The Messy Middle of Small Business
Why we chose The Messy Middle as our 2026 theme
Most business events focus on the beginning or the breakthrough. The launch, scale or supposed “overnight success”.
Ripple Festival is about everything in between.
The Messy Middle is the stage of business where most people actually live.
You’re no longer new, but you’re not cruising either.
Some Things are working, but not smoothly.
You’re making money… but not enough to feel settled.
You’ve got momentum… and questions.
This is the part of business where templates stop helping, trends lose relevance, and real thinking matters more than ever.
That’s what we’re unpacking at Ripple Festival 2026.
Mia and Fi have been bringing people together for years. We love connecting and collaborating with future thinking small business owners.
WHAT WE’LL COVER
Money & Pricing
Not just how to make more money but how to feel steadier with it.
We’ll talk about pricing decisions, profit pressure, sustainability, and the constant tension between charging what you’re worth and staying accessible. This is about long-term viability, not short-term wins.
Visibility & Marketing
How to keep showing up when it feels like no one is watching.
We’ll talk about marketing beyond trends, chasing reach, or constantly reinventing yourself just to stay relevant. This is about building visibility that compounds over time, not content for content’s sake.
The goal isn’t more activity, it’s about what delivers a return on effort.
Health & Capacity
Running a small business takes a physical and mental toll, especially when you’re juggling multiple roles at once.
We’ll talk honestly about the things that creep in over time, sitting all day, running on stress and adrenaline, self-medicating with alcohol or sugar just to switch off, and not fuelling ourselves properly because there’s always something more urgent to do.
How you feel physically and mentally shapes every decision you make in business.
At Ripple, health isn’t separate from strategy.
Parenting & Getting Support
For many women, business doesn’t sit neatly alongside life; it sits on top of it.
Parenting, admin, domestic labour, caring for ageing parents, supporting kids with additional needs, it all adds up, and it still falls disproportionately to women.
We’re constantly making trade-offs: whether to go all in on the business, work around school hours, plan everything around school holidays, or slow things down altogether.
At the same time, getting support at home is taboo.
How dare you get a nanny?
How dare you outsource?
How dare you make it easier?
At Ripple, we talk openly about support not as a luxury or a moral failing, but as a practical, necessary part of building a sustainable business. No one builds anything meaningful on their own, even if we’re expected to pretend we do.
The sooner you invest in your Ripple Festival ticket, the sooner you get to access to:
Facebook Group
As soon as you buy your ticket, you’ll be invited to join our private Facebook group, a space for established small business owners who are past the starting line and firmly in the messy middle.
This is where we’ll connect before you arrive at the festival gates in May, with conversations that go beyond the basics.
We’ve been building and running online communities for years, so you can expect thoughtful discussion, useful connections, and absolutely no salesy posts or dick moves.
Online Meetups
Our online meetups are for small business owners who already have momentum and questions that don’t have simple answers.
These aren’t beginner sessions or motivational talks. They’re spaces to unpack what’s actually happening in your business once you’re past the starting line: pricing pressure, capacity limits, visibility fatigue, and the constant trade-offs that come with growth.
You’ll be in rooms with people who understand the context because they’re navigating the same stage as you. Less explaining. More useful conversation.
In Person Events
Ripple’s in-person events are built for business owners who are no longer figuring out how to start but how to keep going (well.)
The conversations reflect that stage. Fewer highlight reels. Less posturing. More honesty about what it takes to sustain a business over time, especially when life, family, and capacity are part of the equation.
If you’ve been in business for a few years and want conversations that go beyond surface-level advice, you’ll feel very at home here.
TOGETHER IS BETTER
Loneliness is a virus, and community is the antidote. Ripple Festival creates a space where established small brands belong, connections are genuine, and hierarchies and nepotism are left at the door.
