Month: February 2022

Starting a business while having your first child may not seem like ideal timing, but Iman Davamoni had a plan to use the time wisely.

After working in corporate HR full time for 15 years with a dream to bring a side hustle to life, it took one pivotal moment in Iman Davamoni’s life to finally take a plunge into the unknown.

The timing might not sound ideal when she suddenly fell pregnant, but Iman knew it was now or never to create the self-employed lifestyle she wanted as she prepared to become a stay-at-home mum.

The founder and CEO of Australia’s leading at-home mobile beauty and wellness service Purely Polished knew she was on a time limit to make her business a reality.

Iman was also aware she would need a solid financial plan to have enough money for herself, the new baby, and to set up and maintain a new business – and three months of paid maternity leave wasn’t going to cut it.

“A year off work is a long time so I wanted to make sure I didn’t just have money to support my daily expenses but also to enjoy my time with my little one,” Iman said.

“When I was intending to go on maternity leave, I had savings and needed to make sure I had enough money so I could be comfortable.”

“My strategy was to stick to a budget. I worked it out based on what I would require as a minimum, ensuring I was feeding a bit more into that.”

Sticking to a budget

Iman began planning and putting money away for herself and her business as soon as she and her partner started talking about starting a family.

After working out what she would require as a minimum, Iman automatically deducted money into her savings account each month and tried to feed in a bit more into the kitty than the base line.

“Being really on top of your budget and understanding what’s coming in and knowing what’s coming out so you’re always careful is so important,” she said.

“There is a huge cost in setting up for having a baby, and when you have your first child you end up spending more than you need,” she explained.

Using what you have

Iman’s idea to start a mobile beauty and wellness service came to her when she wondered how she was going to get beauty treatments as a new mum with a baby.

“My mind started ticking because I didn’t want to go back into corporate 9-to-5 with a baby. I started reading books and within six weeks I built the website,” she explained.

“I didn’t invest a lot, I think I spent 250 bucks, I got a nail technician on board and all of a sudden we started getting bookings.”

Iman’s business expanded as she gradually onboarded more staff, striking a balance between not throwing everything into the business while investing what she needed to.

“I kept going and with the maternity leave funds I had I was able to support myself,” she said.

Being careful where you spend 

“I had to be very careful with how I spent my money,” Iman explained. “I had to think with every decision I made whether it was going to be a useful spend for the business and if it was going to have a return on investment.”

Iman set up processes right from the beginning to help her stay on track, including setting up a Xero account.

She was strategic about how and when she spent her money and made sure she paid her bills first before adding extras to her business.

“When you are on a very tight budget, it’s working out whether or not you need that service or whether you need to build the technology yet or hire that person yet,” she explained.

“With paying suppliers, I was always careful I had enough money to pay everyone,” she added. “The stats show women pay bills on time while men take more risks, generally.”

Iman said it was important to not invest in “big ticket items” initially and used available resources that didn’t necessarily cost much.

“I had to be very careful with how I spent my money.”

“Sometimes you have to take risks and spend money when you don’t feel comfortable,” she admitted, including getting staff to help her.

“Getting a bookkeeper was a blessing, keeping on top of it when you’re busy and ensuring all the accounts are paid for. It took me a couple of years to get a bookkeeper, but it was a lifesaver,” Iman added.

Shifting during the pandemic

Five years on from launching in 2016, Iman was in serious talks with investors to get her business and team of 11 staff to the next level.

But then COVID-19 hit, which shut down not only the growth prospect of the business, but Iman was forced to close down her entire operation for six solid weeks because of COVID restrictions.

“It was really scary because I didn’t want to lose the business. No income or revenue was coming in.”

On top of that, her second child was born in February 2020 just before the pandemic hit, adding extra expenses and pressure to the mix.

“It was really scary because I didn’t want to lose the business. No income or revenue was coming in. A lot of corporate clients, which is 50% of our business, just disappeared,” she explained.

Even though it was stressful, Iman didn’t let this stop her, using the downtime from the pandemic to change tact.

“Everyone was looking for mobile services and it brought more awareness to at-home beauty services. As soon as we were able to operate, everyone was able to come back on track and then we had a 50% increase in services,” she said.

“JobKeeper was a blessing because I was able to continue with my permanent employees. Without that we would have been in a difficult situation,” Iman added.

Sacrifice and freedom

Iman said that while starting her own business has not been easy, it has given the mum-of-two the freedom she was looking for when she took the plunge into self-employment.

“In the early stage of the start-up, we had to make a number of sacrifices to ensure we could keep the business going, and not pay myself a huge amount as a founder,” she said.

“I might not splurge on going out for dinners, but it’s not been that hard.”

“You have to reduce your salary and you’re not going on as many holidays. You need to cut down on spending on clothes and be careful where you spend your money. I might not splurge on going out for dinners, but it’s not been that hard,” she said.

Iman prioritises her family and her business above all else and ensures she’s spending her time and money on the things that are most important to her.

“It’s given me a lot of freedom to manage motherhood and work around-the-clock,” Iman added.

I started my baseball career just before turning forty-eight. I yearned to play the ball game as a young girl, but the school softball team was the closest I got. Baseball was not a popular Australian sport, nor was it an option for girls in the 70’s and 80’s. And forty years on, my desire to play had never waned.

While training a group of young upcoming advisers (financial advisers, accountants, and lawyers) during lunch, I chatted with the female associates. After making small talk and bantering about life, I learned these clever women were busy little beavers with full lives. They commented on their long work hours, hefty study commitments, bustling social agendas, strict workout routines, and being devoted to their partners. They were in their mid to late twenties, without kids.

I could sense their busyness as they spoke about their hectic schedules and the sighs when they mentioned spare time was strictly for sleep or Netflix.

When the conversation turned to me, I excitedly shared how I had finally pursued my lifelong ambition to play baseball. I figured it was more interesting than sharing more ‘busy’ talk. I explained how baseball lit me up from the inside out. How free it made me feel and how it lit a fire in my belly whether I was at training, playing the game, or just having a casual toss of the ball. Although I had to move mountains to fit my schedule, it was worth every bit of inconvenience.

As I continued, I noticed the curiosity rise in their faces. They realised I was no spring chicken (I was old enough to be their Mum) and knew that I ran two financial services businesses with two sons in primary school. I explained that although there is never enough time to do all you want, my dream to play baseball would become more unlikely the longer I left it.

I wasn’t getting younger, and life wasn’t slowing in the foreseeable future.

On top of that, I had a raft of legitimate excuses to justify why it was never the right time to start. Genuine reasons like no time, young kids, work commitments, too old, unfit, unskilled etc. And if I’m honest, I was riddled with fears like I’ve never played before, I don’t know anyone at the club, I’ll make a fool of myself playing at my age. I was a broken record of,

“I’ll do it when the kids are older, when I reduce my work hours, once I’ve practiced it bit.”

Any excuse you could think of, or fear you could conjure up, I had it, and believed it.

When one of the women asked me why I finally took it up when I did, I revealed it was thanks to a newly adopted mantra, ‘if not now, when?’ It changed my perspective on life. I started applying these simple words to all I did and a whole new world of possibility opened. It was liberating. It helped me weigh up what’s important and stop the endless procrastination around things that make me happy.

A few months after adopting this mantra, I saw a Facebook post about a local women’s baseball club welcoming new players. I believe it was the universe’s way of letting me know the time was now. So I joined the Bonbeach Lady Jays baseball team the next day, a few weeks shy of my forty-eighth birthday. I’ve never looked back. And as the typical story goes, I wish I had done it sooner.

The greatest revelation from this leap of faith was not limited to baseball. It was the unexpected impact it had on my life. Doing something that lit me up so profoundly had a flow-on effect that made everything better. It made my long work hours more bearable, my parenting responsibilities more enjoyable and put a new spin on conversations when asked what I’ve been up to. I met new lifelong friends and felt a sense of belonging and fulfillment that I had not imagined. I also realised I could be responsible, diligent, and happy at the same time. And that it is never too late and you’re never too old to learn or do something new. Who would have thought?

After listening closely to my story, each woman started reflecting on what they would do to entertain the ‘if not now, when’ approach to life. One reminisced about her days growing up on a tennis court and how much she’d love to hit a ball again. Another always wanted to get back into hockey as she had given it away at school when it clashed with her academic commitments. One wanted to learn about money and investing so she would never have to depend on her partner for financial security. Someone else shared her desire to sing more as it was the one thing that made her feel truly alive. And one gave a dramatic account of her days on stage as the lead in their school production. You could feel how much she still yearned to perform.

The stories continued. Everyone contributed. Some were about hobbies, others were related to studies, finances, and careers. Some were even as simple as habits they’d like to start or to change, such as being a more diligent saver or mastering how to make budgeting more fun. Nothing was out of reach. The only thing stopping them was themselves.

There was so much energy in the room as each woman spoke about what would light her up. Things in their lives that were on the backburner waiting patiently for the elusive ‘right time’. Once the excitement in the room settled, there was a peaceful silence. I slowly lent into the space, facing the group, and with a steady encouraging voice I asked, “if not now, when?”

Before she became one of the many devastated victims of Melissa Caddick, the Sydney woman behind a multi million-dollar Ponzi scheme, Cheryl Kraft Reid would ask questions about her account, but never got a straight answer.

“Melissa would smirk at me as if I was stupid,” Cheryl told me from her home in Sydney.

“If you said something wrong or you didn’t use the right term, she’d correct you. And that was her way of keeping people in their place.”

It was one of several red flags that Cheryl regrets not investigating – red flags that she shared with vanessastoycov.com as a warning to others (see below).

Throughout history, Ponzi operators have relied on lies and obfuscation to keep their clients happy. The schemers collect savings, nest eggs, and future inheritance funds, with the promise of investment, but instead use the finance to fund their own lifestyle.

“Every time I raised an objection or wanted to see something, she had a document, something prepared,” said Cheryl, a safety and health assurance manager at Woolworths. “She put a lot of work into keeping this going.”

The scheme – named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian swindler who operated in North America in the 1920s – only works if fresh funds keep rolling in. It collapses when the well dries up.

“I had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right,” said Cheryl, who with her wife, Faye, invested nearly $1 million with Caddick’s boutique financial services company Maliver.

“I picked up errors in an audit, like a million-dollar life insurance policy that we didn’t have. And she wasn’t transparent.”

But mother-of-one Caddick was a family friend, so Cheryl placed her trust in her. And in a shocking act of betrayal, Caddick fleeced more than $23 million from investors – including her parents, relatives and friends – to bankroll her extravagant life.

Up until the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched an investigation, Caddick was living in her $6million home in Sydney’s Dover Heights, drove luxury cars, wore designer clothes and went on expensive jaunts.

“She prized that luxury life ahead of her brother, her parents, her friends,” said Cheryl. “All the while watching the savings of her loved ones get stripped away.”

Caddick went missing on November 12 last year, the day after an ASIC-led raid of her home. The 49 year old is presumed to have taken her own life after her severed foot was found washed up on a NSW beach in February.

The federal court found last month that Caddick had provided unlicensed financial advice and used investors’ funds “to meet … personal expenses and purchase assets in her name,” Justice Brigitte Markovic said.

When Cheryl and Faye found out that Caddick had squandered their savings, “we were devastated for six months,” Cheryl said. “We just didn’t know what to do.”

The couple now live a more “moderate and measured” life and try to look on the bright side.

“In the end, none of us died,” she said. “I just had to learn that maybe I was too trusting.”

To that end, she hopes her plight will act as a warning to others.

Cheryl’s advice:

• Never take someone’s recommendation of an investor at face value. Do your own checking.
• Never mix friends and finance.
• Have your own accountant check everything.
• “And if they are not transparent, and not treating your savings like it’s your money, then walk away,” she said. “You have the right to know everything.”

 

I sit here in evoHQ more exhausted than I have been in a very long time. Sure, my lack of physical fitness has been no secret to those who know me. 🙂 but I have gone through a period, like so many of us have, of a big change, and of enormous effort. We moved house.

Before you accuse me of being a drama queen, and those of you who read my whinging on Instagram have already heard it, but I found the challenge of moving from a 5-bedroom home in the Blue Mountains to a 3-bedroom apartment on Sydney Harbour a daunting one. Mainly because it was shedding things, possessions we have accumulated over 18 years of life, parenthood, and marriage. Everything had memories attached.

“I realised that letting go is harder than you give it credit for. Letting go means losing things that you worked for, used and made memories with. It feels like you work your life to accumulate things, only to realise they are holding you back.”

Which is what I have realised on the other side of the move.

It seems like life goes in cycles – I have known people who say usually 7-year cycles, but each for me has been different. I left my job to start evolution media at 26. I started having kids at 30. I moved to the mountains with my family for five years. I just moved back to the heart of the city aged 48. Our kids have grown and are starting to have their own lives. No more primary school and all that entails.

It changes and evolves, and I choose to see the beauty in each period of my life. I have certainly gotten better at knowing when something happens for the last time. When you are young you never quite realise, but the older I get, the more I acknowledge the passing, and my grief for it being gone. But also, overwhelming gratitude that I got to live it. The good and the bad. Losing people you love, living with uncertainty, and making something new. It is all part of the cycle of constant and ever-changing life.

Which is where I get to you (finally right?). The start of 2022 was not what we were all hoping for. More uncertainty, more changes, and an overall pervading sense from everyone that we are all just tired. Our politicians and leaders must be too – although the amount of scrutiny they receive is intense. So how can we hasten this phase of our life to be over? How can we all move into something different, but great. When the collective exhaustion and cynicism prevails, we aren’t able to move forward to start something new and beautiful.

So with that, I urge you to think about words like freedom. Whether it be financial or life choices. Dream again. Dare to hope.

“Think about all the things you got right over the past year. How you dealt with the pandemic, family, work, kids, money and everything else. You have done more than you could have imagined. Use this to fuel your belief that you have the strength to keep going and create the ‘What Next.’”

Make this month the one when you finally think about plans for YOUR life. Not just that of your family and work, and everyone you play a role for. It’s time to be able to create something beautiful for yourself. To change what’s not working and put the solution ahead of the problem. If you are unhappy in your life, then have the courage to change it.

If you want something different, go ahead and do it. We only get one life and living unhappily is not what you deserve. We all deserve so much more.

And remember you are capable of it – you just need the courage and a vision for your future to move forward.

“I encourage you to remember all your dreams and forget the negative voice in your head telling you what you have is all you deserve.”

Or that you have no choices because of money or circumstance. You always have a choice. It may not happen quickly but even learning more about money and taking control of your finances, no matter what condition they are in, will give you the courage to be able to change your life, one step at a time.

So, stay with me, and keep moving forward. I will keep finding ways to inspire you, and help you dream of what next.

Until next time,