Who is Emma Mills?

Emma Mills is the founder of MiPA, a virtual assistant and executive support company she has built over 17 years from a one-woman operation into a team of over 40 assistants. Originally an executive assistant herself, Emma left employment in 2007 to go self-employed, driven by a deep understanding of what entrepreneurs actually need — and a passion for helping them get it. She is also the host of the podcast Focus on the Fun Stuff, creator of the Win the Week newsletter and course, and a devoted advocate for the idea that running a business should, more often than not, be enjoyable.

The North Star: Helping Business Owners Reclaim Control

At the heart of everything Emma does is a single, clear mission: helping business owners reclaim headspace, time, and joy. Small business owners, she believes, are doing something extraordinary, creating something from nothing, yet so many are running on empty and wondering why it doesn’t feel the way they imagined. Whether through her team at MiPA, her podcast, or her newsletter, Emma is consistently working to change that.

The Power of Who You Surround Yourself With

Emma is clear that the single biggest factor in her growth has been the people she has chosen to have around her — so much so that “relationship builders” is one of MiPA’s core values. Her first mastermind in 2014 was a turning point. Sitting in a room with business owners doing ten to twenty times her revenue, she learned something she has never forgotten: the problems don’t go away as you grow, they just get bigger. That perspective normalised the difficulty of entrepreneurship and gave her the confidence to keep going.

Mastering the Mind

Left unchecked, Emma admits her natural tendency is to catastrophise. Her answer is a daily habit stack of intentional practices — morning walks with something positive in her ears, evening gratitude journaling, and hourly reset prompts throughout the day. Taken together, these habits act like a training regime for the mind, making it possible to show up as her best self regardless of what the day throws at her.

Winning the Week

This philosophy gave rise to Win the Week — a free Sunday night email Emma launched on her own birthday. The concept is simple: take ten minutes at the start of the week to ask, what would make this week a success? The goal isn’t five days of maximum productivity. It’s getting to Friday having moved forward on two or three things that genuinely mattered. That kind of progress, she says, is addictive — and it’s what builds real momentum over time.

Check out the full episode with Emma by clicking here.

The Art of Delegation

One of Emma’s core areas of expertise is delegation, something she has had to master personally as a former PA turned business owner. Her starting point is always the same: know the value of your own time. If your time is worth £84 an hour, most of the tasks filling your day simply don’t deserve it. MiPA’s list of the 106 most common tasks they handle for clients, from inbox and diary management to lead follow-up, recruitment support, and project management; exists precisely to show business owners what they could hand over but have never imagined doing so.

Is It Possible?

When asked what one question she wishes more people asked, Emma’s answer was immediate: Is it possible? So many people hold themselves back: from fear of judgement, from not feeling ready, from the sense that they’re not quite qualified to do the thing they want to do. Emma’s message is the same every time: it is possible. Everything you want to achieve is completely possible. You just have to start, and keep going. After 17 years of building something from nothing, she is living proof of exactly that.

Emma Mills Directory

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube

P.S. If you haven’t already I would encourage you to take my quiz to discover what type of business owner you are, knowing this can help take you from where you are now to becoming more successful personally, professionally and financially – quickly, efficiently and effectively.