follow your bliss
BY hayley dawson, victoria-BASED MEDIA STRINGER
Hayley recently came runner up in the FX Medicine X Factor awards in the Community Category
Today I wanted to share my story, not my whole life story, my business story; how I got to where I am in my career. I recently came runner up in the FX Medicine X Factor awards in the community category and I’ve been invited to speak at the Australian Naturopathic Summit later this year. These are exciting milestones that I’m proud of as I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and I wanted to be able to share my business story in the hope it might provide inspiration to those of you on a similar journey. A business can be hard, often followers just see our highlights reel on social media, but there’s a lot more to it. I’ve felt the pressures and the challenges first hand so I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you to follow your passion and what lights you up inside by sharing my personal experience.
Three years ago, freshly graduated out of college I didn’t really know where I wanted to start.
I had the drive and focus to start my own business but at the age of 21 I didn’t know if it was the best decision as I’d moved back to my partner’s family farm in western Victoria and while there were many job opportunities there were no openings for naturopaths. However, I was passionate about what I’d studied and wanted to share my knowledge, I wanted to help my community so I forged ahead.
I’m not going to lie; the first 12 months were hard. I had patients cancel on me, or simply not even turn up to their appointment. I would travel an hour to see patients and some didn’t even bother to let me know they couldn’t make it. I took it to heart every time someone cancelled or didn’t turn up to an appointment. I often stopped to visit my Mum on the way home and I’d frequently dissolve into tears thinking I wasn’t cut out for it. I basically wanted to give up and call it quits. My Stepdad Jim was constantly saying to me, “from little things, big things grow.” I’m not sure if it was just an excuse to repeatedly play Paul Kelly but whatever the case, the “from little things, big things grow” message certainly stuck in my mind. Sometimes when you’re in the thick of things you don’t listen to these words of wisdom but in hindsight I look back and think yes, Jim was right.
I knew deep down that I wanted to be a naturopath but after those very hard first twelve months I knew I actually really wanted to help farmers, farming families, those in rural and remote areas who were isolated and felt unsupported when it came to their health. This really resonated with me because I’d felt the impact of the isolation and reduced access to health support many times and I only live forty-five minutes from town…I couldn’t even imagine how those who lived three hours from the closest town must have felt.
Once I discovered this purpose things got easier because I had the passion and drive to deliver the message, and I was so invested in making sure it cut through. I wanted to share the message that people’s health can be improved and to this day I advocate, “your health is your greatest wealth.” This quote carries so much weight for me because our health is critical, if we didn’t have our health we wouldn’t be able to spend time with friends and family or enjoy the things we love. I genuinely believed this message so strongly and wanted to communicate it clearly especially to people in regional areas affected by isolation.
Distilling my purpose gave me great clarity. I changed my focus on social media and I provided information that was relatable for those living in country areas. I started a private Facebook group to connect with rural women and give them support each and every week. I observed the positive impact my work was making which led me to scale activities and I decided to take what I’d built in the digital space into the physical space by launching my first in-person event in Dunkeld. The event sold out to over 140 regional women who came from near and far to attend. I collaborated with a number of rural health professionals in my area to empower women to make positive changes in their health and importantly the event enabled women to simply connect with other likeminded women and have a fun day off the farm. When you are in flow and doing the things that serve you, everything seems easy and purposeful.
I truly believe that regardless of where you live health should be a priority and my vision is geared to increasing health literacy within regional areas and supporting regional with proactive health initiatives. Clarity of purpose really helped me get ahead and before long the tears became less frequent and I started to see progress within my business. Time and time again I see amazing rural people conceiving huge ideas and it’s really encouraging. I know firsthand that its hard running a business in a rural area but I really want you to know that we all have something very different, unique and valuable to offer. If you’re passionate about what you do, if you think it’s important, then keep pushing through the hard times because often after a break down, right around the corner is an amazing breakthrough. You don’t have to get it right the first time, but one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt is that if you can adapt, pivot and grow along the way your business can thrive. Let today be the day you unlock your ambition and refer to these positive messages when you need you need to draw on support along the way:
Anything is possible.
Shoot for the moon…even if you miss, you’ll land in the stars!
And of course…from little things big things grow!
To book an appointment with Hayley visit her website and follow her socials to stay up to date with her events and initiatives.