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In their 10 years of running a successful business, Janine McDonald and her business partner Annette Law have learned that adapting to change and showing resilience is all part of being a business owner.
Janine and Annette are the proud owners of All Aspects Recruitment & HR Services based in Darwin, Northern Territory. Since opening their doors in 2011, they’ve expanded their office locations to Queensland and are now servicing clients nationwide.
All Aspects offer a range of services, including recruitment, human resources and scribing services. The business has a strong focus on empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by helping them showcase their skills and community connections to lead them into employment.
Celebrating their 10-year milestone in February this year, Janine has taken the time to reflect on the hurdles that have popped up along the road, including COVID-19.
When asked what advice she’d give to other business owners, Janine said, “If you don’t have a plan, you plan to fail. Risk management and critical thinking are so important.”
“You need to weigh everything up and ask yourself, ‘is this worth my time, is this worth my reputation?’ Instead of taking on every project, stop and think, ‘what’s within my capabilities, what am I going to do well at?’ It’s not about the money. It’s about the outcome. If you achieve your outcome, money will follow.”
When COVID-19 hit, Janine and Annette knew they needed to review their services to ensure that if one business function was impacted, they would still be strong in the other elements of their business.
“The support we’ve received from IBA has had a huge impact. It just gave us the breathing space to go, ‘okay, we’re right, they’ve got our back, they’ve always had our back.’
“I was able to work very closely with IBA staff and discuss what my options were. The financial experience that my IBA relationship manager has really helped. IBA staff understand where we’re coming from and understands our business.”
“We did feel the impact for a while. Our main priority was being able to keep our internal staff on, and then it was a matter of maintaining and concentrating on our clients. We put some plans in place and were determined to make it work,” said Janine.
IBA is committed to helping Indigenous businesses impacted by COVID-19. Read more about our COVID-19 Business Relief Package. If you need business assistance, reach out to your IBA relationship manager or register your interest today.
