Tell me, have you ever gone from me to we? In 2005, that’s what I did!
In 2005, I took the first leap into employment. It was exciting, scary and wrought with responsibility. What was always in my head has to be communicated to someone else. In my case as a home based business, I had someone coming into my home a few days a week, while I was juggling my little family. I had to get my head around the legal aspects of this part of business, while still trying to be designer, marketer, IT guru, admin, accounts, operations, quality control and now a boss. But it was so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off and help with the work load. I didn’t feel so alone. I had gone from me to we.
Small teams wear all the hats
| Michelle had a background in publishing. I recall in her interview how she mentioned how she managed projects and people from design, photography, copywriting, marketing and sales. It was impressive but the truth was, WRD was a small business and WE WERE the design, photography, marketing and sales department all rolled into one. As much as I had to adjust to having a staff member and someone new in my home, she had to adapt too. It’s not easy working in someone else’s home. This realisation stayed with me, and was one of the first sparks for my idea to create an affordable co-working space that I made a reality ten years later. |  |
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.Steve Jobs |
Maternity leave? What’s that?
My daughter was born on a Monday morning. I left hospital on the Tuesday and I was back in the office on the Wednesday. Work needed to be done and it was very hard for me to see Michelle working while I was not. Remember, I had a home office so there was no separation between work and home. This was one more ‘connect the dots’ moments when building The Creative Fringe years later.
Our first issue of Gushhh
 | Trawling through the archives I found our very first issue of our newsletter, Gushhh! Back then the newsletter was sent as a pdf without the stats that we can get from Mailing programs these days. My eyes hurt just looking at the design and typesetting. Isn’t it funny the things we notice and the opportunity to realise how much we have grown? |
Unsolicited advice #3Create processes and systems and document them. This sounds mundane and tedious but it’s critical to ensure that you maintain a high standard of service. It not only means that the client has a consistent experience but it makes your teams’ job so much easier. They will have clear guidelines to know what to do in any given situation, and what they can and can’t do. If they follow the procedure, they can’t get in trouble. |
I love hearing from you
Thanks to my beautiful designer Christie for sending these gorgeous flowers!
“Congratulations Debbie! That’s a fantastic achievement.”
Sheridan McCue – TLC Works
“Oh my gosh Debbie! It is 20 years since you bought out the local business directory – Cam and Joel were just in nappies – brilliant stuff and onward and upward – you should be very proud.”
Alison Cormack-Thompson
In the first email I sent out with our walk down memory lane I mentioned our very first logo design that we did for Wise Advice. While chatting to one of my designers, Christie she shared that she went to school with the owner of that business’ daughter.
“Great to see that hard work, dedication and will to succeed has come out on top. Congratulations on all your achievements so far, with many more to come.”
Ian Willis, retired from Western Sydney Business Centre
“Congratulations Debbie. I know those 20 years are heavily endowed with no small measure of courage, commitment, passion, giving and sacrifice. And hopefully reward. Here’s to the next 20 years.”
Jim Lumsden, retired from Pinnacle Taxation
“Congratulations Debbie”
Steve Hurley, All About U Promotions
“Congrats Debbie”
Brett McVea, National Locksmiths
“Celebration continues”
Gai Hawthorn, Penrith CBD Corp
