I'm a business coach and creative who believes you've got to have a clear plan if you want to build a successful business. 

But this was my first experience of getting paid for my contribution instead of my time.  It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought and it felt really good to be setting my own terms.

I walked away from a steady, good-paying role in financial planning after returning from a year of working and travelling abroad and took the leap into the unknown...

Actually I'd like to think it was a leap but it wasn't.  It was more like a testing of the waters.

I quit my full-time job with one of the major banks and negotiated a new arrangement where I'd get paid for pieces of work instead of hours of work.  It was a way for me to hold onto the security of regular work (with skills I already had) but with flexibility around how and where I worked.

Just to paint a picture for you...

I was working from home (way before it became THE thing to do), with a toddler and a newborn - trying to juggle spreadsheets and sleep schedules with feeding routines and play dates... along with building a new family home.

I knew I wanted to keep working but I wanted more from the work I was doing - both personally and professionally.

However, I also knew that the 9 to 5 lifestyle wasn't going to give me the flexibility and quality of life I wanted around my family during that season of my life.

15 years later... after working with hundreds of amazing clients, getting my work published in magazines and doing work for TV, that I'd be teaching others to follow their curiosity and find their own pathway.

I was ready to find work that I was more passionate about... ready to learn something new and expand beyond the very restrictive box employers put me in... ready to see what I was capable of if I just backed myself.

Interiors was something I'd always been interested in, but I can't say that I had a knowing that this would be the right path for me - I was just curious enough to dive deeper - so I enrolled in night school and started my property styling business.

While I don't regret any of the decisions I made back then, there are a lot of things I would do differently if I had my time again.

All of my qualifications and experience in business and finance didn't prepare me for running a small business.

Design school didn't prepare me for managing creative projects that also needed to deliver a profit.

These were lessons I learned through trial and (lots of) error and it took many years of failed attempts (and big blows to my confidence) to get to where I am today. 

These learnings are the purpose behind the work I now do.