By TARA McGRATH
It’s a long way from reality television, but TARA McGRATH finds some people are managing to make a career out of their passion.
THESE days, it seems every commercial television station has one – a show that inspires ordinary people to do something extraordinary and follow their passion.
But do these so-called reality shows really reflect reality? Can an average Joe simply decide to leave behind his job as an accountant to follow his passion to cook? Or sing? Or design?
There are bills to pay, families to feed and obligations to be met.
Devon Meadows resident Wendy Jones is hoping it’s possible to do all this. After years of juggling being a single mum, full-time work and running her own business, she had a health scare that inspired her to take the plunge.
When her father died several years ago, she was shocked by just how few photos she had of him – “I was scared I was going to forget him”. To preserve the images she did have of her father, she got online and bought a printer and heat press to make memorabilia with her dad’s image on it.
“After I made some for myself, I had friends asking for stubby-holders and mouse mats. But it was still just like a hobby – I was working full-time.”
But managing up to 40 hours of work a week, two children, a new partner and his children, plus an increasingly popular home business, meant some things had to be sacrificed. “The children say to me that I’ve never been a parent helper at school and I tell them that mummy has to work. But I feel really guilty,” she says. “I’m trying to be there for the kids, but I really want it to take off.”
As Ms Jones worked to manage the transition from hobby to legitimate business, she spent countless unpaid hours establishing Gasp Personalised Photo Gifts and its foundations.
“There were so many hours spent on it behind the scenes – I had to look for suppliers. I spent hours, days and months trying to find everything.”
At the moment, Ms Jones is still enduring the tricky balancing act and often works on the printing business when the children are asleep or on weekends.
But when she begins treatment for an illness next month, the mother of two is embracing the opportunity to leave behind her full-time job in Dandenong and dedicate herself to her personalised gifts business.
“The theory is to get the business in full swing, get stuck into it and have another income so I won’t have to stress.”
While Jodi Bouma didn’t have as dramatic “light bulb moment” as Ms Jones, her path to career fulfilment is still very similar. Her passion for photography has been burning since she left school – and the reality of pursuing it full-time is getting closer every day. Ms Bouma runs her own photography business based in Avonsleigh, just outside Emerald, but still works a second job at a furniture store to “support my passion”.
The 29yearold finished year 12 in 2002 and went on to study photography at university, but found the work, particularly wedding photography, could be seasonal and a steady income was needed. “My work is is very supportive – they know it isn’t my dream job and photography is where I want to be,” she says.
Ms Bouma says the number of shifts she works at the furniture store each week can vary from just two to five. While she’s not there, she’s building her photography studio and sourcing new work. In what is a ‘perfect match’ marriage, Ms Bouma’s husband has exactly the same working life as hers – two jobs, one his own business.
“Our rule is that there is no work on Sundays, we schedule in time together,” Ms Bouma says. “My husband and family come first before my business, which I also think makes for a better business and marriage in the end.”
The key to balancing everything is patience. “It’s so important. There is so much I want to do but I need the money. So I try and save and I don’t max the credit card out.”
Rowville mother Erin Scott has two passions: teaching and yoga. But it’s the yoga business she’s focusing on at the moment, while looking after children, aged two and four, and doing some relief teaching. “My ideal situation would be to spend two days teaching, two days with the yoga and one day organising it all,” she says.
Early last year, Ms Scott went along to a Bikram yoga class with her friend (and now business partner) Kathryn Allen.
“We started to find great benefits for ourselves after just several weeks. So we looked around for our kids to do it and there was nothing in the area – it was so frustrating.”
They thought to themselves that it “can’t be that hard”, so Ms Scott learnt how to teach children yoga – and from there Yoga Buddies was born. “With my experience and training as a teacher, it seemed like a natural step to complete a specialised Yoga for Kids training so that I would be able to share my new passion not only with my children but also with other families looking to introduce yoga to their kids.”
Ms Scott says that though she had no previous business experience, the company was still established within months – “I don’t stuff around if I have a goal”.
The help of her stepmother looking after the children has been invaluable for Ms Scott as she works to build her dream business. “There are lots of late nights, weekend work, but my family knew that if I did it, I would do it properly – they had enough trust.”
She has already expanded the business to establish School Time Yoga – yoga incursions at schools – and believes once it is set up, it “shouldn’t need as much” work. She ultimately hopes to hire instructors to teach some of the yoga classes.
Despite all the late nights and juggling acts that come from pursuing a passion that differs from their current careers, all three agree it is, or will be, worth it in the long run. Just as contestants on a reality show do, the three women say people should simply give it a go. “If you’ve got a little dream, don’t let anyone put you off,” says Ms Jones. “It might take a while, and you might want it all at once, but you will get there.”
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