Blazing your own trail

Over the past 18-24 months there has been a lot that’s been out of our control, but as a nation, by and large, we certainly haven’t been passive.

At hipages Group we’ve had an action-packed year – posting our first full year results as a listed company, launching our new TradieCore app, winning awards for our culture, investing in complementary businesses and expanding into the New Zealand market.

Most importantly, we’ve helped homeowners to get the job done, with more than 1.53m jobs posted on our platform in FY21, and we’ve supported more than 31,000 tradies to build their business, unencumbered from the tedium of marketing and other time sapping admin endeavours.

On an individual level, there has been no shortage of action either. The experiences of the pandemic have been a catalyst for many to reassess what’s important to them, to figure out their passions, to gain clarity on their values and beliefs, and to take steps to make changes.

I’ve been fortunate that from quite a young age, I’ve been very clear on what’s important to me and what drives me.

I’ve always been very comfortable with the notion that it’s my responsibility to shape my own destiny: it was up to me. To be self-determining is something I have embraced for as long as I can remember, and that has shaped my career as an entrepreneur.

The importance of having clarity on your core beliefs and values cannot be underestimated, and I would encourage everyone to take a step back and consider what matters most and what drives them. For me, there are three aspects that I live by, in work and play.

• Play to your strengths: everyone should understand how and where they add value. Playing to your strengths means you can never do it all. It requires surrounding yourself with the best talent and processes to compliment whatever your art form is. The end game is always about value creation, understanding your role and that of others is a fundamental strategic decision.
• Embrace the hustle: big goals can be daunting if you do not build personal stimulation and the opportunity for wins into the process. An empowering competitive spirit is one that enjoys the journey as much as the wins. Business is an unrelenting sport, to embrace the hustle is to be at one with the curve balls that you have to face and to thrive on solving what needs to be solved.
• Create the future: You can blaze your own trail. You can dream big and you can shape a destiny that is fully aligned with who you are and what you wish to achieve. But you cannot be passive. It requires imagination, conscious choice, passion, resiliency and personal accountability. Vision without the smarts and discipline to realise it is simply a mirage.

So if you’re taking some time out over the holidays, carve out a moment to have a think about what really drives you; what are your three things?