Some words from a previous participant and current collaborator

By Mary Koutsonicolis, 25 July 2022

As a former participant of Redwoods Collaborative, ‘Navigating Self-Employment’ course, I can confidently express the positive impacts that it has had on my career. Tania the director of Redwoods utilised her extensive skillset to assist and educate vulnerable youth such as myself to gain knowledge of how to plan and begin our own business’.

Tania instilled within us the values to which Redwoods is founded on, as she empowered us with confidence to feel equipped with resources to have the capacity to plan and start our own business. She was able to discuss all components of business by encouraging us to form and create financial and marking business plans and get in contact with lawyers, accountants and clientele to begin business progression. Above all this course has helped us follow our passions and expressing them through work, which allows us to gain profit out of doing things which we love.

My personal passion when seeking to create a business was to assist and advance students through the process of tutoring. After being complacent and focused on using my skills to work for another tutoring company, the interactive Redwoods sessions enabled me to find the drive within and develop my skills towards forming a vision for my own tutoring company. After closely communicating with the team at Redwoods and interacting with all content and templates, I was able to extend my knowledge on the expectations and requirements to officialise a business.

Redwoods provided their participants with the correct resources and inspiration to intrinsically motivate me to officially form a business of my own. This tutoring centre has now expanded and is at its full capacity in regards to availability and reaching profit margins. The next steps for me as a young business owner, is to begin employing others, whilst ever growing all dimensions of ‘Maximum Focus’.

From this experience, I would wish for all young people to engage with Redwoods and feel inspired to take action of their passion and grow their understanding on the foundations of business. Whether you seek to create your own business or work within other businesses, Redwoods teaches us the expectations of how we should be treated as young people entering the workforce, ensuring that we have high standards and awareness of our rights and responsibilities.