I’m writing this on my flight from Melbourne to Auckland on Wednesday. It’s a rare occasion when I don’t write my blog on Friday morning and send it out on the same day but with 3 hours to kill and no idea what the next four days are going to look like it makes sense to get  a head start. 

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I’m speaking at the PSANZ Trailblazers Convention on Friday which will officially mark my transition from wanna-be professional speaker to real-life professional speaker. You could argue that I’ve been at it for a while with a scattering of speaking gigs but I do like a milestone so I’m using this event as my debut. 

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Becoming a professional speaker is a new destiny for me. I haven’t always wanted to be one, shit, this time last year I had no idea what it meant until I stumbled across a PSA event that the universe hand balled me. I was so taken by the experience that from that evening on I’ve been actively pursuing it as a new career. What makes this endeavour special is for the first time in my adult life I feel like I'm doing something that is selfishly just for me. 

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For the last decade I’ve felt like Matt’s 2IC (Second in Command) for our prefab building business. This is no criticism of Matt, it’s just how it panned out. It didn't help that we had kids at the same time which is a separate challenge all together. In strong, healthy relationships there should be a balance of support while one person is pursuing a goal, the other is taking on more of the domestic duties to free up some space. With a young family this role is traditionally taken on by the mother, or at least it was in our household. Matt needed to be in the factory so I made sure everyone else was sorted. 

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I have no regrets about this role at all, it’s by far the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. Sadly, it didn't leave a lot of space to achieve professional goals I had around improving my design business. I did what I could with the time I had and made pretty great progress considering the circumstances. Up until we closed HUCX, Matt’s work would take priority. It used to drive me nuts.

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It will be two years this month since we put HUCX into voluntary administration. It’s hard to believe. It was a massive part of our life for such a long time. Like losing a loved one we still feel its ghost hovering around. It doesn’t help that we live one street over from our bit of land that we lost or that we’re still paying off personal debts from the time. It’s imprint hasn’t completely faded from our lives but there are people who now know Matt and I as relatively normal people, not owners of a prefab building business that was going to change the face of the Australian building industry. 

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When HUCX closed we entered a new phase where Matt was the stay at home parent while I worked part time at the Ballarat Tech School. I was grateful for this opportunity and it gave my family some stability for the first time ever. I was a natural fit for the work which was awesome and I discovered I had a knack for getting people pumped about STEM. While this was completely different from my work with HUCX or being a graphic designer I was able to draw on both of these experiences and fashion something useful in a completely new space. I also discovered that I love doing new things. I love being an ametear. Being a teacher and facilitator is a blast. Learning how to use the equipment at the Tech School? Awesome fun. 

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Given a choice, I’d rather give something new a try than do the same thing over and over. Being a business owner has always serviced that need because I’m constantly forced to take on different responsibilities. Being a professional speaker gives me the opportunity to have all sorts of new and wild experiences while getting paid. Again, it will draw upon everything that I have done up until this exact moment. 

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It couldn't have happened any other way. 

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What makes this situation unique is that I’m choosing it. I’m making a deliberate decision to pursue the goal to become a professional speaker, rather than just easing back into freelance graphic design (plan B). I want to get paid to hang out with awesome people and make sure that everyone is having a good time. I want to share our family's story in the hope that others will be inspired to do big and brilliant things in their own life. I have NO IDEA what the next steps of this plan look like but that’s the most exciting part. 

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All I know right now is that 11,000 ft in the air on my way to becoming a professional speaker. It feels so right that I’m not even nervous. I'm excited as shit! Even if I completely flop and my talk is a total disaster, it will just become another great story and make a ripper blog either way. Wish me luck.