How I started in Business

As a 15 year old, I was full of dreams of creative ideas! At the time school was pushing everyone towards University. If you want to succeed you needed a Uni Degree. I didn’t want that and I knew I was going to be a hairdresser! I went against the advice given to me and left school at 15 to start my apprenticeship at my Mum’s salon. In my second year of hairdressing, I was offered a transfer to a high-end salon in Subiaco. I was so excited that I was leaving to bigger and better things!

I lasted 6 months and learned more than I could have imagined in a small amount of time. The hairdressing industry in the city was cutthroat and I went from a confident teenager to doubting what I even wanted to do. In my salon in Esperance, I was cutting men's hair, doing sets and blow drys, and cleaning and booking appointments.

In Perth, I was not even allowed to answer the phone. I went from the basin, shampooing to doing dishes and washing colour bowls. My hands would bleed from dermatitis and having wet hands all day. I got told to wear gloves and carry on. I have always been a determined person and continued to push through and turned up every day. It wasn’t all bad, I met some amazing people and got the opportunity to go to Sydney for Hair Expo which was a mind-blowing experience. After my probation period, I decided to return home, devastated that I had not succeeded and it was not what I expected.

I completed my apprenticeship in Esperance and built up a great clientele. I then decided to return to the city to complete my makeup certificate in 2004. I worked for a chain salon and again learned so much. They had different rules than what I was used to. We weren’t allowed to socialize on weekends with any staff from the salon. They moved me to another salon because I got along with everyone too well. It was also quite a competitive environment. We had to try and upsell treatments and products and got rewarded if we did. I learned a lot about how I didn’t want to be as a boss.

I moved to a new Salon in Freo and absolutely loved it. They had lunch breaks and respected their staff. At the time I started to get pain in my right ribs and went to the Dr. It was the start of a journey that I never imagined that I would face. Especially at the age of 21. Even though I loved the salon I was working in I was homesick and decided to return to Esperance.

I loved being back at the salon and having my friends and family around me but I still wasn’t well. After 5 months of Dr appointments and tests, I got the diagnosis that no one ever wants to hear. I had Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer in my ribs. The next year was a blur of trips to Perth, chemo and surgeries. Mum tried to run the salon but with trips to Perth every three weeks it was very challenging. With both Mum and I out of the salon we had to run on skeleton staff and it was very disruptive for our apprentices. We are lucky that they were so understanding and we made it through the year.

Once I was in remission we got an amazing opportunity to open two salons in neighboring towns. A nickel mine had just started up meaning there was a huge influx of people to these small towns. Mum would go over and work and I started to take over the management of the Esperance salon. At the age of 23, I was so young and had no idea how to run a business. After my experiences in the city, I knew how I didn’t want to be as a manager. The next four years were a lot of trial and error and huge learnings along the way. My passion for business had definitely blossomed.

At one stage I was training three apprentices, the busiest hairdresser on the floor, and did all the ordering, wages, and banking. At night I would research business planning and I created our own business plan, manual and training books for our apprentices. I absolutely loved mentoring and teaching my girls. Instead of bringing them down, I did my best to motivate and excite them about hairdressing and life. I made them posters to put on their toilet doors to teach them the colour wheel and numbering system of Wella. We had a vision board out the back to write down our hopes and dreams. I even taught them to cook.

I was responsible for four girls apprenticeships over my management time. I am so proud of them and the lives they created.  I didn’t realize at the time how much I loved to teach and mentor. Those four years as a first-time manager taught me so much! It was stressful at times and it did take over my life. Having cancer and managing a salon so young was not exactly in my plan but I wouldn’t change it. The experience that I got was real life and you can’t learn that at uni.

The next chapter of my life was getting married and having babies. My boyfriend, Dale had stuck with me through all of my treatment even though we only got together three months before my diagnosis. He proposed in 2007 and we got married in 2008. After a year of chemo, I had 50% less chance of having children. Much to our surprise, we got pregnant the first month after our wedding.

While pregnant with my daughter I decided to follow my dream of being a photographer. I did a 6-week course at the local tafe. Funny story, in our introduction the tutor asked what we hope to get out of the course. Everyone said I want to take better photos of my kids, pets or the beach. I came out and said I want to be a professional photographer! The tutor laughed and said well you're going to need more than this course. Another one of those moments I remember that motivated me to succeed.

I spent years learning and taking photos of my friend’s babies. In 2012 I had my son and decided it was time to learn something else. I left hairdressing because I couldn’t work without sleep and didn’t feel the passion I used to. I studied graphic design in an online course through tafe. I didn’t really know what would come of it but it felt good to get my creative mind going.

In 2013 I officially started Jayde Guest Photography & Design and it is still running to this day. Through the years I continued to upskill and learn as much as I could about photography and graphic design. In 2018 I opened a photography studio and learned another lot of lessons about running premises. I loved it but it was stressful with the number of outgoings and also looking after my kids, running a house balancing client expectations. Again I can back to try and learn business planning but found the process hard and not inspiring. I decided to create my own plan which included four booklets that helped creative people to plan their businesses.  I had them professionally printed but mostly used them for my own planning as my photography and design business was getting busier and I struggled to manage my time. After a year I found a better space and gave up my lease. It fell through and the space was sold and I was unable to move in. My business was homeless and I was devastated.

I ended up moving my studio into the back room at the salon. It was a bit squishy but I made it work and enjoyed being around the girls again. My sister was running the salon at this time so we did get distracted and talked a little bit too much.

During my time starting up my business I engaged with a local service that helped businesses with startups. After trying to do the salon without much support I really enjoyed having someone to ask questions and get guidance from. I received an email saying that the lady that was working there was leaving and I had a thought that I would love to help people with their businesses. I enquired about the new position and ended up getting the job as a business adviser at the local Chamber of Commerce.

The next two years were extremely busy. I was then running my photography and graphic design business part-time, working 20 hours at the Chamber with two kids and running a house. I found the job extremely rewarding and loved working with small businesses and guiding them through the process of establishing their business. I learned so much about other industries and the logistics of many different start-ups. We had fantastic resources to help guide people and a support team in Perth if there was anything I didn’t know. As well as working 1 on 1 with businesses I also gained skills in public speaking, grants, running workshops both in-person and online, PR, creating marketing campaigns and working closely with key stakeholders in Esperance. I loved working with our small team and had a fantastic relationship with my boss.

With COVID adding a huge amount of stress and workload to my job I started to get sick frequently. I also had 4 deaths of family members in a small amount of time. I had to make a decision on what career I wanted to pursue as I was starting to get burnt out trying to manage everything. I made the decision to go back to my own business. It was extremely hard as I loved my job.

It has now been a year since I have been back in my own business and I am really enjoying the freedom and being able to work around my family. Since leaving I had space to work on projects that I started a long time ago. I decided to use my four booklets and create an app to help businesses to plan out their ideas. It has been another journey and very interesting being back in the business startup phase.

Throughout my journey, I have been in multiple industries and worked with many different-sized businesses. It still comes back to mindset, planning, and the ability to problem-solve and adapt to the ever-changing environment. Even though my life has taken many side roads I wouldn’t change a thing and love using my experiences to help businesses to succeed.