After a successful career in corporate HR that took her around the world, Natasha Hawker settled down with her husband in Australia and had three children. She quickly realised that balancing a senior corporate career and being a mum to young kids was not her ideal situation. She started doing consulting work for smaller businesses, an endeavour that grew and grew until it blossomed into Employee Matters, her very own business. Employee Matters is an HR consulting firm that helps small businesses hire and manage their employees.
“I believe that small business owners are the hardest workers in Australia, but there are two things that keep them awake at night: cash flow and employees. There are hundreds of those small business owners who don’t need a full-time HR manager but do need help.”
Before she started her own business, there are three things Natasha wishes she’d had more of:
- Knowledge about marketing: “I knew I was good at what I did, but no one else did!”
- Knowledge about pricing: “I wasn’t making money, and I couldn’t figure out why.”
- Confidence in her own value
For anyone thinking about taking on their own business, this is Natasha’s advice:
- Educate yourself, because being an expert on your product is not enough.
- Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs to push, teach, and support you.
- Think big, act small.
Natasha thinks business owners need to be resilient and optimistic, to really believe in what they do.
“I think you need to want to change the world for the better, whatever that means for you.”
Natasha loves owning her own business. She loves having her hands on every part of the business, and the freedom and flexibility her life now allows her. She loves seeing how her business has grown.
“When I look back to six years ago when I started this in my bedroom to what we have now, that’s exciting.”
Natasha’s ideal business fulfills her passion for helping Australia’s small business owners, but she also hopes to take Employee Matters’ services into a larger market.
Her company has built software that Natasha believes has global applications – her idea of changing the world. She also plans to continue her team’s commitment to giving back through charity.
“The government, they are not going to fix the world. It’s up to business owners and entrepreneurs. We can do it. You can do it.”
Natasha’s favourite entrepreneur is Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.
“He’s a big thinker, and he’s a genius at picking great leaders. He’s just got his fingers in so many different pies, and he’s pushing boundaries all the time.”
Why does Natasha love HerBusiness?
“At the beginning, I knew nothing about running a business. I knew HR, but I didn’t have a clue. After getting involved in HerBusiness, I started to learn about things. Then I got involved in the Roundtables – the insight there was ‘you know what, there are a lot of other women who are struggling with the same problems I’m struggling with, and some of them have the answers’.”
Learn more about Natasha here.
This post was authored by Sophie Grosserode. Sophie is completing a journalism internship at HerBusiness. She studies journalism and media at the University of Tennessee in the United States.
