“I am a current recipient of the services provided by Business South here in Tasmania. As a small business start up I have found Business South to be a constant source of information, inspiration and guidance. When I started my business they were able to connect me to free services available as a small business owner such as the Digital Ready Programme. In addition they were able to introduce me to other small businesses to have a website built, a graphic designer to have my branding created for my website and car wrapping and many, many more.

I have attended numerous networking sessions with other business owners, this has boosted my confidence for public speaking and helped to get my business name out there. In addition I've attended training sessions on how to run my small business such as SEO training for marketing on social media, graphic design training for development of content for marketing and Sustainability in Business to name a few. These training sessions have been immensely helpful for me to be able to present a professional business to my clients from the beginning.

Sharon & Mikala from Business South run an amazing program and I wouldn't be able to afford these kinds of training sessions any other way. They consistently shape training sessions around the needs of the small business owners they service by asking what training will be most useful to us and provide it in the quickest way possible to ensure that there are no roadblocks to our success. The loss of such a program would be devastating to our small business community and I implore you to reconsider. “

“When I first started going all I knew about running a business was how to do the work. I quickly realised that I knew NOTHING about running a business, marketing my business, selling my business. Jackie always encouraged and guided me to have a better story than, “I work in IT” when explaining to people what I do. This is more difficult than it looks. Jackie always encouraged me to know my ideal customer which at the start was everyone.

When I look back over the 18 months of the assistance and support that Jackie has provided, I can’t help but think Impact ICT wouldn’t have progressed or achieved as much as what we have. The single biggest improvement Jackie made was to really help me with changing my mind set about selling to my customers.

Since the new proposal was developed, we have done 6 pitches and won each time. This has been the biggest single contributor to the growth Impact ICT has seen in 2 years.

We have seen massive growth in the last 6 months of the calendar year. We will continue to improve on our service delivery by employing additional staff and are increasing our focus on our marketing efforts in 2023.”

“I would like you to know how you have helped me as I think the role you have is crucial to help with the unemployment and mental health crisis in Tasmania.

Last year I had to leave my job as I had a gruelling year of treatment ahead to fight breast cancer. There was no system in place for me. Jobseeker wasn’t an option as I had to search for 20 jobs per month, going to job interviews and wasting employers time and clogging up the system knowing full well I would be unable to do the job as I was in and out of hospital every week.

My only option was to work from home as I had 2 children to take care of and an illness to fight. Starting a small business was a great option for me. I wasn’t well at the time, but I am intelligent, and I had a vision for the future that because of Sharon and Mikala looked bright. Sharon was able to encourage me as she had similar health issues and she knew how I could work around this. Sharon gave me hope when I thought hope was just a feeble attempt at finding a solution I didn’t even know existed.

Sharon and Mikala are wonderful cocreators and are in touch with the people of Tasmania. They treat everyone they come into contact with the respect that they deserve and have found ways in which they extract people's skills and direct them to where those skills are needed.

Their networking skills are excellent as they encourage people to be themselves. They are transparent in how they both got to acquire the confidence they have today so we all may learn this isn’t something that just comes without practice and they provide us with situations in which we can test out new skills and also become confident in what we do. I believe confidence is essential.

Because of Sharon and Mikala I have been amongst some very successful businesspeople who have been so enthusiastic in sharing their knowledge and expertise. I have mentors I can look up to as they have travelled the path before me. Sharon and Mikayla have given me hope. They are an essential key to the success of many people, and I will never forget. I am indebted to them and I will always have the time for them.”

“I am the founder of Zero Plastics Australia, We specialise in turning single use plastic lids into brand new practical products. As a small business owner, I have faced numerous challenges along the way, and your guidance and support through the Entrepreneurship Facilitator Program have been invaluable. Your expertise, knowledge, and genuine dedication to fostering entrepreneurship have made a profound difference in my entrepreneurial journey. You just don't know what you don't know and this program and your help really opened our eyes to this and what we needed to focus on.

What sets the Entrepreneurship Facilitator Program apart from other initiatives, such as the SEA program I am currently undertaking, is the personalized and tailored assistance provided. Through the program, you have been able to offer specific guidance and support tailored to my business needs. While I find the SEA program to be very boring and broad in what they are trying to teach, it seems to lack the passion and drive to really help on an individual level. Your deep understanding of the local business landscape and your ability to connect me with relevant resources and networks have been instrumental in my business's growth and success.

The value you have provided goes beyond the practical business advice. Your unwavering belief in my potential and your encouragement during challenging times have given me the confidence to overcome obstacles. Additionally, your willingness to share your own personal challenges and triumphs has created a sense of camaraderie and inspired me to persevere in the face of adversity.

I am incredibly grateful for your support, not only as a business mentor but also as a compassionate individual. Your genuine care for my well-being and understanding of the health and learning challenges I have faced have made our interactions meaningful and impactful. Your guidance has helped me navigate these challenges with resilience and determination.”

“I am a sole trader of a small business called Tasmanian Softies . I am on a pension having been widowed. I am finding that I’m needing the income from my business increasingly more as today's costs of living and mortgage payments increase. The pressure of my life changes and business stresses began to be overwhelming.

I found the Business South Facebook page on the internet this year and joined immediately.

I supply Tasmanian Soft toys to many shops around Tasmania, Hobart and Launceston Airport and I have a stall at Salamanca Market.

Since covid I have been growing in business and getting overwhelmed with the amount of things to do on my tick list to keep my business up to date and meet the legal requirements. I had a problem with not knowing where to start and I certainly didn’t know what to do.

Since joining Business South I have had a very valuable one on one interview, giving me a simple list of things to do. I have found the facilitators Mikala and Sharon very approachable, knowledgeable and helpful.

I have attended a networking event. Meeting other small business owners. Meeting with likeminded people we exchange valuable resources and information. Not to mention encouragement.

I have attended two workshops entitled “Get stuff done”. This enabled me to have a quiet space, to sort out an app for my tax receipts with bookwork. To write out shop policies etc for my website and to ask questions from the facilitators if I have a problem.

I have attended a workshop about how to manage finances with valuable information about books to read. Which I have read and implemented. Also, a wonderful segment about mental health working for yourself. Following through on what you have promised yourself.

Lastly, I attended a workshop about being an author and publishing a book. I am in the process of writing a children's book with the characters that I make.

These workshops have cleared my head of stress and made room for me to be actually productive. “

“We are a start-up husband / wife team who primarily provide managed IT services for small to medium medical practices throughout WA; the bulk of this work is completed by Stuart, with Kerrianne as admin support. In addition to this core function, we provide consulting services to Indigenous start-ups, focusing on translating their idea into a business framework and establishing foundation IT systems to support the business idea.

We like the fact that we can attend a workshop to get an overall understanding of certain aspects, leaning on support and input from other SMB’s and then being able to access 1:1 session’s to really help us breakdown those skills and how best to apply them directly to our circumstances. It has also afforded us the opportunity to collaborate to help create a solution to some of the barriers entrepreneurs face when starting out.

After talking with Jackie, we are expanding our business to help meet the needs of other start-ups, in particular Indigenous businesses. She is able to explain things in a way that resonates with us. She has also helped us learn how to work better with each other due to our different work & communication styles allowing us to become a stronger & more collaborative team.”

“The Business South Entrepreneurship Facilitator (EF) Program has been instrumental in the creation, growth and success of my start up. Both Sharon and Mikala have been supportive, encouraging and excellent sounding boards. Not only have they offered me a wealth of knowledge, abundant business connections and ideas to help me get off the ground but have empowered and inspired me to get to where I am today.”

“I started my first design / renovation business in 2010 as I had been injured at work in 2003 and needed flexibility in my working arrangements so I could be in control of my health moving forward. This business then merged as a second division of my partners building company so we could broaden our scope of work and tackle larger projects. We started Pocket Condos as a new division in 2021 as we saw a need in the housing industry for an alternate housing solution that was affordable, easy to maintain and flexible.

We were traveling really well until COVID-19. As a result of the impact of COVID we had to downsize our team, bringing many of the administration tasks back under my responsibility which added significantly to my workload and meant that I stopped being strategic with the business because I was so bogged down with the day-to-day tasks of coordinating trades and suppliers and all the other things that don’t happen by magic.

The support that we received from Jackie was mostly around me having someone to talk with who understood what we were trying to do as we developed the tiny homes idea as a way of pivoting our stalled business. When we met for the first time in July, she asked me challenging questions in a non-emotive way as we started to get back on our feet.

Jackie has been amazing support for me personally, being a woman in the construction industry can be very lonely and frustrating, luckily for me this is also Jackie’s background. She ran her own small business in the same industry, so she really gets it.”