I quit my £80,000 job to make ice cream - here's how

Life-changing decisions often stem from deeply personal turning points. For Vivien Wong, walking away from an established accounting career paying £80,000 annually at just 28 years old was driven by a desire to run her own business alongside her brother, Howard. The catalyst that pushed her to take this massive leap was her father receiving a cancer diagnosis, which starkly reminded her of life's unpredictability and the importance of pursuing her long-held ambitions.

Growing up in her family's bakery, Wong had always harbored dreams of entrepreneurship. However, while the doughy rice-wrapped ice cream balls known as Little Moons became an absolute phenomenon on TikTok, what looked like an overnight triumph was actually more than ten years in the making before social media stardom struck.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

During the first five years, Wong bypassed supermarkets entirely, supplying her mochi to restaurants and cinemas while saving every penny to fund branding and future expansion. She moved in with her brother to slash living expenses, plowing all profits back into the company. Trading a polished City environment where support was always a phone call away for doing virtually everything herself meant mastering machinery, product development, ice cream making, and even handling company accounts on Sundays to avoid hiring an external bookkeeper.

Working closely with a sibling brought inevitable friction. Wong admits there were numerous arguments until they learned to treat each other as professional colleagues rather than family members in the workplace. A prime example was their debate over moving from a 5,000 sq ft facility to a massive 30,000 sq ft site, where annual rent spiked from roughly £40,000 to £500,000. Her risk-taking appetite balanced out her brother's natural caution, resulting in better governance.