Business Owner / Senior Financial Adviser , RetireInvest Wide Bay
Have you faced any barriers in your career due to being a woman?
If so, how did you overcome them?
I would not call these barriers, instead they are challenges, and I don’t believe they are gender defined. Every business owner, regardless of being man or woman, will experience challenges throughout their working career. Sometimes these challenges are personal, and you doubt yourself, sometimes they are economic or environmental, sometimes they are out of your control. Over the past 28 years in business, these challenges have made me grow stronger both mentally and emotionally. Every challenge overcome has enabled me to move forward with my business.
I learned a long time ago that if I was to wait for someone to come up with the solutions, map out the plan and give me the tools to implement… I would still be waiting.
It’s also OK to acknowledge when things don’t go right and to share these experiences with others. I have found that sometimes when you are ‘in the thick of it’, it is difficult to be objective about a situation or to arrive at a solution. So having the strength to be honest, to share it and give others permission to offer suggestions, to actually say ‘I’m not sure what I should do here’ and then to listen with an open mind and heart is the first step. The magic will happen from there.
How can we encourage more women to pursue entrepreneurship or senior leadership roles in their careers?
Finding a mentor who is like-minded, not necessarily in the same industry (sometimes it’s much better to have that distinction), who you can work with and learn from. Someone who will support you but at the same time, let you know if you are off track, someone who will keep you accountable to what you say and do and the promises you make to yourself.
I have sought out these people (both males and female) all of my working life and I continue to do so because my role in my business is ever changing and I want to continue to give my best to my clients, my staff members, my business partners and most of all to myself.
My best advice ‘if you want to move ahead, take that first step’!
What is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?
Find true happiness in your work and trust yourself. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and develop them, but don’t try to be all things to all people. One of my favourite mantras has always been “Recognise the things you’re good at and outsource the rest”.
Growth and success is not guaranteed in any area of life, you have to chase it, so get your running shoes on. You have to train and develop yourself for it, so drag out the gym gear. You have to fight for it, so pull on the boxing gloves, and you have to want it, so open your heart and your mind. Opportunities come to those who chase them – I don’t believe luck is ever in the equation.
When you realise your potential and access your inner strength, knowledge and power, miracles are known to happen, and the doors will unlock – you still have to open them and march in!!