A woman “accidentally” starts a business while on maternity leave. Now She’s ‘Making More Money’ Than Ever (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Ella Wilsdon, from Lancashire, England, turned a keepsake made from her son’s newborn cards into a thriving business, while on maternity leave.

• After her TikTok videos went viral, orders quickly took off and she started earning more than in retail.

• The 24-year-old now runs the business full-time from home while raising her son.

Ella Wilsdon thought maternity leave would be a temporary break from her retail job, not the start of a whole new career.

While at home with her newborn son, the 24-year-old spontaneously decided to turn the congratulatory cards sent by friends and family to celebrate his arrival into a personalized photo frame for her bedroom. But after she shared her creation on TikTok in April 2026, the video took off and strangers started asking her if she could also create one using their own special cards.

Suddenly, Wilsdon found herself juggling a growing business and life with a newborn, with orders coming in faster than she ever imagined — and when it came time to return to retail, she had a surprisingly good reason not to.

“I didn’t want to feel like I had to choose between making money and spending time with him, so being able to do both is something I’m really grateful for,” Wilsdon tells PEOPLE.

Never miss a story: subscribe to PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date with the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The idea behind Little Keepsake & Co was born from a desire to preserve a special part of her son’s early days.

Rather than storing her newborn cards in a box, Wilsdon decided to arrange them in a frame that could be displayed in her room. She then shared the finished product on TikTok, without expecting it to go viral, much less attract customers.

“It all happened so quickly and I hadn’t planned on starting a business,” Wilsdon recalls. “I created my Etsy listing in about 10 minutes, while my son was awake and in bed, just to see what would happen. As the orders came in, I realized this could become something much bigger.”

Within months, Wilsdon’s videos continued to attract attention, even sparking the interest of big influencers, which gave him a reason to move beyond Etsy and launch his own website.

Her work, which ranges from $22 to $87, gives other families a way to turn meaningful newborn keepsakes into something they can display or give to someone special.

“Customers send me their cards and I use the fronts to create the finished keepsake,” says Wilsdon. “The idea is to preserve the cards themselves and turn them into something they can display.”

However, as her business grew, her original plan to return to retail began to look less appealing, and by the time she was due to return in August 2026, the company was earning more than her previous job.

Wilsdon officially left her position and chose to run Little Keepsake & Co full-time, even though she knew that self-employment doesn’t offer the same security or benefits as traditional employment.

“It was a big decision, but being able to stay home with my son has always been my main goal, and this company made that possible,” shares Wilsdon, although she notes that her work hours are far from conventional.

“My day mainly revolves around my son and I tailor the business to him as much as possible,” she explains. “I do what I can during the day when he’s awake, but most of my work is done in the evening once he’s in bed.”

Balancing motherhood with customer messages, packaging and orders can make for “long days,” and she admits that some days are harder than others. Yet she is determined to keep everything organized while preserving the quality of each frame.

Looking ahead, Wilsdon hopes to grow the business further and plans to eventually provide assistance as orders increase. More than anything, she wants to maintain the flexibility that made taking the step worth it.

“Being able to earn more than I did in my previous job while working with my family is something I never imagined I would achieve,” Wilsdon tells PEOPLE. “I’m proud that I was able to build something for myself, especially when it wasn’t even something I planned to do.”

Read the original article on People