ABOUT

Welcome!
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If you're a struggling business owner, DO NOT despair... With the right amount of 'blood', sweat and tears, you too can get to where you want to be.

After leaving school at the age of 15 without any qualifications, I started my first job (that my father helped me get); it was filling cream donuts, making filled rolls and serving in a bakery.

The following year I took a polytechnic course on Reception Duties and moved into my first corporate role. From here I was promoted to PA, and then went on to have a 30-year corporate career in Executive Support, Administration Management, Training and Copywriting, interspersed with five years as an International Flight Attendant for Air New Zealand.

​In 1998 I started my first business. I worked my butt off to get my children's affirmation cards into 38 retail stores around New Zealand. It was a success. HOWEVER at that time I didn't have enough knowledge or understanding of what it really takes to grow a business. Ultimately I returned to the corporate world where I stayed for the next 15 years. I went from job to job, but never felt satisfied, I was merely putting a salary in my bank account each month.

Fast forward to 2006 when I 'fell' into freelance technical writing after having an opportunity to work alongside a Project Manager at the North Shore City Council. Over the next three years I completed technical writing projects for Hyundai New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Vatulele Island Resort (Fiji), and Global Hydraulics to name a few.

During the last 5 years as a business owner I have learnt a whole pile of stuff that I have been wanting to share for some time.

In 2013 I created The Business Writer having been a freelance copywriter for some years and went on to write copy for numerous businesses and individuals, and create business writing training programmes which I delivered to corporates and as one-on-one coaching.

Now, as many of you know I own and operate Upcycled & Co. and deliver Furniture Painting Workshops around New Zealand, and in April 2016 I launched my own furniture paint brand, Upcycled & Co. Furniture Paint.

This page is about sharing what I have and am learning as a business owner.

I hope you find it helpful.

Kathryn