{"id":41533,"date":"2023-10-20T15:14:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-redundancy-can-be-the-ideal-start-up-springboard-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:14:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:14:39","slug":"why-redundancy-can-be-the-ideal-start-up-springboard-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-redundancy-can-be-the-ideal-start-up-springboard-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why redundancy can be the ideal start-up springboard – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"feature-redundancy-thumb\"<\/div>\n

\"feature-redundancy-thumb\"In 2011, Sally Porteous put her hand up for a Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) redundancy from her role as a senior sponsorship and events officer with the Queensland Government.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI decided I didn\u2019t want to be a bum on a chair doing tasks for someone else anymore,\u201d Porteous says.<\/p>\n

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She already had experience working part-time in music and event promotions but had never been in a position to dedicate herself to her own business.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI decided to take the money and take my work to the open market,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Porteous set up her Brisbane-based events business Red Lanyard in August 2011. The redundancy payment made it possible.<\/p>\n

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In 2009, lawyer Jacinta Peck* could see the writing on the wall at the property fund management firm where she was company secretary.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI knew the business was not likely to have a future so I negotiated an exit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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The payout was not big, but enough to set up her boutique legal and corporate governance advisory service in October 2009.<\/p>\n

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It was Peck\u2019s second redundancy after taking a payout with a major bank in 2007.<\/p>\n

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Redundancies on the rise<\/h2>\n

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A significant wave of Australian workers are facing redundancy as organisations including the Victorian Public Service, Qantas, Toyota, Holden, Alcoa, SEGA Studios, University of Sydney, Hydro Aluminium and ANZ shed staff.<\/p>\n

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For most, facing redundancy is one of the most stressful professional experiences of their careers.<\/p>\n

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Frantic CV writing, job searching, outplacement services and uncertainty \u2013 \u201cand the feeling you are on the heap, walking around with a big R on your forehead,\u201d says Peck.<\/p>\n

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However, in the midst of all this turmoil are a lucky few, for whom redundancy is a little like winning one of Willy Wonka\u2019s golden tickets. The payout is seed capital for the business they always wanted to start.<\/p>\n

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Graeme Page, managing director of outplacement specialists Audrey Page & Associates, says that starting a business after redundancy is unusual.<\/p>\n

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Only about 2 to 3% of his clients do so.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy transition out of a big corporate into running your own business,\u201d Page says.<\/p>\n

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People tend to be highly specialised and entrepreneurs need to be a jack-of-all-trades.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey need to be the COO, the cleaner, the sales expert. They need to be everything,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Page is wary of those whose motivations to start their own business come mainly from not wanting to get hurt by employers again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt can\u2019t be fear that is the main motivator,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Peck\u2019s payout allowed her a year to get her business off the ground \u201cwithout earning a dollar\u201d, however, she did not have to wait long for cashflow.<\/p>\n

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Her former employer offered her three month\u2019s part-time contract work.<\/p>\n

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Peck then had the freedom to spend six months on networking and business development without the pressure of urgently turning contacts into paying clients.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was able to develop much deeper and richer relationships,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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She hasn\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2011, Sally Porteous put her hand up for a Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) redundancy from her role as a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}