I have often dreamed of owning my own business and, like many small business entrepreneurs before me, those dreams have centred around making money from something that I’m good at – something that I love.
After the birth of my second son in 2000, I started a part-time bookkeeping venture but, after the introduction of the GST, it was soon clear that I would need more than an eight-year-old business degree to be successful. Admittedly, I had never had a great passion for accounting and with a full-time job and a new baby, there was little time for further study so that was the end of that.
After my maternity leave, I returned to my Office Coordinator role at the Bundaberg regional office of (what was then) the Department of State Development. During my time there, I was lucky enough to be seconded to the Small Business Advisor role. Helping small business intenders to develop their business plans and teaching them about marketing and cash flow management was extremely rewarding and taught me a lot but actually scared me off the idea of starting my own business. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that it isn’t a lot of hard work.
Fast forward to 2009 and, after completing my post-graduate qualification (in 2006) and heading out into the private sector in the search for more experience, I was faced with two redundancies in the space of 12 months. The idea of a business crossed my mind again but, with the GFC still fresh in everyone’s memories and no cash in the bank, another job was the only option.
So, here we are, another three years and just over 1000km down the road (or is that up the road?), I’m in my dream job and I’ve finally discovered what I really love to do. Now, it seems, the time is right to take that passion and do something with it.
