Its a blog about business, business done my way - authentically me, so that means slightly unconventionally, with personality, with decisions made by my gut rather than years of formal business training.
In fact, I am doing a diploma in business management right now, but other than this I have no formal business training at all. Everything I have learnt I have done so in the school of life. So if you're looking for bona fide credentials I personally believe there is no better, do you agree?
To give you back ground. I really started this roller coaster back in school. I'm one of those "skaters", I skate through school never really having to put much effort in and getting top marks. I'm not bragging, it comes with a down side - but the plus of this is I am pretty darn good at almost everything I try to do (except high school physics, well specifically electricity, I just don't get it, I don't!). So choosing a career path was hard, nothing particularly stood out as a strength.
I can paint and sketch passably, sing and carry on, I can write, plenty of creative bones, so there were options in this vein and initially this is what I chose to pursue.
I love maths and science, and this serves me well in current career. (At one stage I thought of forensics, no idea what I was thinking, I have the weakest stomach ever; just mention anything dental in front of me and I start heaving).
But I just couldn't decide, so I thought a career in journalism was just what I needed, something where I could try out other jobs and lifestyles and write about them. Wombat was a TV program in my youth where the reporters did just this - perfect!
So it turns out I didn't have the maturity for this and within the first year I was running for the hills. I would argue there were other factors (boring practical course, a thirst for getting out of school and home....) but ultimately I let it go and kind of "fell" into a very basic minutely creative job at a printing factory. Here I was so bloody fortunate to stand out to the two bosses who both, at one time or another, gave me opportunity to grow. I started learning "prepress" which is kind of like a less creative version of graphic design, you don't create art from scratch - you work with other peoples art and get it ready to print, in my case printing onto ceramics which are neither flat and straight, nor do they have a normal palette of inks to use.
Here's where my business training began - I have no idea how the role morphed into a sales role - but it seemed natural at the time; I was perfectly positioned at the start of the process to understand the complexity of the work and quote on this basis; this then morphed into an admin role & I learnt the systems of running a business, payroll and accounting systems. One of my bosses was an accountant - a real numbers man, a traditional bean counter (said with love and respect) he taught me the unemotional numbers side of business and the brilliant systems. The other boss was the creative big picture builder and he taught me the emotional intelligence of business, what you do that provides a standout service, how you handle staff, negotiating and sales. I am forever grateful for the background this provided.
The big picture guy introduced me to property and I was hooked! I was pregnant with my first child at the time and so very scared to jump in but I bought my first investment property and the broker I had was RUBBISH!! In every interaction I thought "I could do this so much better!", and then when I saw his income I thought "I want to do this better!", so I set about learning it.
My maths training coming to the fore. I became a fantastic technician, I could do the work exceptionally well and wanted an avenue to do my work. I looked at employment opportunities and after the birth of my daughter I reassessed how and when I wanted to be employed, and at what cost.
Initially I formed a partnership with another broker and here I applied the systems I had learnt to a real business, where the bottom line was MY pocket, and it's distinctly different. I learnt about structures (trusts, companies, partnerships etc), business growth, marketing, cashflow, profit and expenses, and compromise, ethics, discongruence and breakdown. I learnt how to price the business when I was running it (costs vs profit) and again when I was leaving it.
Here I started from scratch again, and I learnt about authenticity and regeneration, marketing, growth and pride. I learnt all is not lost and I learnt about control and responsibility. I pared everything back and looked at every single facet of the work and what I could make better. In essence I practiced the art of perfecting business.
At its core, what I was was a technician, who almost accidentally fell into business. Isn't this so common? You're great at what you do and for whatever reason you end up doing it for yourself, you're in business but you don't necessarily have formal business training. In this I consider myself luckier than most as I had such a solid learning background.
So, if this resonates, if you're still on board, follow me in this exhilarating ride and I'll share the benefit of what is right now 14 years experience in business, learnt on my feet.
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