Turning points

Sometimes we actively seek change, but at other times, change comes looking for us. DAWN MOLONEY, 45, quit her career and embarked on a new venture in a new country in the pursuit of a better life.

“I’m originally from England where I qualified as a pharmacist when I was 22. I worked in a pharmacy for a couple of years and I was very much a home body – I’d never really done much travelling.

“Then one morning I woke up and thought, ‘There’s got to be more to life than this.’ Three weeks later I got on a plane to Australia – it was completely out of character. I arrived with very little money and moved to Geelong in Victoria, where I worked as a hospital pharmacist for nine months. Unfortunately though, I became really homesick and made a foolish decision to go back home to England.

“I had never been terribly maternal and never really had a desire to get married, so when I was 27 I decided to go back to university and study part-time for an MBA. It was at the end of that course that I met my future husband, Ian. We married and, nine months later, had a baby. It was all a bit of a shock really. I became a full-time working mother. About the time our daughter turned four, I was very disenchanted with working for everybody else. So I went freelance and set up my own consultancy, which I did for the next five years.

“Then I became pregnant with our second child and for the next couple of years we worked incredibly hard, with my husband commuting two hours every day to work. One day we both sat down and said we didn’t want this lifestyle to continue forever. We thought the only way we could change our lives was to really go for it.

So we decided to come to Australia. I adore England, but when I was in Australia, I felt more relaxed. We were very conscious that we had young kids and we wanted them to grow up outdoors. I also wanted them to have us around more so we could do more family-orientated things. So we just sold everything and left.

“Since we arrived, we’ve never looked back – we live in a beautiful area, found great schools for the kids, and I ended up doing some marketing for a small vitamin company. Once things had settled, I woke up one morning and thought it was time I did something that I really wanted to do with my career.

“When I was younger I had always been quite arty. I had wanted to go to art school but it just wasn’t something you did at the time. So I decided to try my hand at something creative and started making my own cards and things, and I just loved it. That was about eight years ago.

“Then one day my sister (who also lives in Australia now) started talking to me about scrapbooking. I had never really thought it was something I’d be interested in, but then I picked it up one day and thought, ‘actually this is quite good’. And once you start you can’t stop. So we came up with the idea of starting a scrapbooking business together. I thought there was a gap in the market and it was something I would love to do, so with a very small amount of money and a website, we got our business started.

“We sell a wide range of scrapbooking products but have really focused on bringing scrapbooking out of the album – it’s called off the page. We do a lot of home decor – lamps, tables, clocks, cushions, and we’ve just launched a whole range of wire products that people can use to display photos.

“The business has been running for two years and it’s really taken off. I start work as soon as I drop my two girls at school and my sister does the same. We work from 9am until 3pm rock solid. Then I do very little between 3 and 8pm and then work again from 8pm until 1am.

“It’s great having the flexibility to work around family. My life is completely full but you only have one life and I love doing this. It means I can be there for my kids and do the work I love. Working for other people, you just don’t have that degree of flexibility. I’ll never go back to being a pharmacist, not in a million years. This is it for me. This is a perfect fit. I’m in my element. I’ve never worked so hard in my life, but I love it.” For more information visit, www.scrapapple.com.au

WORDS: Karen Spresser PHOTOGRAPHY: Scott Hawkins STYLING: Stav Hortis

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