Page 58 - Tropic Magazine Issue 12

Lifestyle
Humans Of Cairns

Emma Gelling

Being able to work in the areas I love is the best thing about
being an entrepreneur. When I started my hairdressing business
Studio 78 on Sheridan St, I didn’t set out to become a successful
entrepreneur. I just wanted to be able to work, alongside being a
great mum to our son Jett. Being employed meant I couldn’t have
the flexibility I felt I needed. So, my husband set up a mini salon
in our house and I opened the doors to clients.
Three years later, I was named the Young Entrepreneurs Project
Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Cairns Business Women
of the Year Awards 2017 and moved into my own premises, as
well as employing another senior stylist.
It’s been a lot of hard work over the past three years to get to
where I am now, and I have some good systems in place to juggle
everything. I use a planner, and this is my advice to any mums who
Tara Diversi are thinking about going into business. We plan and schedule
everything. Jett is now in year 2 and has school and
When someone asks me what I do, I am immediately grateful extra-curricular activities that I need to know about, so I can work
for all the cool stuff that I’ve done and get to do. Every day I do out my available hours and prioritise what I need and want to do.
what I love, with people I want to work with. I’m an advocate Setting trading hours, or work hours is important if you’re a
for young people in entrepreneurship and self-employment. working mum and want to have some work-life balance. I used
I love the uncertainty, freedom and impact that being to say yes all the time, but if you’re good at what you do, people
self-employed brings. Some days are good days, and some will wait a little while to see you.
are hard. I made lots of sacrifices in the early days to enhance
the success of my business. I used to save as much as I could
by eating cheap. Brown rice, frozen veg, tinned fish and
chickpeas were my favourite. I declined a lot of invitations to
catch up with friends and saw my family less than I would
have liked. I didn’t know much about business when I started,
so along with my formal study, I had to read a lot of books.
I would be lying if I said there weren’t days where I wanted to
pack it all in. I am glad I didn’t though, and some of the
struggles I went through allow me to identify with the
struggles of my clients. Ultimately, I believe being an
entrepreneur is the greatest privilege in the world, and I love
being able to help people bring that into reality.

Elijah Ibell

As a kid, I used to play for hours in mum’s home office.
Little did I know, that what I saw as fun was actually building
my skills for my current business. I loved playing sport, and
particularly Rugby League during my school years in
Mareeba and went on to captain the Mareeba Rugby League
team and played in the U18’s Northern Pride team. My
business Mainark specialises in creating websites, building
app prototypes and managing web presence. I think one thing
that sets me apart is my deep interest in people. I like to
build and manage tech solutions for people and understand
what makes them, and their business tick. People’s
businesses often stem from their personal values or passion,
I can help them represent this in their web presence.
Being self-employed means that I can do work that I’m
passionate about and have the flexibility to attend events
and take advantage of development opportunities.