CoAct service partner BUSY At Work helped Rebecca start her own business. Contact us if you’re in a similar situation, our team and network are here to help.

This good news story from BUSY At Work’s Toowoomba, Darling Downs office just gets better and better.

Rebecca is a 36-year-old mum of two with qualifications in beauty therapy. She lives in Pittsworth after moving from Warwick to “make a fresh start”. It’s a small rural town outside of Toowoomba with a population of around 3,300 people that’s well-known for its farming country.

Rebecca had first participated in the Parents Next program for three years, before she was referred to Workforce Australia.

As well as her beauty qualifications, Rebecca had recently completed a nail technician course and wanted to run this as her business as it would fit in with her kids and their schooling. Rebecca described herself as a nail artist who could do unique work and she had great ideas about running a niche nail business, but she didn’t know how or where to get started.

Rebecca’s mentor, Donna from the Toowoomba site believed in her vision and set her on the path to action – right at the initial interview. She recognised that Rebecca might benefit from the Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) program and immediately made a referral for her.

The SEA program helps people to explore their business ideas, or improve their existing small businesses, by accessing support, advice and mentoring. The program can help turn a business idea or existing small business into a viable business and the program’s flexibility allows people to choose from the following support options to get the help that best fits their needs for running a successful small business:

• exploring self-employment workshops
• free accredited small business training
• business plan development
• business mentoring and coaching
• business health checks

Rebecca followed this advice, completed a business plan, and was accepted onto the SEA program in March 2023. Since then, Rebecca has been blown away by the support she has received for her business. At first she worked from home, getting the word out about her business with a sign on her car that she, “drove around town A LOT as it was a moving advertisement”.

Over the next few months, Rebecca rented out a small shop in Pittsworth to get herself established – and within six months, she moved to bigger premises to expand her capacity to take on more customers.

Rebecca told her mentor, Donna, that she just can’t believe how quickly it all happened, especially when she had been trying to get something happening for what seemed like forever.

Rebecca is receiving wrap around support services to ensure that she continues to be successful – she has ongoing contact and support from her BUSY At Work Mentor and from the In Work Support Team.

The BUSY At Work team describe Rebecca as a success story as she loves being a nail technician and artist so much that she recently won several awards through the Cut the Crap nail supply company, recognising her artistic flair.

Rebecca loves that she gets to work her own hours, creating her own success with her signature pink scrubs as her professional outfit and, in her own words, she’s now “raking it in”.

Donna recently went out to visit Rebecca and Beccalicious Nails to get an update on how things are going for her six months on – and she was told that if she wants an appointment she’d better get in line as Rebecca is now booked out a month ahead, and with school graduations on the horizon that could rise to two months.

Rebecca is rightfully excited by her success and she can now even take on an additional staff member. As a result of her experiences and this journey she is passionate about women taking the leap, going for it, and running their own businesses saying, “If I can do it, anyone can.”

This has been an amazing ride for Rebecca and for her BUSY at Work team, who have watched and supported this determined mum as she’s turned her passion into an idea, that has quickly grown to be a thriving business.

Register here to find out more about how we can provide dedicated job search support and jobseeker programs to help you reach your employment goals.