Category: Inspiring People

Sarah has been through a lot over the last few years, but what hasn’t changed is her vision and determination to work from home and raise her children. Even when her journey didn’t follow the path she expected, Sarah has remained positive and made the most of the opportunities presented to her, which have made her the successful business owner she is today. This is her journey so far…
1. Tell us your story:
I was working full time for an international relocations company. I loved my job – I met my husband, Jason, while working there, and was going to stay there forever! Our plan was to have a baby and I’d go back to work while Jason stayed at home and looked after the kids. He had it all worked out too – he’d get the kids ready in the morning, do the washing and the housework, and be on the golf course by mid-morning with his specially made golf buggy/stroller.

A few months after getting married I got pregnant but unfortunately had a miscarriage. As devastating as that was, it didn’t change our plans; a couple of months after that my sister-in-law lost a 5-week old baby to SIDS. That turned my world upside down!

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
I identified that I wanted to work full time, but I wanted to be at home with a baby too. The only way that I could see that I could have my cake and eat it too, was to be able to work from home. So I approached my boss and said that I planned to get pregnant again and have a baby, and I’d like to be able to work from home, so let’s put things in place now to make that happen. He said absolutely no way, that couldn’t possibly work. 

Still feeling the devastation from the loss of my baby niece, I was quite tunnel visioned in my quest. The next day, just short of long service leave, I handed in my resignation. 

My family and friends said that I was crazy and it would take at least three years for my business to take off. It was at this point that I began to get scared! So I got a part time job as a court reporter for three days a week, and the other two days in the week I spent working on my business. 

I had a very clear picture of me working from my home office with my bundle of joy sleeping soundly beside me – it was the in between that was a little fuzzy!

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals? 
Fully expecting to be a court reporter for three years, I resigned from that job and went full time in my bookkeeping business after only eight months, when I had 50 clients. Within 12 months of that I hired my first full time bookkeeper, and in another 12 months there were more staff and we were working out of commercial premises. This was achieved through a lot of hard work – developing relationships with businesses and strategic alliances, creating systems so that I wasn’t reinventing the wheel each time and could handle the work flow.

Five years into my business, and after five years of fertility treatments, I was finally pregnant and carried a baby to term. My friends and family were again quick with the questions – how was I possibly going to run my business, manage my staff, have a baby, and not have a nervous breakdown in the process? Their concerns were understandable – I’d barely changed a nappy in my life and was a little concerned about my bundle of joy’s arrival. I jokingly insisted that it would be okay because I’d scheduled my due date in my diary, and the baby was going to fit nicely into my diary too. Funnily enough, baby Zac did arrive on his due date, and he just about did fit into my diary after that. 

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
During the time I was pregnant, my father had a terrible motorcycle accident in New Zealand. I travelled to be with him 6 times in the 6 months before he passed away.

I had some business planning to do through my pregnancy too. My employee bookkeeper was also pregnant and she was leaving to be a stay at home mum. So how was I to run my business with my own baby? I restructured my business to work completely remotely rather than travel to clients premises, I put systems in place so I could access their information remotely and work from my home office around baby. This meant that I could work my own hours, and it opened up my business to clients who weren’t just within my driving circle.

Then I started looking for contractors to help me – I wasn’t superwoman, after all! What I found was dismal! The bookkeepers I interviewed were sloppy, uneducated, and didn’t consider themselves in business at all – this was before the BAS Agent legislation came into being and a lot has changed in the industry since then. So it got me thinking – how can I help train bookkeepers so they can run a great systematised business like mine, how could I help other mums get started in their own business while working around their family commitments, and in the process, develop some great bookkeepers who could assist each other in times of need or when they wanted to take a break from their business. So I developed Miss Efficiency Franchising and within a few years had up to 14 franchisees across Australia.

2010 was a particularly challenging year – Jason broke his arm in January, a very bad break that left him not working, and consequently not earning an income; I had a (very difficult) baby in February, and Jason had a massive heart attack in April. This was an extremely difficult time emotionally, and even with these extreme events I still had a toddler to take care of, as well as a sick baby and husband, and a business and house to run. Were it not for the tremendous relationships I’d developed with my clients and accountants, and the excellent systems that had been developed, which included my franchisees, both my business and I would undoubtedly have collapsed in a heap. But we didn’t – it was just another obstacle to overcome, which we did.

It turns out that franchising isn’t for me, but during the time it was running we had helped people develop their bookkeeping business to work around their own personal goals. The franchise business was closed down, and the franchisees were free to continue on their own.

My passion is helping business owners with their business, through empowering them around their accounts. But what I’ve seen is many business owners have their own passion, and this can get lost when the reality of business hits, they get overwhelmed and burdened, and wonder why they bother. So I’ve written a book that tackles exactly that, called “Wow … I’m in Business!” The book is designed to help business owners re-engage with their business passion, get through the overwhelm, and put systems in place to move their business in the direction they want it to go. This has created opportunities for me to present my ideas to business owners, and the light bulb moments that I’m seeing are spectacular!

My children are now in primary school. I work from a purpose built office at home (outside the house) and my routine is such that I can work in the early hours before they rise, then I revert to ‘mum mode’ before school, work during the day, and back to ‘mum mode’ after school. This enables me to get enough working hours into my day, be there for my children before and after school, and also have some time to myself and with hubby in the evening. We schedule a 3-day camping weekend once a month and take that time to reconnect as a family (let’s face it, things can be pretty hectic during the week just going through the motions), and get away from the business to recharge.

The biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome in my business is learning that it doesn’t matter how good I am at bookkeeping, I have to be a great (or better) business person. It’s not good enough to just get on the tools, get the numbers crunched and the BAS lodged. I need to nurture my business, my clients, and myself, and everything else will follow.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles? 
I’m inspired by people who are out there making their own dreams come true. When I see people start to get overwhelmed in their business, I love to be able to help them with strategies to get through it and keep their business moving. When I come up against my own obstacles, I just look at my children – they are my driving force. I want to instil in them that you can do anything you set out to achieve; that hard work and persistence pays off; that it’s possible to do something that you’re passionate about and love what you do!

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
My advice to anybody who’s got a goal and isn’t quite sure how to reach it:
– Write down your goal – this makes it tangible
– Draw yourself a road map of how you’re going to get to your destination
– It doesn’t matter if the path changes, as long as you’re continually moving forward
– Believe you can do it – and you will!

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
My book was released this year and from that I’ve secured a few speaking engagements. This is a very different area to bookkeeping, and I’m loving it! I’m passionate about my subject (overcoming the overwhelm) and love helping others in their business. My goal this year is to reach more people with my message through presenting at business events.

I’ll leave you with these final words – believe you can fail, and you will; believe you can succeed, and you will. Get your mindset right, and everything else will follow.

This is one of the most inspiring interview I’ve ever read. I hope you enjoy Sarah’s words of wisdom as much as I did…

1. Tell us your story:
My name is Sarah Lajeunesse and I’m a Lifestyle and Wellness Coach. Though I am based out of Canada, I work with clients online from all over the world that want more out of life and are ready to step out of their comfort zone to find the courage and confidence to achieve it. 

I grew up wanting to work in sports management which resulted in me landing various positions with professional football organizations across the country in events, marketing and corporate sponsorships. By 25, I was awarded “Top 5 Under 25 to Watch in the Sport Industry” across Canada and shortly after was a senior manager at a professional sport league head office. Though I had accomplished my goal of working in sports at an early age, I was constantly waiting for the “next big thing” to make me feel happy and fulfilled. Yet, with every acquirement of the “next big thing”, I felt a quick burst of excitement, energy and temporary fulfillment, before quickly going back to the unhappy and unfulfilled state that I was in before. 

I considered my career to be the only indicator of true success and as a result, everything else took a back seat. I stopped making time for exercise, proper nutrition, relationships and most importantly, self-care. I considered this type of overworked and burnt-out lifestyle to be just a “means to an end” and that I was just “earning my stripes”. I knew that if I continued to put everything into my career, then the promotions, money and exposed-brick apartment would give me all the happiness I needed. 

In a nutshell, I became so disconnected from myself that I forgot who I was, what truly made me happy and the lifestyle that I actually wanted to live. I new I had to make big and immediate changes in order to create the life I truly wanted and through the process, I realized I wanted to help other people do the same. 

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
I suffered from a lot of stress and a string of anxiety attacks while I was working in the corporate world. I knew that if I wanted to be happy I had to make drastic changes to my entire life, not just my work/life balance. 

I needed to remove toxic relationships in my life and negative habits that squandered my productivity. I needed to consider the energy I was putting into my body, (television, social media, food, relationships) and remove what didn’t serve or uplift me. 

I had to create time to discover what my passions actually were and the type of life I wanted to make, and I knew I had to make big sacrifices in order to achieve it. Once I discovered the world of life coaching and I realized I wanted to help others make lifestyle transformations like I was going through, I knew I had to make the decision from wanting to change my life to deciding to change my life, so I could walk my talk and lead by example to show others how to do the same. 

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals? 
I began making subtle changes at first by eliminating toxic habits, activities and relationships in my life that didn’t serve or uplift me. I tried meditation, journaling and immersed myself in personal development books. I hired a health and lifestyle coach who helped me to give myself the permission to put my own self-care and wellness at the forefront of every decision. She taught me how to maximize my time and feel more energized by fuelling my body with only food that nourished me. She gave me the courage and confidence to see that my crazy and large-scale ideas were a possibility and with her help, I was able to find more vibrancy, confidence and passion than I ever thought I had so I could make those goals come to life. It was about creating more balance and time for myself to get really clear on how I wanted to spend the rest of my life and to create small, actionable steps to get me closer each day. I found a coaching academy that aligned with my values and beliefs and within a year I had graduated as a life coach from the Beautiful You Coaching Academy which is based out of Australia, launched my website and quit my corporate job and haven’t looked back. 

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
Fear of failure or judgment from others. I was worried people would think this was just a “made-up” career choice. That it was just a phase or that I was a less educated and less expensive counsellor. (I’ve heard all of that and much more) I have been laughed at and I have been asked if I was going through a quarter-life crisis. As long as I am passionate, authentic and certain of my vision, I’m able to tune out others that don’t support me, quite easily. 

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles? 
My clients. I work with some of the most amazing and inspiring women that continue to motivate me everyday. I have worked with women that have overcome trauma in their life, abuse, eating disorders, addictions, self-esteem issues, lack of confidence and self-worth and so many other circumstances that they didn’t/don’t deserve and certainly didn’t ask for. 

What is so incredible is their resilience and commitment to not only overcoming the obstacles, challenges or trauma that they experienced in their lives, but having the faith that there is so much more to life and they are ready to get out of their own way in order to achieve it. 

People get to a point in their lives where the idea of staying in a lifestyle, job, relationships, city (whatever it might be) quite literally suffocates them and they are ready once and for all to do whatever it takes to change their lives. When I see a client’s energy shift from lacking any belief or worth in themselves, to suddenly realizing that they are capable of achieving whatever their dream life looks like to them, it constantly reminds me that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do. 

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
1. The Most Successful People Never Stop Learning
Find a coach or mentor that will help you with setting goals and working towards achieve them. Coaching/mentoring is all about discovering your vision and giving yourself the permission to start making it a reality. The most successful people realize that, regardless of the incredible heights that they’ve reached in their business or lives, by allowing themselves to be coachable they have an opportunity to bring their lives to the next level by learning from other’s new ideas and methods to tap into the unused potential they have within themselves. Coachable people realize the impact that an outside source could make on their lives, they take what they’ve learned in the past yet remain open minded to learning new practices and principles. They take advice, suggestions and knowledge from others and utilize it to grow themselves, and their attitude towards bettering themselves is a “whatever it takes” type of mentality.

Even if you don’t have a coach or a mentor at the moment, you can listen to podcasts, read books and build relationships with and from the people you admire, and implement some of the strategies they share (if they are in alignment with your beliefs and values). 

2. If You Want To Live a Full Life, Be Willing To Do Things That Make You Uncomfortable
I have a fear of public speaking. That might come to a surprise to a lot of people that know me and know how much I like to talk. Everyday I do something that makes me feel uncomfortable and push my limits so I can connect with, serve and reach more people. Though it includes a list of activities that terrify me, I committed to doing them because without stepping outside of my comfort zone and putting myself in uncomfortable situations, I can’t grow or live up to my fullest capability. 

3. Don’t Wait for Things to Be Perfect Before You Begin
Whether it’s launching a business, moving to a new city, writing a book or changing a career path, people wait until they are “ready” or for the perfect moment to allow themselves to begin. And guess what? There IS no perfect moment. You will NEVER feel ready for massive change. So people rarely make the leap. Within the three months since launching my business, I have already learned and applied so many new practices when working with my clients. And it will continue to evolve throughout the years over and over again, until I get it right. But the point? Just BEGIN and change things as you go. Your end goal will look very different in 5, 10 or 15 years than it does right now, but the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get there.

5. Do You Want to Be Great Now, Or 20 Years From Now?
When we started talking about certain principles and tactics to apply to my business, I said to my mentor, “I think that’s a great idea, that’ll be great to implement when I have a bit more experience”. (My limiting beliefs and fears were flaring up in this particular area of growth.) So he asked me, “Do you want to be great now? Or 20 years for now?” What a simple yet profound question to ask yourself. So, I challenge all of you amazing people reading this blog to ask yourself this simple question the next time you’re invited to expand your horizon or implement new game-changing ideas in your life, career or business and you are tempted to wait until you have more experience and feel more ready to do so. Move forward every day with the idea that you ARE ready to be great right now and the only thing holding you back from doing so is yourself. 

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
I am working on an e-book and eventually a 30-day program for people that want immediate change in their lives. A three year plan is to host women’s empowerment retreats that encompass personal/professional development with a ton of yoga/meditation and self-care thrown into the mix!

Sarah Lajeunesse is a lifestyle and wellness coach committed to helping young, overwhelmed and overworked women exchange their “going through the motions” lifestyle for one with more vibrancy, power, passion and purpose. Her coaching programs are designed to empower women to overcome fears, judgements and lack of self-belief so they can begin living the extraordinary lives they were meant to live. Learn more about Sarah and her work at www.sarahlajeunesse.com  

Did you know that the favours and aromas of tea are as complex as wine or coffee? It was this realisation that prompted Alison Dillon to create her company, Cup Above Tea. This is what she learned along the way…

1. Tell us your story:
I’m no different to most people who’ve upskilled, reskilled or done an about-face in their career and started their own business. While I love the corporate world and my global communication career, I felt like it was time to push further out of my comfort zone and finally start my own business – something I’ve always thought I’d do, but I just hadn’t always known what that business might be. Funnily enough it was my personal passion for champagne that actually sparked my tea journey, and ultimately, the launch of Cup Above Tea.

2. How did you identify the goals you wanted to achieve?
My weak spot for champagne coupled with a family connection to viticulture led me to learn more than my fair share about wine making. I came to understand how things like terroir, growing conditions, processing, innovation, tradition, skill and effort all combine to impact taste and quality. It was these concepts – provenance, craftsmanship and seasonality – that got me thinking about how this might apply to tea. I wanted to know why Darjeeling tasted and looked so different to English Breakfast. Why is black tea black and not green? What’s an oolong and why are there so many? How can some tea be worth upwards of $1000 for just a few grams? It was difficult to find answers. There were conflicting stories. Most tea merchants knew very little about what they were selling. So my curiosity got the better of me and I decided I would find out for myself.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal?
I learned all I could on my own, but still had lots of unanswered questions, so I embarked on my ‘official’ tea training journey, completed my formal tea studies and headed abroad to more deeply immerse myself in processing, production and culture at tea gardens around the world. There is no better way to learn, than from the experts themselves and I was very fortunate to meet some wonderfully talented people who showed me so much and shared their time and expertise with me so generously. 

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
The more I learned, the faster I realised our palates have been putting up with inferior, mass produced tea for far too long. In the liquid world, we readily appreciate and understand the vast quality spectrum that differentiates a cask wine and a vintage bottle of aged red, or instant coffee and single origin fresh-roasted beans. There’s a tea spectrum too. But most of us are languishing at the wrong end of it. I knew there was a better option out there than most people are aware of so the challenge was set to introduce tea drinkers to what they didn’t even know they had been missing out on!

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
I’m inspired by the craftspeople who have spent lifetimes, and even generations, perfecting their skills. It’s a good reality check to think that excellence is earned over time, not instantaneously, and that can put things into sharp perspective. 

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Perseverance and discipline are key, but equally important is celebrating and recognising yourself for your achievements. 

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
Exciting things are happening later this year for Cup Above Tea, I can’t give too much away but it involves a brand new part of our website, lots of fun for our customers, and plenty of customisation. You’ll have to stay tuned! 

Alison Dillon is among the first to become a Certified Tea Master in Australia. Basically, this means she knows much more than the average person about tea. With her skills, knowledge, passion and business expertise she is steadily changing the way that Australians make their tea choices. 

She founded Cup Above Tea to place a focus on exceptional tea with outstanding provenance and incredible craftsmanship. This sort of tea is not the kind you find on chain store shelves, rather it is accessed via carefully developed relationships with artisans who produce the very best single-batch teas from a special collection of small family gardens around the world. www.cupabovetea.com 

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…

Ryan Hassan has been in a dark place he hopes no one else has to experience. Ryan’s personal experience with drug addiction and being on the wrong side of the law is what inspired him to create the Melbourne Centre of Healing. Here’s how he got to where he is today…

1. Tell us your story:
My name is Ryan and I’m from Melbourne, Australia. Right now I’m running a Mental Health & Addiction clinic where our aim is to free as many people as possible from these issues. Less than a year ago I was a drug addict/dealer and found myself in trouble with the law. I was going through a really dark period in life, and after coming out the other end and being happier than ever, it’s my passion now to help people do the same.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
My initial goal was just to get off drugs, then it became “How do I not only get off them but be happier in myself than ever?

“Once that was achieved then it became “How do I create this for other people now?”

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals? 
There was no real deadline on these goals. Once I found the treatment that freed me I knew I had found my purpose. I was told early on by someone “Don’t expect everyone to get the clean the same way that you did.”

This was profound for me so I became relentless in studying how all people who got clean did so, and what the commonalities were.

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
The initial challenge was getting myself clean, from there I had legal issues that dragged on for months. Then there was starting a business from scratch with no money. It’s interesting though, once you find your purpose then any challenge that comes up doesn’t seem that great. It’s more seen as just part of the journey. And these challenges have been my greatest learning experiences.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?Human potential is what inspires me the most. When I see someone who’s had a breakthrough then all the obstacles, no matter how big, shrink to nothing. 

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Are you hungry? When you’ve got the goal in mind, does it stir something inside you?
That’s the fuel that’s required. Whether it’s moving away from pain or towards pleasure, that emotional drive is what will make you endure the roller coaster ride ahead. Imagine yourself having achieved the goal, see it and feel it in your mind every day.

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
Next goals are expansion for the business so we can reach more people. A lot of exciting things coming out online too. Raising EI (Emotional Intelligence) in society is key to tackling addiction and mental health issues.

Also shaking up the current system. Right now drug rehab programs are roughly a 10% success rate which is simply not good enough, the current system has proven itself to be ineffective.

Ryan Hassan believes “It’s time to stop looking at the addiction and start looking at the person”. Learn more about Ryan’s journey and business here: www.themelbournecentreofhealing.com.au

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…

Apart from the benefits of physical fitness boxing also promotes other skills, such as discipline that you can apply to other areas of your life. Dundee Kim shares how he used some of the skills he acquired from boxing to achieve his goals. 

1. Tell us your story:
My name is Dundee Kim. I am an ex-amateur boxing champion from South Korea, and I now run a boxing gym and online sports store in Brisbane, Australia. I have also lived, studied and worked in China and Japan. 

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
Your goals become clearer with time when you’re working hard and putting your best into everything you do; you might not exactly know what you’re working towards at first. In my case, the reason I started boxing was so I could protect myself against school bullies.

But I found that I loved boxing, and eventually I became a two-time amateur champion. Then after a while, I realised how important study was if I wanted to further progress in life. So I studied in Beijing and moved to Australia soon after, where I obtained my Diploma of Ministry in 2000 and Master of Business Administration in 2003. 

The study helped me to combine my fighting spirit and interpersonal skills and start a career in marketing. I worked hard and it paid off because I eventually became Regional Director of International Relations at James Cook University.

Only after I made all this progress did I realise my dream of opening a boxing gym, where I could train people in the skills that led me to my success in the first place. I attribute so much of my success to the discipline and strength it’s given me, so I can’t help but try and pass its benefits on to others.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals? 
I didn’t exactly have a deadline, but I knew I wanted to establish myself in Australia very quickly. I suppose I took a fairly traditional route via study, but I worked extremely hard and developed as many new skills as I could until I got where I wanted to be. There were years and years of hard work, but I just stayed strong and stayed dedicated to my goals.

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
Well, when I first arrived in Australia, I couldn’t speak a word of English. That was tough. But I’ve been interested in learning languages all my life, and they’re like any other skill – difficult to learn, and difficult to keep up. I just had to work through the difficulty and not get too overwhelmed with the challenges it posed. 

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
I firmly believe in the power of physical training – it’s a life force. It’s not just about fitness and staying in shape – it gives you the skills, the discipline and resolves to propel you forward through pretty much any of life’s real challenges. When things are tough, I draw on the wealth of knowledge that my life in boxing has granted me.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Set your goals out clearly and do your best to achieve them, but never be afraid to ask for help when things are hard. As a trainer, my primary role is as a helper. People forget that even the best athletes in the world need help, from trainers and coaches and mentors. So when in doubt, just ask! You’ll learn more and you’ll achieve more.

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
I recently developed a boxing program that Fitness Australia have endorsed for personal trainers, so I’d like to continue with that kind of work into the future. I also train top amateur boxing champion Jeff Horn and I’d like to continue to work with him.

Mainly, I just want to maintain my business and continue to help people. That’s what gives me the most fulfillment.

Learn more about Dundee Kim at www.brisbaneboxinggym.com.au. 

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…

A passion for parties lead to the creation of The Party People. Thirty years later, the business is still going strong, and growing thanks to the two sons of founder, Mala Salakas. The journey hasn’t been easy, but here’s how they got to where they are today…

1. Tell us your story: 
30 years ago my mum was “Patches The Clown” catering for kids parties. Her passion for parties led her to start a small party store. In 2007 my brother and I took over the family business and its 2 employees so my parents could retire. We have approximately 40 employees and are the market leader for party supplies online. We are now in the process of getting investors on board to expand our retail store network.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
We had a vision and that was the to be the market leader online in Australia. Everything we did was to work towards that vision.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals?
In the beginning there was no plan. Innovating online came easy to us with minimal effort so we just focused on meeting growing demand. Then as we grew we started running out of capacity and that’s when failing to plan really hurt us. We had a year where we were unable to cope with demand so my brother and I were working 18 hrs a day every day of the week with minimal sleep to keep up. Our social lives and health suffered and from then we learned how to plan better. From then on we have financial plans and forecasts which we catch up to discuss monthly.

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
Our biggest challenge was the number of hours we were working to keep the business running. It was at that point we realised we needed to delegate more, but it wasn’t possible with the systems and processes we had in place so we had to improve our systems and processes to ensure things could run without us.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
I love what I do and we have an amazing opportunity to create a national chain of party stores. Our vision to achieve this is what keeps us pushing towards our ultimate goal.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Set goals you’re passionate about achieving. People are rational and they will not put up with constant setbacks to achieving goals unless they are passionate about the goal.

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
We would like to open up one party store next year and two the year after that. 

Dean Salakas is the Chief Party Dude of The Party People. He previously worked at Woolworths as a Business Analyst before taking on the challenge of creating Australia’s go to party store chain. Learn more about what The Party People do at www.ThePartyPeople.com.au

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…

Anyone can write a book. The key to success, explains author T.S. Krupa is writing a little bit everyday, and not getting overwhelmed by the bigger picture. 

1. Tell us your story:
In the summer of 2013, I was working on my dissertation for my doctorate degree. I had no plans of creative writing at that time but I had this story bouncing around in my head that I couldn’t get rid of, the characters would keep me awake at night. So finally, one night when I had enough I sat down and just started writing. I didn’t know where it would lead or what I was doing but I was just letting the characters out. This would later become Chapter 23 in my novel, Safe & Sound. After that night, I wrote every night after working and doing edits on my dissertation. Then in six short weeks I had written a novel and I had no idea what to do next.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
After writing I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I soon developed a plan that I wanted to publish the novel and continue to write. The process had been so freeing and really ignited a passion inside. So the first goal I set out was to learn as much as I could about the process of publishing, self-publishing, social media, website design etc. From there I set small goals working up to a much larger goal of a sustainable business model that worked for me as an author. 

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal?
I knew I needed help so I hired Caitlin from Royal Social Media to help me with my social media platforms. She didn’t just do social media but she taught me social media which is a big difference. From there I had a goal to produce a book or new content on a yearly basis. A year is a long time and a lot happens but this gives me the flexibility to work on content and still be able to coach field hockey and work full time and have time for family and vacation. I say this but I also say I work on my business or writing daily – I do at least one thing for my business whether it’s sending a tweet, checking email or writing 5,000 words. All these small things add up and help me with the big goal.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the way?
My first novel was supposed to release in March of 2014 but it released three months early. So I didn’t have anything ready – I barely had my website up and running. So for the first release I felt very unprepared and lacked a clear plan and direction. I eventually caught up but it was a challenge to start already feeling behind.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles? 
I love what I do and that passion keeps me going – I do what I do for me, it provides me sanity and a huge creative outlet. However, with particularly bad days or big obstacles, I go for a run or workout and clear my head and try to start over or tackle whatever it is after that release of energy.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Start small. With writing for example if you don’t feel like you have time or it’s too overwhelming – write a page a day or write a 1000 words. Then in a year you will have 365 pages and have just written your first novel. Don’t let the big picture overwhelm you – focus on something tangible and work from there. 

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
As a writer there is always another book on the horizon. However, there are other goals I have as well. I’m starting to speak more at conferences and to groups on writing and my novels, so I want to continue to connect with people in that way. A dream goal is to see one of my novels adapted for TV or a movie. I always have big goals in mind – I never thought I would write a book and now I have four books so you just never know…

T.S. Krupa was raised in a Polish household with a blended American culture, she is fluent in Polish. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two dogs and loves to write and play field hockey. In 2014, T.S. Krupa published her first award-winning debut novel Safe & Sound.  To learn more about the author and her novels visit www.tskrupa.com.

“My goal was to start my own life coaching business but an unexpected turn in my circumstances in terms of a relationship coming to an end became the catalyst to me changing my behaviours which in turn transformed my business and myself,” says life coach, Lynn Anderton. 

1. Tell us your story:
My name is Lynn Anderton, I’m 54 years of age and I live on The Wirral in the UK.
I’m a trained life coach and movie therapist and I coach people to learn to react differently to others so they meet their own needs and ambitions by using the movies they watch.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
I struggled when I came out of a long term relationship with self-esteem, but didn’t know what I was feeling and how to deal with it. I’d become uncomfortable in my own skin and with being on my own, therefore my initial goal was to recover but I didn’t want to use conventional therapy.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals?
I watched certain movies over and over again, ones that showed characters with the same behaviours and worked out how the characters had to react in order to get a result. I then used this knowledge to go back into the dating arena in order to test myself and gain confidence.

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
Self-control was my biggest hurdle. Sometimes I just wanted to be with someone, but I knew that some people were damaging to me and therefore this was like a self-sabotage.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
My inspiration comes from feeling confident enough to demand that people accept me for who I am and not what they want me to be and visa- versa.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Think carefully about your expectations of others. They are usually what you need to do to yourself or for yourself first, this will challenge you to focus wholly on your goal.

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
My goal is to use my new found self-control to negotiate myself the challenge of a new connection I have found that will allow me to feel cared for but independent.

Lynn Anderton is a qualified life coach and mentor with specialist qualifications in movie therapy, positive psychology, assertiveness, self-esteem and confidence building. Lynn has developed and delivered workshops and coaching programmes to individuals, mental health, housing and social enterprises with the support of The School for Social Entrepreneurs, from which she graduated as a fellow on the Social Innovation for Health Programme. Learn more about what Lynn does at www.thecompassiontrap.com. 

A kidney transplant, redundancy, and trying something new for 30 days were some of the main catalysts that encouraged Alexandria Blaelock to become an author. Here’s how she did it…

1. Tell us your story:
I was Alexandria Blaelock, Melbourne Project Manager up until my redundancy, but now I have a different story. My kidney transplant changed my perspective on everything, and now I write books that translate the lost knowledge of the early-twentieth century for modern life.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
I had been unhappily unemployed for many years, and it felt like checking the job boards, and applying for jobs, and following up on applications every day was crushing my soul. I saw a TED talk where Matt Cutts challenged you to try something new for 30 days. I’d wanted to write a book for as long as I can remember, so I took a month off the job search and challenged myself to write one in that time.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals?
I had no idea how to write a book, so I bought one that told me how. I chose to write a book about how to host a dinner party because with event management as part of my career it was something I knew I wouldn’t have to research much. Then I wrote an outline, set daily word targets, and wrote like there was no tomorrow to get it done in time.

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
Self-doubt for sure. I knew I could write, and I knew I could get things done, but I didn’t know if the book would be right or if anyone would buy it. But I acknowledged my fear, and told myself that I had wasted too much of my life through fear already; it didn’t matter whether anyone bought the book, the important thing was to finish it. To be able to say that I had written a book.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
I once heard someone describing life as like going to a restaurant to eat, you just pick what you want from the menu. Next week, you might pick the same thing, or maybe something different. I’m just putting my work on the menu; you might not pick it this week or even this year, but when you need it, it’s right there on the menu.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
Life is not a reality TV show, so just keep going! Usually, when you hear about some sort of achievement, it’s presented through the frame of “overnight success”; like the 45-minute home renovation that actually takes months. All goals take time, and you have to keep taking all the tiny steps that put you in the right place for the overnight bit to happen.

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
I’m currently writing my third non-fiction book. That’s not something I imagined, but now that I’m doing it I’m happy with the way that it’s progressing, and I would like to see it published by the end of the year. And then maybe a novel.

Writer and philosopher Alexandria Blaelock advocates embracing precious things like beauty, friendship and wisdom. Discover more at www.alexandriablaelock.com.

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…

Vicky Jones’ path to success has by no means been a smooth one. In fact, it was a family tragedy that made her stop to reevaluate and focus on what meant the most to her in life. This resulted in Vicky leaving a 15 year media career to establish her own business. Here’s what happened…

1. Tell us your story:
My name is Vicky, I’m a 38 year old single mother & business owner. Born in Wales, UK – I graduated from Oxford Brookes University, England & have lived in Sydney since 2003. Through hard work & dedicated study I have swapped my career of 15 years in the media industry in London & Sydney to establish my own thriving coaching business. I’m now following my passion to inspire and empower individuals to be the best version of themselves they can be.

2. How did you identify the goal/s you wanted to achieve?
My journey to become a life coach started with a tragedy when my oldest brother passed away from an accidental overdose in 2010. I was utterly devastated by his passing and embarked on a path of destructive avoidance strategies to try and cope with my loss.

Despite the pain, grief and suffering my family has endured, it is comforting to know that the passing of my brother has changed my life forever and looking back at the dots, I would never have embarked on such a massive life and career change if it had not been for seeking out a life coach as a way over overcoming my own destructive behaviours. It was through researching life coaching that I decided it was the perfect career for me. I was able to use my passion for human behaviour, my degree in biology and fascination with quantum physics to use this career as the perfect vehicle to channel my desire to help people.

When I started my coaching journey one of the first things I did was to write a vision statement and create a vision board. Within 11 months everything I once dreamed of had manifested. I am living the exact life I had written about including being able to leave my job of 8 years and set up my own business. I now have more time to spend with my daughter and three weeks ago I was able to attend a school trip as a parent helper – something I would never have been able to do 3 years ago.

A vision board is super powerful if you are really clear on what you want. Creating your own treasure map or ‘vision board’ allows the information filtering system of the brain known as the reticular activating system (RAS) to filter all the incoming information that your brain receives and it also acts as receiver for information that is tagged as important. We all have automatic ‘tags’, for example your name. We have all been in a situation when you are able to pick up your name being mentioned in a conversation on the other side of a room while talking to others. Similarly if you are thinking about buying a particular car or going to a specific holiday destination you are more tuned into any stimuli on that topic whether it’s a conversation, advertisement, article etc. Suddenly you see those cars everywhere you go and lots of people are ‘coincidentally’ also talking about that same trip. Nothing has actually changed you have just zeroed in on those subjects.

The process of creating a vision board is one of the best ways to program the RAS. It focuses your transmitter to pay attention to certain things in your environment that are in frequency with your goal or vision. This selective attention filter makes you aware of daily things that can help you achieve your goal and it’s your job to take action on those opportunities when they present themselves.

One of the first exercises I was encouraged to do as I studied coaching was to design your ‘ideal average day’. If you don’t know where you’re going, you will never arrive. Success means holding to a vision of what you want. Just saying ‘I have an idea’ isn’t going to make anything happen. You have to be specific and intentional about what you want. Without a vision to pull you into the future, you’re likely to keep reverting to the past.

3. How did you work towards achieving your goal – did you have a plan and a deadline to achieve your goals? 
As part of my study program we are given the best tools for how to set & achieve your goals including creating 5 year, 2 year, 12 month, 90 day, monthly, weekly & daily goals. The most important part of goal setting is knowing your big why. For me, being able to give my daughter the best life I can and being able to spend quality time with her and be the best role model I can be drives me forwards every day. 
I have my vision board in front of my desk so every day I am reminded of everything I want to achieve. If you have a big enough “why” you will overcome any “how”. 

4. What was the biggest challenge you encountered along the way?
As a single mum without any family in Australia it was a challenge to travel to Melbourne for study purposes, plus I still had to work full time. Thank goodness for good friends that helped me look after my daughter.

I would have to work on my business every night after I put my daughter to bed. In January 2016, after two years of dedicated study I was able to leave my job to go out on my own.

5. What inspires you and keeps you going when you encounter obstacles?
Being on this path and now being able to share my passion with the world through my coaching helps me with the loss of my brother. Knowing that he is with me on this journey, that he is the reason I can overcome any fear and keep driving forwards every day. I talk about him in a lot of my workshops when I describe how I got onto this path.

6. What advice do you have for anyone wanting to achieve a goal?
1. Know your WHY
Why do you want to achieve your goal, what will it give you? The more emotion you feel when you think about your goals; the more likely you will follow through & overcome any hurdle. 

2. Crystallise your vision 
Know what you want with crystal clear clarity 

3. Set specific SMART goals 
90 day, 60 day, monthly, weekly & daily. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.  

4. Tune in
I recommend creating a physical vision board – what better way to visualise your vision than to see it?

5. Believe 
You must believe you can have the life or goal you desire. If you don’t believe it, it won’t happen. 

7. What are the next goals you hope to achieve?
Here are 3 of my biggest goal for the next 5 years:
• I want to be financially free by the time I’m 45 – I have 7 years to achieve this and have mapped out my plan with specific financial benchmarks to hit to ensure I stay on track.
• I want to run motivational workshops in Italy within the next 2 years.
• I want to take my mum to South America to climb Machu picchu in October 2017 (we have always talked about it but I have now set a date).

Vicky is a transformational coach, mentor & speaker- she’s a passionate human being who knows firsthand how to achieve personal and professional success from the ground up, and it’s her mission to show others how to do the same. www.vickyjones.com.au

Want more stories like this? Subscribe to our newsletter here…