What will you be when you grow up?

What you loved in childhood is likely still there

When I was seven years old, I was a writer. I’d already written two epic tales — 2 Teddy Bears in Love (sic) and The Fairy Who Couldn’t Fly. My work was spectacular. I even did my own artwork — in blue texta. My publications had had rave reviews (from my whole family and Mrs Brown, my 2nd grade teacher).

But as often happens, I got bored and moved on. This time, becoming a world renowned singer/actress at age 8. Yes, world renowned — even if it was just my family sending tapes (yes, I’m that old) of me singing in our local community children’s choir stage productions and some other singing gigs to relatives overseas. I loved that part of my life — singing and acting mostly in the lead roles, dancing, doing everyone’s makeup beforehand, hamming things up and generally getting to pretend to be someone else altogether. I continued in this vein until I my mid teens.

Phase 2: more serious dreams

At 17 though, it became obvious (as in I was told by a grown-up), that the creative arts had their limitations and it was time to think about something more serious. I’d read two book series — one by Barbara Taylor Bradford and the other by Sir Jeffery Archer both of which were set in the world of business. One of which, maybe both, I don’t really remember now, were set in the world of business including hotels and restaurants. So I set my mind to owning a hotel chain. Primarily because I wanted to figure out how to get bums on seats in a restaurant and build a solid business I could leave as a legacy to my grandchildren (as per the book).

Food — My first foray into the food business was selling ice cold watermelon on Bondi Beach in the sizzling heat of a Sydney summer. My best friend and I made a killing. We sold out in mere hours — we rocked! Of course, it was hard yakka. Going to the markets at dawn, prepping up, driving to the venue and there’s only so much heavy watermelon you can carry up the beach at one time in a big (also heavy) metal esky and we didn’t have a truck to keep more cold (or permits to sell food either). My body ached at the end of the day. But we did it all again the next day too and sold out again even quicker this time — I had my sales spiel down pat. My gloriously bronzed friend went even more deliciously brown from the sun. However, my northern European ultra white, think Vampire, skin had totally frizzled to a very red crisp. Okay, so on-beach food entrepreneur wasn’t really sustainable for me. The profits of this endeavour bought the two of us a big night out.

As much fun as it was, this choice wasn’t right, it was ‘too hot’,

Then it was off to England on scholarship to a catering college — where I very swiftly learned I never wanted to set foot inside a kitchen cooking with deadlines ever again. D’oh.

Nope not this one either — too stressful.

Then to uni to do hospitality and tourism — where I did my first marketing subject and WHAMMO! I’d found my real people. My tribe. The marketers and sales people of the world — people who build businesses.

This is it! This choice was just right.

Sales, Marketing & PR agencies — Suddenly what I wanted to do with hotels after reading those books made sense. It was called sales, marketing and PR (waaaaay before they were trendy). And so for the next couple of decades I worked in, wrote lots, did sales development for and then ran marketing agencies — first in tourism, then healthcare and then for all sorts of businesses — building and then running my own marketing agency for a decade. I loved it — especially pitching concepts and doing the sell in. It was like breathing, even though it required long hours, lots of brain capacity and serious nerves of steel required to win new business.

Teaching — Between my acting phase and running marketing businesses, I mucked around with teaching. I taught school friends high school genetics whilst I was at school to help them, iceskating in the holidays to anyone who looked like they could use the help, cooking skills after returning from the UK — all for no pay, because it was fun. I got to do a lot of the talking, ham things up and generally behave like I was on stage (still performing). In fact when someone finally offered me my first paid teaching gig two decades ago, I was gobsmacked that they wanted to pay me. I was even more gobsmacked at how much — I’d have done it for free. I loved doing it that much. The added bonus was that more formal teaching meant lots of prep and asking questions and that meant I learned as much, if not more, as the folks I was teaching. Talk about win/win. More ‘just right’ — until it wasn’t.

Phase 3: Now what?

Fast forward a couple of decades since discovering marketing and teaching with a really big life-changing accident thrown in for good measure. What now?

Well, it would appear, that I’m back to where I started.

Writing books. In fact, I’ve taken a year’s sabbatical in order to write and publish books. Sadly, I no longer have that inner belief that my work is always worthy of the rave reviews of my inner 7-year old’s work. It’s safe to say I’m always surprised when people say they like my writing. Now though, probably more than ever before, I might finally have something useful to say; things that might help someone move themselves forward towards the thing they’re angling for or away from the thing that causes them pain. It’s time to return to my first love.

And yes, above, that’s books, plural — as in more than one. I figure by writing this proclamation down here, now, I’ll have to follow through and deliver on it. At least two books published by December 30, 2022. In case you’re wondering, given it is mid way through 2022, the level of difficulty I’ve just set myself isn’t lost on me. But hey, if my career thus far has taught me anything, it’s that I LOVE a good challenge and those that are almost impossible to achieve from the outset, spur me on even more.

So ‘just right’ has turned into ‘just write’, again. After that, who knows, probably back to hotels (boutique ones this time maybe even hosting writers’ retreats).

And what about you?

If you’re at a stage or phase in your life or career where you’re feeling stuck or uninspired, go back to your early memories of things you liked to do. Stuff you’d dreamed of doing or tried your hand at when you were a kid. It might be being a firefighter (volunteer groups are always looking for help), being a nurse (lots of room to retrain and work there), painting, song writing or some other kind of creative art — gosh why not — there are so many options available now for people who want to create and sell their art and more people than ever are making a living at it.

And if you, like me, loved writing when you were a kid, do it. Start now. You can write on this platform or others. But start. You’ve absolutely nothing to lose. the more life you’ve lived, the more likely you have an important message to share with people and might even find that it too, is time, and the words just come tumbling out. I wish you all the best.

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