Mahurangi Matters Women in Business

Our Director, Tanya Gray featured in the 3 July 2023 edition of the Mahurangi Matters Women in Business edition.

Read the Q&A below.

Here’s the full version of Tanya’s Q&A responses.

What advice would you give to young woman setting up her own business?

1. Have a business mentor that is experienced in business management and juggling family. The juggling family part is huge. The mentor is your sounding board and will keep you on track.
2. Invest in your professional development- especially in business management- the most complicated areas are finance and HR and these are key to understand when growing a business. The numbers don’t lie!
3. Protect your time, you are no good to anyone (your family or your business and clients) if you do not allow dedicated time off.
4. Its ok to not be online 24/7. Having time away from your devices and being uncontactable is ok, it’s better for your mental health and everyone else.

Do you think being a woman there are advantages in business and if so, what are they?

No!

What gave you the confidence to go out on your own?

I was made redundant, found out I was pregnant with our first child and wanted to give running a business a crack (my husband thought I was mad)! Plus, I thought it would be great for work life balance while learning how to be a Mum. Thank goodness I had amazing family to help me back then and to this day and an incredibly supportive husband and Co-Director, Cam who is my rock!

What advice would you give to young woman setting up her own business?

Being a good role model for my kids, teaching them about working hard and what a good work ethic looks like, having a work environment where the team can have fun, be passionate about what they do and grow while providing amazing service to our clients. Since moving to Warkworth 10 years ago, Cam and I have been very focussed on supporting the community through our businesses, so we try to help out wherever we can especially when we see there’s a family or a non for profit in need.