined?
Hayley Worley is the co-founder of Sheet Society, the Melbourne-born bedding brand she started with a simple idea and no expectation that, a decade later, it would have grown into the business it is today.
What began as a side hustle that Hayley hoped might give her greater flexibility when she eventually became a mum grew into a major brand, a team of around 150 people and a business that demanded far more of her than she could have anticipated.
But as Sheet Society grew, Hayley’s relationship with ambition began to change too. After years of rapid growth, motherhood and mounting personal pressure, she reached a point where she needed to step away from the business she had worked so hard to build.
Her experience has reshaped the way she thinks about hard work, rest and what success actually looks like. Today, Hayley is approaching both business and motherhood with greater intention, and with a very different perspective on the need to always be chasing what comes next.
In this episode she shares:
· How Hayley turned an idea for a side hustle into Sheet Society and why she never expected it to become the business it is today.
· Why she once believed hard work could solve almost anything and how her thinking has changed after a decade in business.
· What led Hayley to step away from Sheet Society after years of rapid growth, motherhood and personal pressure.
· What taking six months away taught her about rest, creativity and constantly moving the goalposts.
· How Hayley’s definition of success has changed and why she finally allowed herself to acknowledge what she had built.
· Why becoming a mum has made her more intentional about the work and opportunities she chooses to pursue.
· How Hayley and her husband have built Sheet Society together while bringing very different strengths to the business.
· Her advice for anyone thinking about starting something of their own and why not every good idea needs to become a business.
Key Quotes
“I was just convinced that hard work would get through anything.”
“I just thought that I would perhaps be at Saturday markets or selling things on Etsy.”
“Can we just draw a line in the sand and say we’ve made it?”
“This is bigger than we ever thought it was.”
“Ideas come from when you’re resting.”
“Rest is intentional. You don’t have to earn it.”
“If you’re trading off literal time with your kids, then it kind of needs to be worthwhile.”
“Not all ideas are commercial opportunities.”
More about Hayley and Sheet Society
Visit the Sheet Society website.
Follow Sheet Society on Instagram.
You can get involved with the podcast online
Website https://herethereeverywhere.com.au/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/here_there_everywhere_aus/
FB group https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CWFAe3LkU/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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