"I was working in tech for a media company in London, earning a decent income for a comfortable lifestyle. We took the kids to Fiji for vacation and enrolled my son in private school. My husband, who was bored at home with the kids, started an eBay business. It was really more of a hobby and didn't make much money, but there were issues with shipping. I created software that helped solve those challenges and made it available for free."
"One day, while taking the train to work, I ran the math. If I could make £100 a day, I could get by. I called my husband and said, "I'm handing in my notice." He told me I was nuts. I immigrated to the US, where the business continued to grow It took me a long while to replace my salary, but the business grew steadily. My safety net was knowing that I could always go back to corporate if I needed to. Luckily, I didn't."
"In 2013, I immigrated to the US because that's where the majority of the business was. It wasn't glamorous: the first year we moved to the US, I had $68 to spend on Christmas presents after I paid everyone else. There have been many times when we've had to reinvent and discard what we've created; that's happening now as we adapt to AI. Doing that has helped us grow. Today, ShipperHQ is based in Austin, where we have 47 employees. Last year, we did about $15 million in revenue."
Jo Baker created shipping software to solve logistical issues from her husband's eBay hobby and released it freely, attracting thousands of users. She left corporate work after calculating minimal income needs and slowly replaced her salary as the business grew. She immigrated to the US in 2013 to follow customers and endured tight finances early on. The company repeatedly reinvented itself, including adapting to AI, and expanded to 47 employees in Austin with about $15 million in revenue. Baker addressed personal money feelings by hiring a wealth counselor while continuing to lead growth and change.
Read at Business Insider
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