At 20 years old with a newborn and $80,000 in debt, Emma Williams had no idea she would one day own a multi-million dollar business.
However, hard work was a value Emma had from a young age.
After leaving school in year 10, Emma was working as many hours as possible to keep afloat but in 2014 she decided to start a children's clothing business.
"My husband and I didn't have any money saved, had our first child at 20 and he was working away at the time so I felt very isolated," Emma said.
As soon as I shared my journey it resonated with a lot of my audience. They think if that mum can do it I can do it too.
- Emma Williams
"This is when I started my first business, which did really well. While I had that business the Facebook algorithm changed so a lot of businesses around me nose-dived because they didn't know how to sell.
"I threw myself into learning how to work the algorithm and helped other businesses survive."
It was helping other businesses that inspired Emma to start her current business, SociallyEm.
The company helps entrepreneurial women learn how to start their own business and how to market it.
"99 per cent of our clients are women and 80 per cent of them are stay-at-home mums like myself," Emma said.
"Within four months of doing this business I reached $100,000, sold out an Australian tour, and had 10,000 followers. It just took off.
"I was always hiding behind a brand in my previous businesses but as soon as I shared my journey it resonated with a lot of my audience. They think, if that mum can do it I can do it too."
Emma said the backbone of her business was about helping other women reach their dreams and giving back.
"I give a lot of things away for free, which I get told off for doing all the time," she said. "During COVID-19 lockdown, I was doing three zooms a day for free just to give advice. Giving back during that difficult time saw my business take off even more. Many took the free advice but once they had implemented it I started to see the return of that."
Almost two years since starting SociallyEm it is tracking towards making $2 million.
"My reason for starting this was to bring my husband home because he was working six months away at a time," Emma said.
"This year he's only worked four weeks so we are getting there.
"To go from $80,000 in debt to now paying for a block of land in cash, it's flipped the roles and it's nice to have him home."
