ELLEN McDonald
About Ellen

I built the business for freedom.
The business ended up building me too.

If you'd shown the teacher version of me my life now, I'm not sure she would have believed you.

Ellen McDonald
The path that made sense

Hundreds of slightly terrifying little ones.

Back then I was following the path I thought I was supposed to follow. Work hard. Be sensible. Save. Live for the school holidays. There was nothing wrong with that life. It just didn't feel big enough for me.

I wanted more freedom, more adventure and more ownership over my time. Serviced accommodation became the vehicle that made that possible.

It wasn't one giant leap. It was hundreds of slightly terrifying little ones.

Sending the message. Going to the viewing. Making the offer. Signing the agreement. Hiring someone. Letting someone go. Admitting I'd got something wrong. Trying again.

I wasn't naturally the confident girl in the room. Business forced me to become someone who could make a decision before she had perfect certainty. That has probably been the most valuable thing I've built.

What I do now

Different rooms, same conversation.

At the centre of everything, I'm still an operator. I run serviced accommodation businesses, work with landlords and investors, manage properties, solve the unglamorous problems and keep adapting as the market changes.

Alongside that, I mentor people who want to build their own businesses, speak about entrepreneurship and self-belief, and host The Main Act podcast.

They might look like separate things from the outside. To me they are all the same conversation: what happens when you stop waiting to feel ready and start making moves that change what you believe is possible for your life?

A few things I believe

Not hype. Not borrowed confidence.

Your business should create more life, not consume all of it.
Money is useful because it gives you choices.
Confidence is evidence. You build it by doing the things you once thought you couldn't.
You can be ambitious without pretending the hard parts don't exist.
A good mentor should help you trust yourself more, not make you dependent on them.
Community matters. Building alone is wildly overrated.
Outside the business

I still occasionally wonder why I chose this.

You'll usually find me travelling, recording a podcast, planning another trip, dancing with friends or drinking a coffee somewhere I've decided to call home for a few weeks.

I still work. I still have stressful days. I still occasionally wonder why I voluntarily chose entrepreneurship.

The difference is that I get to choose far more of my life now. And for me, that is success.

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