Changing careers in your mid 50’s is not what most women do. When I say changing careers, I don’t mean leaving paid work and retiring or looking after grandchildren. I mean starting an entirely new career. For most of my adult life, I have run a small business selling promotional products and corporate gifts, but I completed a Psychology Degree in my 30s and had never worked as a therapist. So, I felt I had not fulfilled my full potential. I started looking at ways of utilising my degree and found mediation. With a bit more investigation, I found Family Dispute Resolution.
Family Dispute Resolution is a specialist mediation model that provides separating couples with a legal alternative to using lawyers when they separate. To call myself an FDR mediator, I needed to complete a Graduate Diplomat in Family Dispute Resolution and 50 hours of supervision.
Not long after completing my postgraduate qualification, I realised that the sector was dominated by either government-funded providers of FDR or lawyers who provide FDR mediation as a side hustle.
Not having a law degree meant my options were limited. I had completed my supervision with a government-funded provider and did not feel I was suited to working for one of these providers; the restriction placed on me as a mediator was very difficult to come to terms with.
This left one option, open my own practice. looking around, I found no one I could model my non-lawyer private practice on; my passion for helping the separating couples of Bayside Melbourne was clear; I just needed to find a way of putting my new knowledge into practice.
I had $10,000 in savings and a few lawyer contacts, so Bayside Mediation was born. To start the business, I went out and introduced myself to everyone who would listen. That was 10 years ago, and the practice now has 5 practitioners (4 associates). We have our own rooms and have helped thousands of couples resolve their parenting and property disputes with FDR mediation, keeping them out of the court system.
At no point did I expect the work to find me; I went out and found the work. Most people I spoke to had no idea who we were and what we did, so I explained my role in the family law process, hundreds of times, to anyone who would listen. I joined networking groups, set up appointments with solicitors, accountants, counsellors, and psychologists, anyone who could refer clients. I also undertook further study, set up my website and learnt how to navigate google and online advertising.
Starting your own business requires determination and resilience; there will be many setbacks, but the rewards are exhilarating. My success has come primarily from networking and building professional associations with other practitioners in the billion-dollar family law industry. However, Google has become a major source of clients in recent years.
Everything else has fallen into place as it was needed and as the practice grew. It took a while to find an IT support person I could relate to, but I eventually did. I modified my old sales-based CRM, and it worked well for a number of years; we have recently moved to ZoHo. I have moved to a cloud-based accounting service.
At no point have I over-committed myself financially; the work is not consistent enough. We turn over more than $500.000.00 pa, but consistency is our issue; we compete against other providers who have very deep pockets, so we need to be smarter, not just throw money at advertising.
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
My advice to anyone starting a service-based business is to focus on the service you are providing, first and foremost. Have systems in place that provide a good customer experience, and satisfy your accounting and compliance requirements, but do feel you need to spend thousands of dollars on systems, space, and fit-outs that may not be what you need. I started in leased premises using second-hand furniture and now own my offices, but I still like using second-hand furniture.
By Dianne Loveday
About the author
Dianne Loveday is a private Family Dispute Resolution specialist who has transformed the way separating couples manage their parenting arrangements and financial separation. By encouraging them to stay focused on what is important, such as children and family members or minimising cost and time delays. She helps couples separate mindfully, legally and with the least amount of angst and distress possible.
