When I started my business in 2018 I knew that I had all of the skills to make it work on my own. Graphic design, customer service, social media, accounting, web development, photography, you name it, I was pretty much able to do it or was willing to learn it. This wasn’t my first business rodeo and as a late—thirty-something year old woman with 20 years of uni degrees and work experience under my belt, all the stars were aligned for a decade ahead of business success.

You could say that I got it from my Mama. Well, some of it. Having been born into an entrepreneurial family  I had watched my parents run a whole range of very cool and very strange businesses. Christmas tree nurseries, crayfish farms, shopping centres, wedding chapels, I could seriously go on for days compiling a list of their shenanigans. 

Mum had always told me that the 40s were when the magic happened. As a woman, I would most likely be through the early years of parenting, I would have more time, a stronger sense of self, more confidence. It sounded like a pretty reasonable prophecy to me. I don’t know about you but after the wonder / insanity of the 20s and 30s (parties, study, travel, marriage, babies, sicknesses, divorce) the next ten years were looking like a walk in the park!

 

And then, life happened.

 

You know, the stuff that derails all of your best laid plans. 

Next minute my 40s involved autism diagnoses of my two teenage children, the care of my sick and elderly mother and a very unexpected new role as a full-time foster / kinship carer to my 10 year old nephew and 5 year old niece.

Yep, I was a kindy mum again.

My days were now spent on the phone to Child Safety departments, hospitals, aged care facilities, psychologists … you name it, they were calling me.

And then my mum died.

What a start to the glory of the 40s hey!

Remember when I began this story, I was also running a business? [insert hysterical laughter and tears here]. Yeah, it wasn’t doing so great. Not because it wasn’t a great business, and definitely not because I didn’t have the skills. I just absolutely, without a doubt could not handle all of this AND run a functional business at the same time.

Anyone relate? I mean, your life stuff might not be the same as mine but I can guarantee that you will go through a period where your business gets pushed to the very bottom of the to-do list. 

It’s hard on the ego. 

You start to question it all. 

Is it worth it? 

Can I even manage it any more?

Am I even enjoying it?

What to do, what to do ….?

Trust me, I considered everything. Shutting it all down seemed like a great idea a LOT! But it just felt so sad. All of that hard work. And surely this was just a phase right? What would I do if I wasn’t doing this? I still loved it.

 

Over the years I’ve tried a few different ways of getting help in my business …

 

1. A partnership. Definite pros and cons. That’s a blog for another day.
2. Virtual assistants. Cheap, easy to find, difficult to train well, mostly good for basic tasks.
3. Hiring contractors. Sometimes great. Usually expensive. 
4. Part-time employees. Great but can get expensive paying adult wages + superannuation.

So this time I decided on something very different. I phoned up the Careers Counsellor at my children’s high school and asked if they could help me find a school-based trainee to suit my business.

Here’s the short version of what that kind of commitment looks like for me:

• The trainee works on site in my business 1 day per week when it best suits her school timetable and my business. They often get to drop a subject at school and will be supported to also complete their formal studies.
• They work towards an external qualification in an area that suits your business. This is often a Certificate or Diploma from a higher education institution.
• The work they do on site with you counts towards the training component of their qualification.
• They are officially employed on a part-time basis and are paid trainee wages according to the relevant industry award.
• On the 1 day per week they are with me, they work for 6.5 hours and have 1 hour of paid allocated study time. Lunch breaks too of course!

Obviously all of this will look different depending on your location, industry, school, government regulations and trainee.

But right now, this is how our school-based traineeship is setup :

 

• My year 11 trainee Makenzy is here every Thursday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.
• We signed up with Busy At Work who provided us with the support we needed to legally enrol Makenzy as a trainee. They take care of all of the government forms!
• She is enrolled in a Certificate III in Business (with the possibility of extending to the Diploma) at Axiom College. There are LOTS of training organisations that run these kinds of courses and many are completed entirely online which is what Makenzy chose.
• I must provide paid work for her 7.5 hours per week for 50 days per year or at least 375 hours in 12 months. We’ve made up our own schedule that means she doesn’t need to work school holidays which works best for both of us.
• She is paid as a trainee which in my industry falls under the Clerks Award MA000002 in Queensland, Australia. At the time of publishing this article that was around $10.49 per hour.
• There are a list of competencies that she must complete while working with me but they are easy to follow. In a business certificate, it’s things like “Create business documents” and “Audit the WH&S of your workplace.” You get the idea. Entry level business stuff that would suit most industries.

Depending on where you live and the type of business you run, there may also be state or federal government incentives paid that are designed to encourage employment of trainees. My business was not eligible but more “in demand” industries like trades, IT and a whole lot more are. Just google “Priority Apprenticeships and Traineeships” in your area and see what you can find like this.

So that’s the current state of things here at Miss Directory. I can tell you now that even a few months into the experience, it has truly been one of the best decisions I have made for my business! Here’s why …

1. The pressure is OFF. I have been able to delegate a lot of those ‘busy’ or time consuming jobs to Makenzy which has opened up more time for the big ticket items I need to complete each week (and the never ending list of kid / family stuff).
2. Teenagers are SMART! And techy. Every time I think “Oh how am I going to explain this to her?” she literally just gets started and gets on with it.
3. It’s absolutely affordable and is quite a small commitment – particularly because it can be completed in 1 year if needs be. There are also trial periods in the legal fine print which are an easy out if things are not working for you.
4. I have someone to bounce ideas off! Working alone in a small business can get very boring and isolating. It’s great having someone in the office 1 day per week who brings fresh, new and younger ideas to the table!
5. It gets me motivated and organised! When you know someone is coming in to work, you make sure there is work ready for them to do! Less Netflix, more laptop.

And what about for Makenzy? Well, there are lots of perks for her as a school-based trainee too of course! She gets a part-time paid job, a 4 day work week, a reduce study workload in her senior years, a guaranteed ATAR level, work experience AND to hang out with me.  I mean, talk about win win!

 

Keen to find out more about hiring a school-based trainee or apprentice for your business?

 

My advice is start by calling your local school and ask to speak to their careers counsellor. Write up a position description and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Want to hear about the experience from a trainee’s perspective? Well it’s time to learn how to write blogs Makenzy (Creating business documents – hooray!)

Over to you …

Being a 16-year-old with the pressures of career talk at school is stressful! Who knew that when you’re 16 years old in Year 11, you’d need to lock in your career path? Growing up in an entrepreneurial family like Kate’s always leaned me in the direction of business ownership and entrepreneurship. However, how can I ever truly know that’s what I want? I can hear about work talk at family dinners or analyse companies in Business class. But the one thing that was holding me back was: what if I’m not fit for it… or what if I get a degree, enter the workforce, and regret everything?

I was in a meeting with my careers counsellor, and we settled on enrolling me in an online Certificate of Business course. I would work through the content during school time, do everything by myself, and as a result, get a guaranteed ATAR result. But still, it didn’t seem right to me. The next day, a post about a marketing traineeship opportunity was uploaded on my school website. Immediately, I was intrigued. The chance to get hands-on experience—observing and participating in running a business—was an opportunity I felt I couldn’t pass up. All while I studied that certificate—it was perfect! I knew hands-on learning would help more than just classroom theory or online courses.

Having real-world experience while still at school has given me a valuable head start, allowing me to apply what I learn in the classroom to real-life situations and deepen my understanding of how successful businesses operate. I’m enjoying the mix of creativity and strategy in marketing. I’ve learned skills like customer service, managing deadlines, and using tools like social media schedulers.

Observing Kate in her element has taught me that passion and enthusiasm in a work environment are crucial to building a brand and targeting it successfully. This has built my confidence in what I want to do after school and has given me a jumpstart in the business environment.

Participating in a Certificate of Business alongside Kate has been a breeze so far. Applying skills learned from Kate and school has allowed me to stay on top of my course load and understand the coursework. I have one day off school with Kate—wahoo wahoo!—and free periods at school to work through my coursework. Having this time has allowed me not to risk any of my free time on weekends! 

Now that I understand business more, my career plans are to go into business ownership and marketing. The certificate I’m studying is giving me credits towards my QCE and ATAR ranking. This has given me more freedom with picking school subjects and relieves pressure around scaling and school grading.

Learning how to take photos with the professional camera gear – it’s all in a day’s work for Makenzy (and Dougie dog).