Some may think that working with children is difficult and exhausting because it requires great care, attention and a lot of energy. Tahnee Westbury, on the other hand, loves working with children so much that her business is all about treating them. Tahnee has owned Hopalong Occupational Therapy for Children since 2007. Hopalong provides occupational therapy services to children from 18 months to 18 years.
Tahnee and her team work with children who have ADHD/ADD, ASD, Developmental Motor Dyspraxia, Learning Difficulties, Sensory Processing Disorder, Visual Perceptual Difficulties and Feeding Difficulties. Her business has thrived through the years, garnering numerous local business awards.
“I thoroughly enjoy the variety of running a business. I love not only working with our clients, but also, having the opportunities to do activities outside my clinical area such as marketing, accounting, mentoring and social media. I wouldn’t have explored those areas I I didn’t have my own business. “
Tahnee has been able to utilise her skills as a pediatric occupational therapist to supervise and mentor her team and develop their clinical skills.
Skills that Tahnee recommends new business owners get acquainted with quickly:
- Employee relations
- Manage your responsibilities
- Know your numbers
Three pieces of advice Tahnee wishes she’d been given when she started:
- Give it a go. When I was about to throw away my application for the Hurtsville Council Business awards, I thought that I definitely can’t win if I don’t even enter. You have to give it a go and be in it to win it!
- Use your own networks and informal support to help on your journey. Friends and family can help as much as formal professionals.
- Be nice! You don’t need to have a “cut throat, winner takes all” approach to business.
About being a HerBusiness premium member, Tahnee has this to say:
“HerBusiness gave me access to professionals who know more about the business side- particularly employee responsibilities and marketing. The webinars are really helpful and there are many resources that you can access conveniently.”
