There is a lie that gets told to moms who want to build something of their own. It sounds reasonable. It sounds patient. It sounds almost kind.
Wait until the kids are older. Wait until things settle down. Wait until you have more time. Wait until you get more sleep.
The lie isn’t malicious. It’s just wrong. Because the time doesn’t come. The season doesn’t clear. And the mom who keeps waiting eventually stops believing the thing she wanted was ever really possible for her.
This is the moment I want to talk about. Not the highlight reel version of building a business as a mom — the perfectly lit home office, the smiling baby, the passive income notification pinging while you sip your coffee. The real version. The one that happens in the margins.
What borrowed moments actually means.
I was seven months pregnant with my third child when I decided I wasn’t waiting anymore. My oldest was barely three. I was staring down a return to work I didn’t want to make, and I knew — clearly, in the way you sometimes just know things — that I had to build something different. I had to start now.
Not because the timing was right. It wasn’t. Not because I had it figured out. I didn’t. But because waiting for the right moment had started to feel like giving up on the future I actually wanted.
So I started building in the only time I had. The fifteen minutes before the house woke up. The nap that lasted just long enough. The lunch break carved out from a full-time job I was still showing up to. Moments borrowed from everything else life was already asking of me.
That’s where the phrase came from. Borrowed moments. And the more I talked about it, the more I realized I wasn’t alone in this. Moms everywhere were doing the same thing — building quietly, consistently, in the margins of a full life. Not waiting. Building.
Why this matters more than any strategy.
Here’s what no one tells you when you start looking for online income for moms: the biggest barrier isn’t knowledge. It’s not even time, really. It’s the belief that you need more of both before you’re allowed to begin.
You don’t.
The moms I see building the most momentum aren’t the ones with the most time or the most experience. They’re the ones who decided that the borrowed moments they already have are enough to start. They stopped waiting for a better season and started building inside the one they’re in.
That shift — from waiting to building — is everything. It’s the difference between a dream that stays a dream and one that slowly, borrowed moment by borrowed moment, becomes real.
What building in borrowed moments actually looks like.
It looks like a business plan written in a notes app during school pickup. It looks like a course module recorded in a closet after bedtime. It looks like a newsletter drafted at 5am before anyone else is awake, a strategy call taken from a parked car, an idea captured on a voice memo between drop-off and the office.
It’s not glamorous. It’s not always consistent. But it’s real, and it compounds. The fifteen minutes you invest today is the foundation someone else will admire a year from now and call overnight success.
Building a business as a mom doesn’t require a perfect schedule or a quiet house or a season of life where everything finally aligns. It requires a decision — that the life you want is worth building in the time you actually have.
The structure that makes borrowed moments work.
Momentum in borrowed moments isn’t just about mindset. It’s about having a clear enough path that every small window of time moves you forward instead of leaving you spinning.
That’s exactly why I built The Growth Collective. We’re not just giving moms more information — the internet has plenty of that. But we give them structure. A clear path built around three things: something to sell, people to sell it to, and money coming in. Simple by design, because it has to be. These are women building in the margins of a full life, and they don’t have time for noise.
Inside The Growth Collective, you’ll find vetted expert contributors, practical tools, a clear path forward, and a community of moms who are doing exactly what you’re trying to do — building something real, in borrowed moments, for a future that’s worth it.
Because the moments you borrow now? They come back. In freedom, in flexibility, in the life you actually chose.
You don’t have to wait for the right moment. There isn’t one.
If you’re ready to stop waiting and start building — in the time you already have, with the life you already live — The Growth Collective is where that happens.
The Growth Collective is $129/month or $1,160/year USD. Built for moms. Designed for real life.
FAQ Section
Q: What exactly is a “borrowed moment”? A: A borrowed moment is any small window of time carved out from the margins of a full life — the fifteen minutes before the house wakes up, the nap that holds just long enough, the lunch break spent on something that’s yours. It’s not stolen time. It’s intentional time. When you have a clear enough path, those moments add up faster than you’d think. And the borrowed moments will provide a return in the life you build.
Q: Is it actually realistic to build a business in such small pockets of time? A: Yes, but only if you have structure. The biggest mistake moms make is spending their borrowed moments consuming information instead of taking action. That’s exactly why The Growth Collective is built around three clear pillars: something to sell, people to sell it to, and money coming in. Every borrowed moment moves you forward on one of those three things. Nothing more complicated than that.
Q: I’m working full time and raising kids. I barely have fifteen minutes. Is this really for me? A: It’s especially for you. The Growth Collective was built by a mom who started at seven months pregnant, kept building through maternity leave, and continued building while returning to full-time work. The structure inside is designed for exactly that reality. Not the version where you have long uninterrupted stretches, but the real version where you build in the cracks.
Q: I don’t have a business idea yet. Can I still join? A: Absolutely. The Foundations course inside The Growth Collective walks you through the beginning — finding your what, your who, and your why — before you ever worry about tactics or strategy. You don’t need to arrive with an idea. You just need to arrive ready to build one.
Q: What’s inside The Growth Collective? A: A Foundations course to get you started, 20+ vetted expert contributors covering everything from email marketing and branding to mindset, social media, and beyond, live coaching calls, async Q&A, a community of moms doing the work alongside you, and a growing library of practical tools and resources. Everything is organized around one goal: helping you build something real, in the time you actually have.
Q: How is this different from other communities or courses for moms? A: Most resources give you more information. The Growth Collective gives you a path. There’s a difference between knowing what’s possible and knowing what to do next. The structure here is intentional — built to cut through the noise and give you clarity on your next move, not your next rabbit hole.
About the Author
Sam Salfarlie is the founder of The Complete Business and The Growth Collective — a global membership community for moms building online income in the margins of a full life.
She started building her business at seven months pregnant with her third child, with her oldest barely three years old. She kept building through maternity leave, sleepless nights, and a return to full-time work — not because the timing was right, but because waiting for the right moment had started to feel like giving up on the future she actually wanted.
She calls it building in borrowed moments. And it’s become both her story and her mission.
With a 15-year background in post-secondary and public education, Sam brings structure, clarity, and a deep understanding of how women actually learn to everything she builds. The Growth Collective reflects that: vetted expertise, a clear path forward, and a community designed for real life with kids underfoot.
Sam is based in Ontario, Canada, and writes The Edit — a weekly newsletter for moms ready to build something of their own.
Connect with Sam on LinkedIn or visit thecompletebusiness.com to learn more.
